The 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Finals took place on May 9 & 10, 2023 at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC. The event host was Joy Sunday.

Sreepadaarchana Munjuluri, a junior at Columbus North High School, is the 2023 Poetry Out Loud® National Champion. The 2nd place winner is Edward Wilson Jr., a senior at Jackson Preparatory School in Mississippi, and Madison Harris, a freshman at Indian Creek School in Crownsville, Maryland took 3rd place. Wilson Jr. will receive a prize of $10,000 and Harris will receive a prize of $5,000. Victoria Laine Jelks (Kansas), Stella Wright (Minnesota), Wica-ta-wi Hoksina Brown (Montana), Abby Sullivan (North Carolina), Mariam Botana de Armas (Texas), and Morgan Sprouse (West Virginia) are the other six national finalists and each will receive a prize of $1,000. The representing schools/ organizations of the nine finalists will each receive $500 that will go towards the purchase of poetry materials.

Learn more here.

State Finals

Find your state’s Poetry Out Loud coordinator here.