Sreepadaarchana Munjuluri from Indiana Named 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Champion

Washington, DC—The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation are pleased to share that Sreepadaarchana Munjuluri, a junior at Columbus North High School, is the 2023 Poetry Out Loud® National Champion. After reciting poems by Emily Jungmin Yoon, Emma Lazarus, and Garrett Hongo, Munjuluri was named champion during last night’s national finals, which took place in Washington, DC, and was hosted by Joy Sunday from the recent television series Wednesday. As National Champion, Munjuluri will receive a prize of $20,000.

The second-place winner is Edward Wilson Jr., a senior at Jackson Preparatory School in Mississippi, who will receive a $10,000 prize. The third-place winner is Madison Harris, a freshman at Indian Creek School in Crownsville, Maryland, who will receive a $5,000 prize. The other six national finalists were 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); each will receive a $1,000 prize. The representing schools/organizations of all the top nine finalists will each receive $500 to purchase poetry materials. The Poetry Foundation provides and administers all aspects of the monetary prizes awarded for Poetry Out Loud. The Poetry Out Loud National Semifinals and Finals are administered by Mid Atlantic Arts.

Munjuluri participated in Poetry Out Loud through the organization Indiana Humanities. In an interview about her experience with Poetry Out Loud, Munjuluri said, “I love the fact that students are not just reading a poem or reading words, but they are actually sharing a part of their identity, sharing what’s important to them. The poems that I chose share a different facet of what I believe in, who I am.”

Photos from the 2023 National Finals are available for media use. To request an interview with Munjuluri or any of the finalists, please email Liz Auclair at [email protected].

This is the 18th year that the National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry Foundation have partnered with the state and jurisdictional arts agencies to support Poetry Out Loud, a program that encourages the nation's youth to learn about great poetry—both classic and contemporary—through memorization and recitation. 

The state champions competing at the National Finals also had the opportunity to showcase their creativity through an optional competition, Poetry Ourselves. The students could submit an original work of poetry in one of two categories: either a written poem or a video of a spoken poem, both of which were judged by poet Mahogany L. Browne and announced at last night’s National Finals. The winner in the written category is Natasha B. Connolly from Rhode Island. The winner in the spoken category is Stella Wright from Minnesota. The runner-up in the written category is Irene Jiayi Zhong from Hawai’i. The runner-up in the spoken category is Catherine Wooten from South Carolina. Winning poems are available on the NEA’s website at the links above.

About Poetry Out Loud

Poetry Out Loud starts at the classroom/school or at the local level with an area organization. Students memorize and recite poems they select from an anthology of more than 1,200 classic and contemporary poems. Winners then may advance to a regional and/or state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals. Since the program began in 2005, more than 4.3 million students and 76,000 teachers from 19,000 schools and organizations across the nation have participated in Poetry Out Loud. For more information about Poetry Out Loud and how to participate in the 2023–2024 program, visit poetryoutloud.org.

About the National Endowment for the Arts

Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the Arts Endowment supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more.

About the Poetry Foundation

The Poetry Foundation recognizes the power of words to transform lives. We work to amplify poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry. For more information, visit PoetryFoundation.org.

About Mid Atlantic Arts

Mid Atlantic Arts was established in 1979 to promote and support multi-state arts programming in a region that includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia. It is one of six regional arts organizations in the United States, and works in close partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and its member state and jurisdictional arts agencies. Mid Atlantic Arts distinguishes itself through its work in international cultural exchange, model programs in performing arts touring, its knowledge and presence in the jazz field, and its support of folk and traditional arts. For more information, visit www.midatlanticarts.org.

Media Contacts

Liz Auclair (NEA), [email protected], 202-682-5744

Elizabeth O’Connell-Thompson (Poetry Foundation), [email protected], 312-799-8065