April 29, 2008 — Charlotte Amalie High School's Shawntay Henry trumped her peers nationwide Tuesday night with an eloquence that catapulted her to first place in the 2008 Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, held in Washington, D.C.
Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, the competition drew 52 contestants, one from each state, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. They matched their skills in reciting classic and contemporary poems as part of a two-day competition.
"Oh man, I'm relieved," Shawntay said in a telephone interview following her victory. "All the anxiety was killing me. But I'm happy — definitely happy that I did the Virgin Islands proud!"
Shawntay brings home a first-place purse of $20,000 in scholarship money, which she says she will use to study pediatric medicine and performing arts in college. Not just yet, though. The poise and gravitas that enable her to render her lines so effectively belie her stature as a sophomore of 16.
"She's something special," said Tasida Kelch, special projects coordinator for the V.I. Council on the Arts, which sponsored the program in the territory. "She has something innate. It's like she's not even trying. When she opens her mouth, the words just come out, and you hear them differently when Shawntay says them. It's something beautiful."
Kelch, who accompanied Shawntay to Washington, was particularly proud, since this is the first year the territory has competed in Poetry Out Loud.
"We're really excited that the first year we participated, we're bringing home the big prize," Kelch said. "This should explode in the V.I. now that we have a national winner. We're looking forward to more students participating and getting more students involved."
The program is intended to encourage high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance. It worked for her, Shawntay said.
"I thought poetry was boring, but when you really listen to the words and recite it on stage, it comes alive and you can feel that, and you have to make sure the audience feels that too," she said. "I hope this is an opportunity for me to open doors for younger children … to let them know that poetry is not what it seems."
Choking back the tears, Shawntay's mother said preparing for Washington involved days and weeks of hard work.
"Every day after school," Shirma Henry-Georges said. "And for the whole of Carnival, her poetry coach had her really, really working.
"I never doubted that my daughter would actually come and not win. I knew she would take it. I'm just happy. Shawntay is a well-rounded young lady, very disciplined. She works hard. They couldn’t have given this award to a better individual at all."
Shawntay read a total of three poems as the judges narrowed the field of contestants from 52 to 12 and then to five, before she was declared the winner. Her poems were "Beauty" by Tony Hoagland, "January 1795" by Mary Robinson, and "Frederick Douglas" by Robert E. Hayden.
She and her entourage arrive back in St. Thomas Wednesday evening.
Featured speakers and participants in the competition included NEA Chairman Dana Gioia; Poetry Foundation President John Barr; Garrison Keillor, host of the radio show "A Prairie Home Companion"; Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey; author and poet Luis Rodriguez; novelist and journalist Leslie Schwartz; Poetry Daily editor Don Selby; and Scott Simon of National Public Radio.
Back Talk Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.
