DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. In Washington, D.C., a national champion was chosen last night.

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ELIZABETH ACEVEDO: And the 2019 national champion of Poetry Out Loud, winner of $20,000, the senior, Isabella Callery from Minnesota.

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GREENE: Thousands of high school students from across the country faced off this year reciting poetry. And here is the winner - reciting "Thoughtless Cruelty" by Charles Lamb.

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ISABELLA CALLERY: (Reading) The greatest being can have but fibers, nerves and flesh. And these, the smallest ones possess, although their frame and structure less escape our seeing.

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GREENE: That is Isabella Callery. She was reciting "Thoughtless Cruelty" by Charles Lamb. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.