CHAMPAIGN — Senior Kareem Sayegh and sophomore Claire Liu will have to wait several days to find out whether they will advance to the Poetry Out Loud state finals.

Sayegh and Liu were among six students who competed this morning in the Poetry Out Loud regional contest at the Champaign Public Library.

However, two of the students recited only one poem each instead of the required two; because of a miscommunication, they were not aware of the requirement and have been allowed to give their second recitations on Thursday. The winner and runner-up are expected to be announced that day. They will compete in the state finals March 10 in Springfield.

Sayegh is the defending regional champion. He won Uni's schoolwide recitation contest two weeks ago, and Liu was school runner-up.

Poetry Out Loud is a nationwide recitation competition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. The national finals will be held April 26-28 in Washington, D.C. The winner will receive a $20,000 scholarship.

The Eastern Illinois regional contest is sponsored by the 40 North | 88 West local arts, culture, and entertainment council; the Illinois Arts Council sponsors the state contest.

Besides Sayegh and Liu, the other students who competed Saturday were:

• Monica Jarboe, Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School
• Samantha Porter, Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School
• Jamechia Ray, READY High School, Champaign
• Trenika Washington, READY High School, Champaign

The competitors are judged on physical presence, voice and articulation, appropriateness of dramatization, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding, overall performance, and accuracy.

Sayegh recited "Holy Sonnets: Batter my heart, three-person'd God" by John Donne and "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg.

Liu recited "The Great Blue Heron" by Carolyn Kizer and "i carry your heart with me(i carry it in" by E.E. Cummings.

The two students from READY High School recited only one poem each.