Watch the Slideshow
This evening, nine students took Toronto’s Isabel Bader Theatre by storm, and three were named National Champions at the inaugural Poetry In Voice National Finals.
English stream
National Champion: Kyla Kane, Vancouver Technical Secondary School, Vancouver, BC
Second-place winner: Dede Akolo, Little Flower Academy, Vancouver, BC
Third-place winner: Caitlin Botros, Father James Whelihan School, Calgary, AB
French stream
National Champion: Sarah Kordlouie, Villa Sainte-Marcelline, Westmount, QC
Second-place winner: Natasha Jadavji, Crofton House School, Vancouver, BC
Third-place winner: Anne Leblanc, Collège Lionel-Groulx, Sainte-Thérèse, QC
Bilingual stream
National Champion: Khalil Mair, Toronto French School, Toronto, ON
Second-place winner: Aisha Nafees, Westmount High School, Westmount, QC
Third-place winner: Elisabeth Sohier-Poirier, Lycée français de Toronto, Toronto, ON
Each National Champion received $5,000 and $1,000 for their school libraries ($500 of which is reserved for the purchase of poetry books). Second-place winners received $1,000 and $500 for their school libraries, while third-place winners were awarded $500 and $250 for their school libraries.
The students recited a wide range of classic and contemporary poems for a rapt audience of friends, family, teachers, and poetry lovers. Their recitations were judged by poets Herménégilde Chiasson, Kevin Connolly, Lynn Crosbie, Andrée Lacelle, Pierre Nepveu, and actor Fiona Reid. CBC Radio personality Johanne Blais hosted the evening with flair in both English and French.
Registration for Poetry In Voice is free and is now open for 2014 to secondary schools across Canada and CEGEPs in Quebec .