The Utah State Poetry Out Loud Finals Contest was held at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 13, 2010, at 7 pm with students from 16 high schools participating. Judges were Utah Poet Laureate Katharine Coles, Plan-B Theatre Company Producing Director Jerry Rapier, poet and USU English Professor Shanan Ballam and Utah State Office of Education Literacy Coordinator Tiffany Hall Kate MacLeod provided music during the interludes. Top honors went to MarKaye Hassan, a senior at Logan High School. She received 0 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, DC, where she will compete in the national finals in May for bragging rights and a 000 scholarship. Her school also received a 0 stipend for the purchase of new poetry books. Runner-up was Shannon McCullam, a senior at Box Elder High School in Brigham City. She received 0 and her school received a 0 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The 2012 Poetry Out Loud National Finals will take place May 13-15, 2012, in Washington, DC, at the Harman Center for the Arts. Visit artsandmuseums.utah.gov/funding/competitions/poetry_out_loud.html for more information. ABOUT POETRY OUT LOUD: Recitation and performance are major new trends in poetry. There has been a recent resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and the immense popularity of hip-hop music. Poetry Out Loud builds on that momentum by inviting the dynamic aspects of slam poetry …