2025 Poetry Out Missouri State Champion Louisa Blackmoore | photo, Lloyd Grotjan
POETRY OUT LOUD
2025 Missouri state champion is Louisa Blackmoore of St. Louis
Louisa Blackmoore, a senior at Crossroads College Preparatory School in St. Louis, is the 2025 Missouri state champion of Poetry Out Loud. She won the championship at the Missouri state competition held in Jefferson City on March 6. She will go on to represent Missouri in the national finals May 5-7 in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Blackmoore chose to perform these works. She will perform the same poems at the national finals.
- Cartoon Physics, part I by contemporary American poet Nick Flynn
- Where the Wild Things Go by contemporary American poet D. Gilson
- Ozymandias by early 19th-century English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley
The runner-up in the Missouri state finals was Erin Messias, a sophomore at Whitfield School in Creve Coeur.
“Students tell us this dynamic competition has a powerful impact on their lives,” said Michael Donovan, Missouri Arts Council executive director. “Poetry Out Loud reaches students in schools all over Missouri. We are proud to have been part of this program from its beginning in 2006.”
Poetry Out Loud encourages the study of great poetry by providing free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high school students across the country. Competitions start in individual high schools or with local organizations such as libraries and other nonprofits. The winners of one tier of competition advance to the next, ending at the national finals.
Poetry Out Loud helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. The program was created in 2006 by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and is supported by the Foundation, NEA, and state and jurisdictional arts agencies. Missouri has participated in Poetry Out Loud from the beginning. The Missouri Arts Council and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education work in partnership to bring Poetry Out Loud to Missouri.
Judges for the 2025 Missouri state finals, drawn from throughout the state, were Aryiel Everett, 2008 Missouri state champion, assistant operations manager of The Educator Academy, Kansas City; Andrea Jira, program specialist at City of Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs; Kate Brown Merrick, 2019 Missouri state champion, communications coordinator of Hill City Church, Springfield; and Stuart Smith, improvement and accountability manager of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Jefferson City.
MISSOURI’S REGIONAL CHAMPIONS OF POETRY OUT LOUD 2025
• Louisa Blackmoore, St. Louis City Region > 12th grade, Crossroads College Preparatory School, St. Louis
• Isabelle Brandes, Southeast Region > 9th grade, Jackson Senior High School, Jackson
• Salvador Gonzalez, Southwest Region > 11th grade, Stockton High School, Stockton
• Mel Laubscher, Kansas City Region > 12th grade, Notre Dame de Sion High School, Kansas City
• Erin Messias, St. Louis County Region: 10th grade, Whitfield School, Creve Coeur
• M Phelps, Central Region > 12th grade, Rock Bridge High School, Columbia
• Eleanor Schweizer, St. Charles County Region > 10th grade, Lafayette Academy, Lake St. Louis
Missouri’s 2025 regional champions: M Phelps, Eleanor Schweizer, Salvador Gonzalez, state champion Louisa Blackmoore, state runner-up Erin Messias, Mel Laubscher, Isabelle Brandes
20 YEARS OF POETRY OUT LOUD IN MISSOURI
From the first national Poetry Out Loud in 2006 through today, these are Missouri’s state champions.
2025 | Louisa Blackmoore, Crossroads College Preparatory School, St. Louis
2024 | Julie Clayton, Nerinx Hall High School, Webster Groves
2023
| Nick Merlo, Crossroads College Preparatory School, St. Louis
2022 | Ava Maupin, School of the Osage High School, Osage Beach
2021 | Mattie Mills, Notre Dame de Sion High School, Kansas City
2020 | Mary Margaret Hughes, Central High School, Springfield
2019 | Kate Brown, Stockton High School, Stockton
2018 | Shakira Cross, Hickman High School, Columbia
2017 | Emily Bauer, Parkway West High School, St. Louis County
2016 | Sarah Koo, Parkway North High School, St. Louis County
2015 | Maya Bryant, Holt High School, Wentzville
2014 | Thomas Fields, St. Louis University High School, St. Louis
2013
| Essence Imani Lee, Crossroads College Preparatory School, St. Louis
2012
| Cameron Locke, Stockton High School, Stockton
2011 |
Terry Watkins, Jr., Crossroads College Preparatory, St. Louis
2010 | Nicole Andrews, Springfield R-12 Central High School, Springfield
2009 | Pete Winfrey, St. Louis University High School, St. Louis
2008 | Aryiel Everett, Park Hill South High School, Riverside
2007 | Michael Brown, Blue Springs High School, Blue Springs
2006 | Aislinn Lowry, Jefferson City High School, Jefferson City
RESOURCES FOR SCHOOLS
Schools begin to register for Poetry Out Loud every fall at the beginning of the academic year. Check these resources to learn more about how the program works and the benefits it brings to students and schools. Also, contact Jenni Ryan, Missouri Arts Council arts education specialist, at jenni.ryan.ltgov.mo.gov or 314-340-6857.
- Poetry Out Loud national program
- National Endowment for the Arts pages about Poetry Out Loud
- Poetry Foundation
- Poetry Out Loud: Best High School Poetry Activity Ever – Marilyn Yung, English teacher in Urbana, Missouri, tells the story of her adventures with running the 2022 program for Hickory County Skyline High School. “Poetry Out Loud is simply one of the best things I’ve done in my 11 years of teaching!”
- Get Involved in Poetry Out Loud! video – Hear from students and teachers about why they love the program in this five-minute video. Missouri is prominently featured. There are comments from Thomas Fields, 2014 Missouri State Champion and one of only nine finalists in the 2014 nationals. There are also comments from Charles Hussung, teacher at St. Louis University High School at which Thomas was a senior, and from Virginia Sanders of the Missouri Arts Council, our Missouri Poetry Out Loud coordinator.
- Letter from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to school superintendents describing the 2021-22 program and how Poetry Out Loud benefits schools
- Article by the National Association of State Arts Agencies lauding the program’s life-changing “power of poetry and partnership”