This past Tuesday saw the 5^th Annual St. George’s Poetry In Voice competition. 60 boys, each chosen as the best performers in their classes, gathered in Mclean Hall ready to perform their recitals. Poetry In Voice has somewhat become a tradition at St. George’s – a poetry memorisation and recital contest beginning in classrooms and eventually expanding to more competitive levels. This year, the country’s top performers will gather in Vancouver during the spring for the National Finals.

St. George’s participates in the Poetry In Voice competition, and this annual schoolwide contest pits the best performers in the school against one another. One winner is chosen from Grade 9 and 10, while two winners are chosen from the senior grades. The event began at 6:00pm; juice and refreshments were served in Mclean Hall while students, parents, and teachers populated the cafeteria. Once most of the audience had turned up, head organiser of the event, Mrs. S. Matthews, commenced the evening with a welcoming speech. Although English teacher Mr. J. Sayers (the “guest speaker” of the night) was due to make a speech, he unfortunately couldn’t attend on the day due to sickness.

Mrs. Matthews then introduced the first performance of the night: Tony Wang (Grade 12) performing Song by Emily Bronte. Tony was not competing, but ultimately decided to recite a poem in honour of Ms. Sandra Hughes, a teacher who previously taught him English and unfortunately passed away this summer due to cancer. His performance was heartfelt and passionate, and it was well received by the audience. The performance was proceeded by a dispersion of the audience, as the performers went to their respective rooms for the grade level performances.

The night proceeded with student performances – some performers as young as 14, reciting in front of parents, a panel of judges, and their peers. Refreshments were served during a short break after all the student performances were complete. Meanwhile, the judges determined the best performances within each grade.

After the winners were chosen, attendees gathered in the auditorium to watch the finalists. The winners from Grade 9 and 10 were Jamin Feng and Hamish Marissen-Clark respectively, while the Luc Maurer and Alex Mackay were selected as the strongest performers in Grade 11. Nathan Wong and Jared Bakyoni were chosen from Grade 12. Ms. J. Torry announced the winners one by one, and they were called up to perform their respective poems.

A speech from Mrs. Matthews concluded the evening. She mentioned that “reading a poem is one thing, speaking it is another,” and it is safe to say that all the performers lived up to her statement. A final competition to determine the best performer within St. George’s will be held on February 8^th, 2017, and the victor will move on to Nationals in April.

To find out more about Poetry In Voice, visit poetryinvoice.com.