Peter Winfrey, a senior at St. Louis University High School, is one of 12 finalists at the national Poetry Out Loud event tonight (Tuesday) in Washington, D.C.

In a telephone interview on Tuesday, he said that when performing he tries “to get an emotional connection with the audience through the poems.” For the competition Monday,  he recited “Mingus at the Showplace” by William Matthews, “Detroit, Tomorrow” by Philip Levine and ”La Belle Dame sans Merci” by John Keats.

Fifty-three students competed this week by memorizing and reciting poetry. They came from every state, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tonight, the final 12 perform for judges, including radio personality and poetry lover Garrison Keillor.

Pete also been a member of SLUH’s speech team and performed in school plays. Last weekend, he was in a performance of six one-act plays at SLUH called “All in the Timing” by David Ives. He lives in Shrewsbury with his parents, Bill and Kathy Winfrey, and plans to go to Fordham University next fall.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pete was interviewed by Charles Osgood for CBS “Sunday Morning,” but said he didn’t know when the show will air.

Poetry Out Loud is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.  The finals will award a total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends.

Wednesday update: Pete didn’t finish in top three. The winner was from Virginia, William Farley. Second place was taken by Barbara Gooding of Kentucky and third place was Kareem Sayegh of Illinois.