Beechwood High School junior Bella Slone won the 2026 Kentucky Poetry Out Loud recitation contest in Lexington this week.
With her achievement, Slone received a $200 award, $500 for her school library to purchase poetry books, and a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the National Finals.
Slone was among eight poetry recitation competitors from throughout the state, organized by the Kentucky Arts Council.
Her recitations included “She Walketh Veiled and Sleeping” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “Militants to Certain Other Women” by Katharine Rolston Fisher, and “The Light of. Stars” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow…