Local Optimist clubs are teaming up to bring the annual oratorical speech contest to Warsaw again.
The Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club and the Warsaw Noon Optimist Club are co-sponsoring this oratorical contest, which is in its 90th year. Youth can win prizes and move on to higher levels of competition, where they might be eligible to win scholarships up to $2,500.
The contest is open to all youth 17 and younger as of Oct. 1. Participants must prepare and deliver an original four- to five-minute speech on this year’s topic, “Where are My Roots of Optimism?”
The competition will be in the Little Theatre at Grace College at 2 p.m. Jan. 28. The local first-, second- and third-place finishers will receive prizes including an iPad Mini with case, an Altair RC Quadcopter Camera Drone and a JBL Flip 4 Bluetooth Speaker with case. On the district level, first and second place recognition will go to the top two male and top two female contestants. They will receive medallions and be eligible for the next stage of the contest.
For a complete list of contest rules and an application for the contest, visit www.warsawoptimist.org and click the link at the top of the page for “2018 Oratorical Contest.” Deadline for submission is Jan. 24. Only the first 20 completed applications will be accepted.
Optimist Clubs exist “to aid and encourage the development of youth in the belief that the giving of one’s self in service to others will advance the well-being of humankind, community life and the world.”
To learn more about Optimist Clubs, visit a local meeting. The Breakfast Optimists meet in the Shrine Building at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds on Wednesday mornings; breakfast is served at 6:30 a.m. and the meeting starting at 7. The Noon Optimists meet in the Alpha Dining Commons at Grace College at noon on Mondays.
