On November 20^th at the Poetry Out Loud Regional Competition in Tuscaloosa, Shelby County students from Calera High School and Montevallo High School walked away with top honors.

Two of the students are members of Shelby County Poetry Players, a performance group which combines acting and poetry into very memorable poetry renditions.   The talented group often “kidnaps” unsuspecting members of the audience to participate in their performances.

For the Poetry Out Loud competition, the Shelby County students competed in Regional 3, which covers 17 counties.  These four students will advance to state competition February 16, 2015 at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival theatre.  Only the top five students from regional advance to the state level.

Anthology Recitation

First Place – Devon Blake Cartwell – Calera High School (Poetry Players)

Fourth Place – Francis Pope – Montevallo High School (Poetry Players)

Original Poetry

Third Place  – Samuel Reece –  Montevallo High School

Fifth Place  – Emily Tryon  – Montevallo High School