# World Championship of Public Speaking

The World Championship of Public Speaking began in 1938 and has grown to over 50,000 participants in 149 countries in 2022. In its early decades, it was referred to as the Toastmasters Speech Contest. By the 1990s, there were about 10,000 participants every year. The contest's popularity grew rapidly in the 2000s. The contest has been called the "largest speech contest in the world" by Daijiworld.

## History

1960 champion Glenn E. Carroll is the first non-American (from Canada) to win the title. 1977 champion Evelyn Jane Burgay is the first woman to win the title. 1982 champion Kenneth Bernard is the first from outside North America (Australia) to win the title. 1985 champion Marie C. Pyne is the first European (Ireland) to win the title. 1995 Champion Mark Brown is the first and only Jamaican to win the title. 2014 champion Dananjaya Hettiarachchi of Sri Lanka was the first Asian to win the championship. In 2008, Lashunda Rundles became the first African American woman to ever win the title of World Champion of Public Speaking. She also was the first woman to win in almost two decades. In 2018, Ramona J. Smith became the second African American woman to win, it had been a decade since a woman took the title. Also in 2018, for the first time ever in the history of Toastmasters International, three women became the top speakers in the world. Sherri Su of China took 2nd place. Anita Fain Taylor of Florida, USA took 3rd place, Ramona J. Smith took 1st place. In 2021 Verity Price (South Africa) became the 6th woman to ever win the international speech contest, and the first speaker in history to win from Africa.
| Year | Name | From |
| 1938 | Henry Wiens | Reedley, California |
| 1939 | William Roberts | Huntington Park, California |
| 1940 | David MacFarlane | Santa Monica, California |
| 1941 | John McGinnis | San Francisco, California |
| 1942 | Cavett Robert | Phoenix, Arizona |
| 1943 | Lloyd Prante | Monrovia, California |
| 1944 | NO CONVENTION | |
| 1945 | NO CONVENTION | |
| 1946 | Thor Myhre | Spokane, Washington |
| 1947 | Douglas Sherwin | Clearlake, Iowa |
| 1948 | Robert Dellwo | Spokane, Washington |
| 1949 | Dalton McAllister | Fort Wayne, Indiana |
| 1950 | Charles Hilton | Mason City, Iowa |
| 1951 | Albert Green Jr. | Seattle, Washington |
| 1952 | George W. Armstrong | Omaha, Nebraska |
| 1953 | Theodore B. Furlow | Long Beach, California |
| 1954 | Herbert Thompson | Wood River, Illinois |
| 1955 | Charles W. Bryant | Tacoma, Washington |
| 1956 | David Holmes Jr. | Toledo, Ohio |
| 1957 | Charles Jones | Fort Smith, Arkansas |
| 1958 | Edmund J. Shine | Hamburg, New York |
| 1959 | Dean F. Berkeley | Bloomington, Indiana |
| 1960 | Glenn E. Carroll | Kitchener, Ontario, Canada |
| 1961 | John J. Carver | Seattle, Washington |
| 1962 | Robert Garton | Columbus, Indiana |
| 1963 | Larry Beitel | Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
| 1964 | Anthony C.L. Bishop | Northridge, California |
| 1965 | John L. Nydegger | Lewiston, Idaho |
| 1966 | Michael Yaconelli | San Diego, California |
| 1967 | Dale Smith | Goshen, Indiana |
| 1968 | Grant R. Sheehan | Washington, D.C. |
| 1969 | Dennis Mangers | Delano, California |
| 1970 | Stephen D. Boyd | Bloomington, Illinois |
| 1971 | Bert Angus | Transcona, Manitoba, Canada |
| 1972 | Rudy Valle | Canoga Park, California |
| 1973 | Charles W. Stewart | San Antonio, Texas |
| 1974 | Bennie Powell | Los Angeles, California |
| 1975 | Andy McKay | Rochester, New York |
| 1976 | William Johnson | Aberdeen, Maryland |
| 1977 | Evelyn Jane Burgay | Springfield, Virginia |
| 1978 | Michael Aun II | Lexington, South Carolina |
| 1979 | Dick Caldwell | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| 1980 | Jeff Young | Los Angeles, California |
| 1981 | Jim Joelson | Reno, Nevada |
| 1982 | Kenneth Bernard | Australia |
| 1983 | Roy Fenstermaker | Downey, California |
| 1984 | Joe Boyd | Bellingham, Washington |
| 1985 | Marie C. Pyne | Ireland |
| 1986 | M. Arabella Bengson | Islington, Ont., Canada |
| 1987 | Harold Patterson | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| 1988 | Jerry Starke | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| 1989 | Don Johnson | Torrance, California |
| 1990 | David Brooks | Austin, Texas |
| 1991 | David Ross | Norman, Oklahoma |
| 1992 | Dana LaMon | Lancaster, California |
| 1993 | Otis Williams Jr. | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| 1994 | Morgan McArthur | Idaho Falls, Idaho |
| 1995 | Mark Brown | Mount Vernon, New York |
| 1996 | David Nottage | Auckland, New Zealand |
| 1997 | Willie Jones | Honolulu, Hawaii |
| 1998 | Brett Rutledge | Auckland, New Zealand |
| 1999 | Craig Valentine | Ellicott City, Maryland |
| 2000 | Ed Tate | Aurora, Colorado |
| 2001 | Darren LaCroix | Auburn, Massachusetts |
| 2002 | Dwayne Smith | Decatur, Georgia |
| 2003 | Jim Key | Rowlett, Texas |
| 2004 | Randy Harvey | Sherwood, Oregon |
| 2005 | Lance Miller | Glendale, California |
| 2006 | Edward Hearn | Chicago, Illinois |
| 2007 | Vikas Jhingran | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| 2008 | LaShunda Rundles | Dallas, Texas |
| 2009 | Mark Hunter | Albany Creek, QLD, Australia |
| 2010 | David Henderson | San Antonio, Texas |
| 2011 | Jock Elliott | Bongaree, QLD, Australia |
| 2012 | Ryan Avery | Portland, Oregon |
| 2013 | Presiyan Vasilev | Chicago, Illinois |
| 2014 | Dananjaya Hettiarachchi | Nawala Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka |
| 2015 | Mohammed Qahtani | Dhahran, Saudi Arabia |
| 2016 | Darren Tay | Singapore |
| 2017 | Manoj Vasudevan | Singapore |
| 2018 | Ramona J. Smith | Cleveland, Ohio |
| 2019 | Aaron Beverly | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| 2020 | Mike Carr | Austin, Texas |
| 2021 | Verity Price | Cape Town, South Africa |
| 2022 | Cyril Junior Dim | Wrocław, Poland |
| 2023 | Jocelyn Tyson | Mt. Laurel, New Jersey |
| 2024 | Luisa Montalvo | San Juan, Texas |