Plymouth Regional’s Reagan Sutherland named 2025 NH Poetry Out Loud Champion; Brewster Academy’s Hannah Ruegg selected as alternate

The N.H. State Council on the Arts has announced that Reagan Sutherland from Plymouth Regional High School is the winner of the 2025 New Hampshire Poetry Out Loud High School Championship. Hannah Ruegg from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro was selected as the alternate champion. 

Sutherland will represent New Hampshire at the national finals, which are scheduled to take place in Washington D.C., May 5-7. Should Sutherland be unable to participate in the finals, Ruegg will represent the Granite State at that event.

Poetry Out Loud begins at the classroom level in the fall; participating high schools and school groups then send their champions to regional semi-finals. This year, 11 semi-finalists advanced to the state championship, which took place March 14 in Representatives Hall at the State House.

The program requires students to memorize poems from an anthology of more than 1,200 selected by the Poetry Foundation. Judges score their recitations on several criteria, including physical presence, voice and articulation, interpretation, evidence of understanding and accuracy, and overall performance.

Each student at the championship recited two poems in the qualifying round. The four students with the highest scores moved onto a final round, where they recited a third poem. Scores from all three rounds were tallied to determine New Hampshire’s champion.

As state champion, Sutherland receives $200 and Plymouth Regional High School receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. Ruegg will receive $100, with a $200 stipend given to Brewster Academy for its poetry book collection.

Administered in New Hampshire by the N.H. State Council on the Arts, Poetry Out Loud is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

National funding for Poetry Out Loud is provided by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. In New Hampshire, additional support comes from Brightspot Consultants; the Currier Museum of Art; the Frost Place; North Country Education Services; the Putnam Foundation, a donor-advised fund of the N.H. Charitable Foundation and Slam Free or Die.

To learn more about 2025 New Hampshire Poetry Out Loud, visit nharts.dncr.nh.gov and click on the Poetry Out Loud button.

The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts is a division of the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. It began in 1965 with legislation designed “to insure that the role of the arts in the life of our communities will continue to grow and play an ever more significant part in the education and welfare of our citizens.” Funding for programs is provided through state appropriations, a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Conservation License Plate fund. Learn more about the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts at nharts.dncr.nh.gov.

###