A national poetry contest is seeking high school students to be part of its 2010 competition.

Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, sponsored by the Mississippi Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, kicks off this month and will run through January. The program aims to encourage students to learn poetry through memorization, performance and competition.

The contest will begin at the classroom level and advance to a school-wide competition. Winners from each school will advance to one of three regional contests held in February, then to the state contest, set for March 10 in Jackson.