Public Speaking Championship

Fall 1999

Winners of the University of Arkansas Public Speaking Championship, December 6, 1999. Left to right: First Place, Ramon Washington; Second Place, Courtney Campbell; Third Place, Katy Short.

The University of Arkansas Public Speaking Contest, sponsored by the Arkansas Union Society, continued a tradition of public speaking and oratory that has been a part of the curriculum since 1891. Union Society President Bill Horton said, "Communication skills are as important today as before the advent of mass media and the internet. We wanted to sponsor this competition on campus to showcase the outstanding student orators and to honor the rhetorical tradition that has been at the center of public life since the time of Plato and Aristotle."

Preliminary rounds of competition were held on December 2, and the Championship round was held in Giffels Auditorium in Old Main on the evening of December 6. Ramon Washington, a freshman Computer Systems Engineering major from Colliersville, Tennessee, was awarded the first place certificate and a prize of $100. Second place and a $50 prize were awarded to Courtney Campbell, a junior Fine Arts (graphic design) major from Hot Springs Village, and the third place certificate and a prize of $25 were awarded to Katy Short, a freshman Marketing major from Bentonville.

Other finalists receiving Certificates of Excellence included: Barrett Petty, a freshman Accounting major from West Helena; Tracy Kmetz, a freshman Communication major from Tulsa, Oklahoma; Stephen Eoff, a freshman Computer Systems Engineering major from Texarkana, Texas; Lisa-Marie France, a sophomore History/Pre-Law major from Alma; Ashley Stout, a freshman Business major from Greenland; Brooke Goodyear, a freshman International Economics major from Wichita, Kansas; Robert Sallings, a sophomore Communication major from Fayetteville; Katie Naill, a freshman International Business major from Sherwood; and Kurt Nelson, a freshman Kinesiology major from Fayetteville.

The Public Speaking Contest was organized under the direction of Leah Thompson, chair of the Union Society's Speaking Competition Committee. Judges for the Championship Round were: Dr. Richard G. Rea, Professor Emeritus of Communication and a former Chair of the UA Department of Communication; Dean Robert Moberly, of the UA School of Law; and Dr. James Beard, Director of the Basic Communication curriculum at the University.

Prizes for the competition were donated to the Arkansas Union Society by BTW-Houghton-Mifflin and Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

For additional information about the Spring 2000 UA Public Speaking Contest, click here.