MS SC611

Commends and congratulates Akane Little, a Starkville High School senior, for winning first place in the Mississippi Arts Commission "Poetry Out Loud" Finals on March 7, 2013.

Recognizes Little's selection to represent Mississippi in the National "Poetry Out Loud" Finals in Washington, D.C. on April 28-30, 2013, competing for $50,000 in awards with a $20,000 prize for the National Champion.

Notes the Poetry Out Loud program is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation that encourages high school students to memorize and perform great poetry, with over 360,000 students nationwide and 5,138 from 47 Mississippi schools participating.

Awards Little $200 and provides her school library with a $500 stipend for poetry books; Little receives an all-expense-paid trip with a chaperone to nationals.

Directs presentation of this resolution to Akane Little, Starkville High School Principal Keith Fennell, the Mississippi Arts Commission Executive Director, and the Capitol Press Corps.