PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A high school student in Maine who fled his native Zambia can compete in a U.S. government-funded poetry contest, a federal judge ruled Friday. The National Endowment for the Arts had blocked the 11th-grader’s participation, saying he doesn’t meet their U.S. citizenship rules. Allan Monga, a 19-year-old junior at Deering High School, won Maine’s “Poetry Out Loud” contest but initially wasn’t allowed to compete nationally because he hasn’t yet been granted legal asylum.
Student from Zambia ruled eligible for US poetry contest