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North student named ‘Poetry Out Loud’ National Champion

Columbus, IN, USA / QMIX 107.3
North student named ‘Poetry Out Loud’ National Champion

Courtesy-National Endowment for the Arts, Photographer James Kegley.



INDIANAPOLIS — Sreepadaarchana Munjuluri, a junior at Columbus North High School, has been named the 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Champion. Munjuluri, the Indiana State Champion, represented the Hoosier State at the National Finals in Washington D.C. She competed in a field of 54 state and jurisdictional champions over two days on May 9 and May 10, reciting poems by Emily Jungmin Yoon, Emma Lazarus, and Garrett Hongo.

This is Munjuluri’s second year participating in Poetry Out Loud. She loves exploring literature, not just in English but also in her native language Telugu, and Sanskrit. In the future, she hopes to be a global health advocate and believes that communication through various mediums (such as poetry) is the key to solving the world’s problems and is the most beautiful aspect of the human experience.

The Indiana Arts Commission serves as the coordinator for Indiana’s Poetry Out Loud competition. The Indiana State Finals were held on March 4, where Munjuluri was named State Champion amid a field of over 1,000 students across Indiana in 2023.

Munjuluri participated in Poetry Out Loud as part of the Indiana Humanities statewide outreach program and was coached by Indiana poet Adam Henze, Ph.D.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life.

As the Poetry Out Loud National Champion, Munjuluri was awarded $20,000, and Indiana Humanities received $500 for the purchase of poetry materials.