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
| State/Territory | Date | Winner & School/Org |
| Alabama | March 3, 2023 | Emily Biaz- Auburn High School |
| Alaska | March 20, 2023 | Brigitta Palepa Ta’aga- West Anchorage High School |
| American Samoa | March 17, 2023 | Hazel Ipuniuesea Leo- Iakina Adventist Academy |
| Arizona | March 11, 2023 | Biruni Hariadi- Gary K. Herberger Young Scholars Academy |
| Arkansas | March 11, 2023 | Drew Pirtle- Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts |
| California | March 19-20, 2023 | Alex Yue- John F. Kennedy High School |
| Colorado | March 1, 2023 | Hana Kebede- Overland High School |
| Connecticut | March 11, 2023 | WM Leete- Weston High School |
| Delaware | March 2, 2023 | Maiss Hussein- Paul M. Hodgson Vocational Technical High School |
| District of Columbia | March 12, 2023 | Warwick Lloyd- St. Anselm’s Abbey School |
| Florida | March 11, 2023 | Yan Luis Lebron Santiago- Howard W. Blake High School |
| Georgia | March 14, 2023 | Molly Pitra- St. Pius X Catholic High School |
| Hawaii | February 26, 2023 | Irene Jiayi Zhong- Punahou School |
| Idaho | March 18, 2023 | Liam Peterson- Mountain Home High School |
| Illinois | March 13, 2023 | Yohanna Endashaw- Niles Township High School West |
| Indiana | March 4, 2023 | Sreepadaarchana Munjuluri- Indiana Humanities |
| Iowa | March 5, 2023 | Lydia J.M. Newsome- Waterloo West High School |
| Kansas | March 11, 2023 | Victoria Laine Jelks- Horton High School |
| Kentucky | March 1, 2023 | Sarah Gamble- Allen County Scottsville High School |
| Louisiana | March 4, 2023 | Camilla Howell- Zachary High School |
| Maine | March 13, 2023 | Abigail Case- Hermon High School |
| Maryland | March 18, 2023 | M. Harris- Indian Creek School |
| Massachusetts | March 12, 2023 | Jaden D. Riley- John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science |
| Michigan | March 3-4, 2023 | Glenn Deon James Doss Jr.- Melvindale High School |
| Minnesota | February 24, 2023 | Stella Wright- Robbinsdale Armstrong High School |
| Mississippi | March 9, 2023 | Edward Wilson Jr.- Jackson Preparatory School |
| Missouri | March 9, 2023 | Nicholas Merlo- Crossroads College Preparatory School |
| Montana | March 11, 2023 | Wica-ta-wi Hoksina Brown- Polson High School |
| Nebraska | March 12, 2023 | Amelia C. Escalante- Bellevue West High School |
| Nevada | March 11, 2023 | Ashlee Sandoval- Elko High School |
| New Hampshire | March 17, 2023 | Ella Weinmann- Conant High School |
| New Jersey | March 6, 2023 | Lydia Smith- Henry Hudson Regional School |
| New Mexico | March 5, 2023 | Rutendo Musharu- United World College-USA |
| New York | March 11, 2023 | James Masson- Syosset High School |
| North Carolina | February 25, 2023 | Abby Sullivan- Weaver Academy |
| North Dakota | February 27, 2023 | Gabby Johnson- Minot High School |
| Ohio | March 10, 2023 | Hiba Loukssi- Xenia High School |
| Oklahoma | March 7, 2023 | AdaLynn Anderson- Lawton High School |
| Oregon | March 11, 2023 | Kari Morgan- Oregon School for the Deaf |
| Pennsylvania | March 13, 2023 | Peachy Lee- Lancaster Country Day School |
| Puerto Rico | March 10, 2023 | Amir Trinidad Vidal- Saint John’s School |
| Rhode Island | March 12, 2023 | Natasha B. Connolly- Classical High School |
| South Carolina | March 4, 2023 | Catherine Wooten- Westgate Christian School |
| South Dakota | March 20, 2023 | Grace C. Powell- Dakota Valley High School |
| Tennessee | March 4, 2023 | Megan Ammons- Harding Academy of Memphis |
| Texas | March 11, 2023 | Mariam Botana de Armas- Northside School of Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship |
| Utah | March 15, 2023 | Aeva West Deltoro-Dye- Dixie High School |
| Vermont | March 16, 2023 | Greer Kennedy- St. Johnsbury Academy |
| Virgin Islands | March 11, 2023 | Annelia N. Graham- St. Croix Seventh-day Adventist School |
| Virginia | March 10, 2023 | Evalynn Bogusz- Heritage High School |
| Washington | March 11, 2023 | Matthew Valentine- Olympia High School |
| West Virginia | March 11, 2023 | Morgan Sprouse- Bridgeport High School |
| Wisconsin | March 4, 2023 | Riley Grace Saenim- The Prairie School |
| Wyoming | March 6, 2023 | Elora L. Umbach- Penn Foster High School |
Find your state’s Poetry Out Loud coordinator here.