After two rounds of competition among talented classmates, sophomore Natalia Gatti was named winner of Sussex Academy’s Poetry Out Loud contest Dec. 18.

Poetry Out Loud is a national literacy and recitation competition funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Students are scored on presence, speech, understanding, interpretation, poem complexity and accuracy of recitation.

Natalia now goes on to represent Sussex Academy at the state competition, set to be held at the Smyrna Opera House Feb. 19.

Last year’s champion, senior Chase Reynolds, served as emcee of the event, in which Natalia competed against classmates Carley Couch, Joanna Tsoukalas and Natalie Howard, who was named runner-up. Student Marissa Davis handled lighting and music for the student-run competition, which was coordinated by English teacher Andie Kirtley.