Bowling Green, Ky. - In observance of Western Kentucky University’s Centennial, the Department of Communication is reviving a time-worn tradition – the oratorical contest.

The Centennial Oratorical Contest will be conducted on April 19, with the first rounds of speeches beginning in mid-afternoon. The competition finals will take place at a dinner for all participants that evening at The Kentucky Building and will be judged by a panel of dignitaries from the University and the community.

Students who participate will compete for prize money and will gain valuable experience in the process, according to Dr. Sally Ray, department head.

The grand prize winner will receive $500, donated by publisher McGraw-Hill, a co-sponsor of the event. Awards of $100 will be presented to both the second- and third-place finishers. All speakers in the contest will receive Certificates of Participation.

While the Department of Communication has sponsored a number of public speaking competitions in the past, the Centennial Oratorical Contest will be unique in several respects. All participants must base their speeches on the University’s motto, “The Spirit Makes the Master”; scripts will be prohibited; and speakers will each be limited to the use of one index card for notes.

“Students from all over campus, as well as from the Bowling Green Community College, are encouraged to participate,” Dr. Ray said. “We are definitely not limiting this to just our communication majors. But we are limiting the total number of participants to the first 100 who register.

“The discipline of communication has expanded especially in recent years to include much more than public speaking, but we still have our historical roots in rhetoric and public speaking. Oratorical skills are significant to our country’s democratic process, and believe it or not, there was a time when people would attend public speaking competitions as a form of great entertainment.”

Registration deadline for participants is Friday, April 7.

More information and complete rules are available from the Department of Communication office at Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center, room 130, or online at http://www.wku.edu/Dept/Academic/AHSS/Communication/

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Sally Ray at (270) 745-3296.

-WKU-
"A leading American university with international reach"

Office of Media Relations
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, Ky. 42101-3576
Phone: (270)745-4295 - Fax: (270)7455387 - E-Mail: western@wku.edu