Impressing a panel of judges that included writer Garrison Keillor and actress Tyne Daly, senior Kareem Sayegh placed third at the Poetry Out Loud national finals Tuesday night. Sayegh won a $5,000 scholarship for himself and a $500 stipend for Uni High, which the school will use to buy poetry books.

Senior Kareem Sayegh's ability to recite poetry earned him a $1,000 college scholarship on Monday, and he's still in the running for an even bigger prize: $20,000. Sayegh is one of 12 students out of 53 state champions who made the cut to compete in today's Poetry Out Loud national finals at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

Come April 28, you'll find senior Kareem Sayegh in Washington, D.C., where he will represent Illinois in the Poetry Out Loud national finals. Sayegh won the state title today in Springfield, and with it an all-expense-paid trip to the nation's capital to compete for the $20,000 first-prize scholarship.

Senior Kareem Sayegh is still alive in the Poetry Out Loud competition. The defending regional champion was named runner-up in the extremely close 2009 Eastern Illinois regional contest, qualifying him for a second straight trip to the state finals. Also competing for Uni this year was sophomore Claire Liu, who made a great impression in her first regional.

Senior Kareem Sayegh and sophomore Claire Liu were among six students who competed Saturday morning in the Poetry Out Loud regional contest at the Champaign Public Library. However, two students could not attend the competition and have been allowed to give their recitations on Thursday.

For the second straight year, Kareem Sayegh will represent Uni at the Poetry Out Loud Eastern Illinois regional competition. The senior will be joined by sophomore Claire Liu. Sayegh won Uni's poetry recitation contest this week, and Liu was runner-up. On Feb. 7 they will contend for a trip to the state finals.

[Update: Contest to continue Wednesday during lunch.] On Tuesday, the Uni English department will host a schoolwide recitation contest as part of this year's Poetry Out Loud competition. Last year, then-junior Kareem Sayegh advanced to the state finals, placing in the top five with his version of works by Sandburg, Behn, and Owen.

[UPDATED, audio included] Junior Kareem Sayegh chose an eclectic trio of poems to memorize and recite for the Poetry Out Loud state finals last week: a muscular tribute to a city on the rise, a flirtatious meditation on the cruelty of love, an unflinching look at the reality of war. The result? A top-five finish for Sayegh in Uni's first year of participating in Poetry Out Loud.

[AUDIO included] Junior Kareem Sayegh won first place in the Poetry Out Loud regional competition held Saturday at the Champaign Public Library. Sayegh will compete Thursday in the state finals at the Springfield Center for the Arts. The state winner will advance to the national finals, to be held April 29 in Washington, D.C. Check inside to listen to Sayegh perform the two poems he recited at the regional contest, Carl Sandburg's "Chicago" and Aphra Behn's "Love Armed."