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Oratorical Scholarship Contest

Topic:

"Discovering the Optimism within Me"

The Optimist Oratorical Contest gives youngsters the chance to speak to the world. More than $150,000 in college scholarships funded by the Optimist International Foundations is awarded annually from this program. First conducted in 1928, this is the second most popular Optimist International Program. Nearly 2,000 clubs participate in this program each year.

In the Optimist Club of Huntsville contest in addition to a medallion, the top three winners receive $500, $300, and $100 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place respectively. The first place winner at the Club level will advance to the Zone contest. The Zone consists of the clubs in Huntsville and Ft. Payne. The first place winner from the Zone contest will advance to the North Alabama Regional Contest. The first place winner from the three Regional Contests will then advance to the Alabama-Mississippi District contest to compete for the college scholarships. At the District level three scholarships are awarded, $2,500 for 1st Place; $1500 for 2nd Place; and $1000 for 3rd Place.
The District-level scholarships are funded by the Optimist International Foundation and the Past Governors of the Alabama-Mississippi District Committee.

The Optimist Oratorical World Championships will be in June of 2023. The Alabama-Mississippi Optimist District will have the exciting opportunity to send their 1st place winner of their District Oratorical contest to St. Louis to compete with the winners of the Districts in our Optimist International Region for a scholarship valued at $5000. The winner of each Optimist International Region (eight winners total) will compete with the winner from St. Louis University’s Global Region for a $15,000, $10,000, or $5,000 World Championship scholarship. There is the potential for a student to win up to $22,500 in scholarships!

Who:
The contest is open to any student under the age of 19 as of October 1, 2022 (and is not enrolled as a degree seeking student of a post-secondary institution).

Where:
Optimist Recreational Center, 703 Oakwood Ave NE, Huntsville, AL 35811

When:
The contest will be held on March 4th, 2023 at 9 am

How To Enter:
Interested students present a speech on the pre-assigned topic at the Optimist Club of Huntsville's Oratorical Contest. Fill out an application and submit it to the Oratorical Chair at oratorical@hsvoptimists.org. The deadline for submission of the application is March 1, 2023. For more information contact the Oratorical Chair.

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