Champlain student Chloé Simard won $2,000 at the National Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie competition on Thursday, April 20.

Simard was awarded second place in the French category at the National Finals, which took place at the Calgary Central Public Library.

Over 20,000 students from all over Canada learned a poem by heart this year. The 24 top-scoring students in the Online Qualifiers advanced to the Online Semifinals, then the 9 finalists were flown to Calgary for a week of poetry-related workshops and activities in the lead up to National Finals.

A jury composed of poets Clémence Dumas-Côté, Evelyne Gagnon and Rodney Saint-Éloi evaluated the French recitations. The finalists recited poems by an array of classic and contemporary poets, including Dane Swan, Charlie Petch, Aja Monet, Jacques Prévert, Patrice Desbiens, and Victor Hugo.