SPRINGFIELD — Kareem Sayegh went into this year's series of Poetry Out Loud competitions hoping to make it back to the state finals, where he placed in the top five in 2008.

His goal? "I want to go to nationals this year," he said in January. "I watched my video from last year at state. I had pretty bad posture."

Today the senior took care of business, winning the 2009 Illinois title in the annual poetry recitation contest. Sayegh earned $200 for himself and $500 for Uni; the school will use its money to buy poetry books.

He also won an all-expense-paid trip for himself and one other person to Washington, D.C., for the national competition, which will take place April 27-28.

The national winner will receive a $20,000 scholarship. Judges will include award-winning actress Tyne Daly, "Prairie Home Companion" host Garrison Keillor, and poet Luis Rodriguez.

"This year, as opposed to last year when I went, the competition was a lot stiffer," said Sayegh. "Last year there was a very large divide between people who really knew how to recite poetry and people who just kind of said their poems without any sort of emotional attachment whatsoever. … This year it was a lot harder to choose the top five and then to choose the No. 1, because everybody was really good."

Sayegh was one of 16 students from eight Illinois regions who competed today at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield. He got there by winning Uni's school contest in late January and finishing as runner-up at the Eastern Illinois regional in early February.

In today's action, the first two rounds were open to all competitors, but the final round was limited to the top five. Sayegh recited three poems:

• First round — "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg
• Second round — "Holy Sonnets: Batter my heart, three-person'd God" by John Donne
• Third round — "The Man-Moth" by Elizabeth Bishop

"I went into this competition less prepared than I was last year, actually," Sayegh remarked. "But I think this year my choices were better. Last year a few of my poems were less deep; they lent themselves less to dynamics and changes in emotion as well as voice. And so this year I was really able to kind of express my full range."

Four judges were on hand to assess the students on artistic merit; a fifth judge kept track of accuracy. A sixth official served as prompter.

The state runner-up was Halstead Coleman Selby from Edwardsville High School.

"My last poem, which is 'The Man-Moth' by Elizabeth Bishop — it's a really lengthy piece; it's about 450 words," Sayegh noted. "And so I had the chance to really kind of express a diversity of style in it. I was really, really happy with that one especially, and with the Ginsberg poem.

"Also, this year I think I had a better audience response. There were moments where I really felt the audience would laugh when I wanted them to laugh and the audience would kind of nod their heads when I wanted them to nod their heads. So I felt like I was really getting across better this year."

Poetry Out Loud is a nationwide recitation competition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

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

"Last year kind of helped me get into it, but this year I felt like I really kind of locked into the poems and I really kind of expressed them better this year," Sayegh said.

He knew he had a solid chance for the top spot, but the announcement of his win still came as a surprise.

"There were three people that I think did well in the [final round]," he said. "So I figured it would be one of us three. I was pretty worried. And then when they said [the winner], it's just so surprising, because you never really think you're going to come out on top. Or maybe some people do, but I'm used to just worrying through it. And then they said my name, and after that I was just really happy. On the ride back I was ecstatic."

The following students competed in the state finals:

• Central Region
  CeCe Frey, Mt. Zion High School, Mt. Zion
  Roslynn Baker, Springfield Southeast High School, Springfield

• Chicagoland — Chicago Region
  Heidy Alvarado, Taft High School, Chicago
  Kelsey Waxma, Northside College Prep, Chicago

• Chicagoland — Suburban Region
  Lise Graham, Maine East High School, Park Ridge
  Dana Castillo, Lyons Township High School, LaGrange

• Eastern Region
  Samantha Porter, Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School, Paxton
  Kareem Sayegh, UNI HIGH

• Northern Region
  Beth Hopkins, Spectrum High School, Rockford
  Alex Peterson, Spectrum High School, Rockford

• South Central Region
  Ryan Harrison, Edwardsville High School, Edwardsville
  Halstead Coleman Selby, Edwardsville High School, Edwardsville

• Southern Region
  Angie Fisher, Herrin High School, Herrin
  Jourdin Batchelor, Carbondale Community High School, Carbondale

• Western Region
  Annette Putnam, Orion High School, Orion
  David Koffi, Moline High School, Moline

Now Sayegh will turn his attention to getting ready for nationals.

"I think the important thing is to practice but not to practice too much, because I think if you practice too much a poem can become dead to you," he said. "You almost say it so much that it just turns into a sequence of words rather than an emotional entity unto itself.

"And so I think I want to kind of get it down and be comfortable with it but still have room left for some emotional improvisation during the performance, which I think is something that's really important."

This will be Sayegh's first time on the national stage, and he's looking forward to it.

"That's going to be the big one," he said. "You get $200 for this prize, but there is a $20,000 prize on the line for nationals. And that's, I guess, the next goal, although it's pretty far off and pretty hard to come by. But, I mean, I might as well wish, right?"