Shakespeare Competition Winner Announcement

Scout Harrell, a 12th grade homeschooler, was the winner of the Arlington Public Library's third annual ESU Shakespeare competition held at the Lake Arlington Branch on January 14.

She will go on to attend the next level of competition in Fort Worth next month.  Scout and other Tarrant County high school students will be competing for the chance to qualify to attend the national competition in New York City.

We wish her the best of luck!

We would also like to congratulate the 1st and 2nd runners-ups, Rylie Rasberry and Kristen Tran.

The purpose of the ESU National Shakespeare Competition is to develop students’ speaking and critical thinking skills and their appreciation of literature as they explore the beauty of the language and the timeless themes in Shakespeare’s works. The competition was open to any 9th-12th grade students.

Several high school students from Arlington and the surrounding area competed at the Lake Arlington Branch event.  The students were asked to select, memorize, and present a Shakespearean monologue and a sonnet to a panel of three judges. Each presentation reflected the time and care spent on preparing for the competition.

This year’s group had extra coaching assistance from Dr. Don Carlson, chair of English at the Trinity Valley School & coordinator of the Much Ado About Shakespeare summer workshop. He and a group of his students from the summer Shakespeare program presented short Shakespearan scenes, drama games and gave our participants an opportunity to work on their Shakespeare monologues in preparation for the ESU competition. 

We would like to thank our judges Barrie Alguire, a frequent performer in local community theatre, Mary Carver, a teacher and past Shakespeare competition winner, and Dr. Carlson.  We appreciate the support and time of these dedicated educators and the family and friends who attended the competition.