Each year the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts partners with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation to host the Poetry Out Loud competition.

This is free high school program that encourages youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. These dynamic students compete for more than $100,000 in awards. This year the VI Lottery partnered with the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts to fly the 2018 Virgin Islands Champions to compete on April 24-25, 2018, in the National Poetry Out Load Competition in Washington D.C.