CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the West Virginia Commission on the Arts are partnering to present the state's fifth Poetry Out Loud program.

The program is a national contest that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performances and competition. It combines the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, oral presentation and theater and builds on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form. It is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

The registration deadline for participants is Dec. 1, 2009. Individual schools and/or regional competitions must be completed by Jan. 30, 2010. The state's contest is scheduled for March 6, 2010.

The state winner will receive $200 and an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national finals, April 25 to 27, 2010. At the national finals, Poetry Out Loud will award a total of $50,000 in scholarship prizes and school stipends, including $20,000 for the Poetry Out Loud national champion, and $10,000 and $5,000 for the second- and third-place finalists. The remaining nine finalists each receive $1,000 and the schools of the top 12 finalists will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry books. Last year, more than 300,000 students were involved in competitions nationwide.

Spring Valley High School senior Jasmine Lewis won the 2009 event and will perform at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at the Culture Center on Jan. 16, 2010.

The contest is being promoted at www.wvculture.org/arts/pol/index.html. Teachers can go on-line to order materials, register their schools for competition or to contact the state coordinator directly for assistance. Students may go on-line to find helpful links that assist in training and poem selection, find articles related to Poetry Out Loud, or to check the photo gallery of past competitors.