Local high school students are invited to compete in the 2021 Annual American Legion High School Oratorical Scholarship Program.
Hosted by Post No. 67 of The American Legion, the contest is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2021, in Cary. The contest is open to U.S. citizens under the age of 20 and currently enrolled in grades 9-12. Contestants must attend an educational institution within the state or a state-accredited homeschool.
The speech contest is designed to promote knowledge of the U. S. Constitution and to help contestants develop public speaking skills that can help them with their advancement in their chosen profession.
The main component of the contest is a prepared oration that must be about some phase of the Constitution of the United States, emphasizing the duties and obligations of a citizen to the United States government. The prepared oration must be the original effort of each contestant and must be 8-10 minutes in length. An assigned topic oration of 3-5 minutes in duration is designed to test the speaker’s knowledge of the subject. The assigned topic, from a list of four, is given to the speakers during the contest. These four assigned topics about specific sections of the Constitution or Amendments are known and studied by the contestants before the speech contest.
In addition to the awards by winners of the various elimination rounds of competition, college scholarships of $25,000, $22,000, and $20,000 will be awarded to the first through third places in the national finals. Each state winner who competes in the first round of the national contest will receive a $2,000 scholarship. Participants in the second round who do not advance to the national final round will receive an additional $2,000 scholarship. The top three youth orators who have won all previous elimination rounds of the contest will vie for top honors in the national contest in April in Indianapolis. The American Legion will pay the expenses of state winners at the national contest.
Students interested in entering the competition can obtain complete contest rules and information by contacting Post Oratorical Chairman David Christiansen at dchristi@gmail.com or calling (919) 694-5015.
For additional information, please visit legion.org/oratorical.
