Claire Smith, 17, of Hood River, was one of six finalists in the Oregon high school Poetry Out Loud (POL) competition this month in Salem.

Smith is a senior at Hood River Valley High School. She recited “Siren Song,” by Margaret Atwood; “Dulce et Decorum Est,” by Wilfred Owen; and “Beat! Beat! Drums!” by Walt Whitman. Hood River qualifying was held Feb. 27 at Hood River County Library. HRVHS senior Emma Spaulding was Hood River’s runner-up.

Sophia Soberon, 17, of Brookings-Harbor High School, Brookings, won the competition. POL is a collaborative project of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation and the Oregon Arts Commission.

Soberon won $200 and an all-expense paid trip to the national POL finals next month.in Washington, D.C. for herself and a chaperone.

Nicole Hernandez, 17, of Woodburn Arts and Communications Academy, was declared the state runner-up. Every participant received a hardbound copy of “From Here We Speak,” an anthology of Oregon poetry edited by Primus and St. John and Ingrid Wendt and published by Oregon State University Press, personalized Poetry Out Loud bookplate.

Oregon had 2,000 students at 19 high schools participate in Poetry Out Loud this year; 13 schools sent winners to the state competition. All the state-level contestants prepared three poems from a 400-poem anthology provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Each recited two poems, with six finalists reading a third.

The contestants were judged by Oregon Poet Laureate Lawson Inada, poet Judith Barrington and Primus St. John, and theater director Scott Palmer.

The criteria included accuracy, voice inflection, evidence of understanding, level of difficulty and eye contact. 2008 marks the third year for POL in Oregon and in each of those years, HRVHS has had a finalist in the contest.

“Regina Rafelson is the coordinator and she’s obviously doing something right,” said POL coordinator Cynthia Kirk.