FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Local high school students, their teachers and their friends and family, have an opportunity this Saturday to learn about a program that could earn them a $20,000 scholarship and other awards, such as an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the national finals in the Poetry Out Loud program.

Sue Walker, the POL regional coordinator from South Alabama and Alabama’s Poet Laureate, and Donna Russell, executive director of the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education, will discuss the POL program from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Sept. 11, in the Giddens Conference Center at the Fairhope Public Library.

The information program will follow a meeting of the Pensters Writing Group event that runs from 10 a.m. to noon.

“Saturday’s event will be an opportunity for people to hear a presentation about Poetry Out Loud, so they can better understand the competition process and how to get started,” said Jessica Jones, assistant to the regional coordinator. “The event will be a time to relax, eat, network and get to know other people in the community and also enjoy poetry by Jeanie Thompson.”

Thompson, poet, teacher and head of the Alabama Writers Forum, will appear at the Pensters meeting prior to the POL event.

One Alabama student, Yousef Biaz, a high school junior from Auburn, made it to the national finals this past April, bringing home a $1,000 scholarship. The winner receives a $20,000 college scholarship award.

“We were very proud to have Alabama’s champion place in the top nine contestants nationally,” said Diana Green, with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, that directs the statewide POL in Alabama. “We credit that success to the fine teaching that happens in Alabama schools, and to the large regional representation we have in our state. This past school year was the first year that we had a good diverse representation from across the state. We look forward to expanding that reach, allowing more students to showcase their talents.”

The POL program started nationally in 2006 and is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, as well as by the Alabama State Council on the Arts. The national groups provide a budget of approximately $20,000 to the states, some of which is matched by ASCA, Green said.

The competition is for students in grades 9 to 12, and winners at local schools move up to regional competitions, where they also receive training in reading poetry out loud and writing their own poetry. Alabama has a special program for writing poetry, with awards for the winners in the program sponsored by the Alabama Writers Forum, Green said.

“Learning great poetry by heart develops the mind and imagination,” said Dana Goia, acclaimed poet and chairman of the NEA in 2006 who helped create the program. “It isn’t just an arts program. By immersing themselves in powerful language and ideas, the students will develop their ability to speak well, especially in public. This is a skill they will use in the workplace and the community for the rest of their lives.”

For information about the POL event, visit www.poetryoutloud.org or contact Jones at jrb307@jaguar1.usouthal.edu, or Walker at swalker@jaguar1.usouthal.edu. The Giddens Conference Center is located at 501 Fairhope Ave in the Fairhope library.