El Dorado Arts Council Looking for Poetry Out Loud Judges

The El Dorado Arts Council is seeking out volunteer judges and tabulators for its Poetry Out Loud program. This is the Arts Council’s fourth year sponsoring this thrilling, nationwide high school poetry competition. Each spring fifty-three high school state champions gather in Washington, D.C. to compete in the Poetry Out Loud National Finals. This past May, El Dorado County’s Poetry Out Loud winner Corbin Gomez, an Oak Ridge High School senior, won the California state championship and went on to perform at the nationals, where he placed among the top twelve students in the country, winning $1000 and a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books at Oak Ridge.

If you wish to be involved as a judge or tabulator at the county high school competitions, all that’s required is a love of the written word and approximately 4-6 hours of your time, including a judges training session. Previous judges and tabulators are of course welcome to return!

The Poetry Out Loud judges training sessions will be held at ArtSpace (459 Main Street, Placerville) on the following dates:

Thursday, December 6: 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, December 11: 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Thursday, January 3: 2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

For more information, please contact Deb Jensen at 530-295-3496 or email the El Dorado Arts Council at edac@eldoradoartscouncil.org.