Evening star., 1926-02-02
ORATORY F|NAL|STS
OF TEN UNFRAMED
Records Show Usual Leaders
Have No Monopoly on
Contest Prizes.

The successful pupils in the Ma
tonai OratoriCal Contest are just as
ant TO he found among those who have
not had previous experience in public
speaking as among those who are
generally regarded in their respective
schools us the hest speakers.
his is the surprising assertion of
Randolph Leigh, organizer and direc-
tor of the contests, whose conclusions
are based upon a careful analysis of
IN" types of boys and girls who have
Won the most coveted awards and
h"norS during the two years in which
III" contests have been conducted
upon Il national scale.
At the outset" says the director,
u took it for granted that the regular
public speaking leaders in the schools
debate team members and declama-
ton enthusiasts would be the most
successful participants in this contest.
Imagine, then, my anazement as the
reports on the winners in the differ
cnt cities and States began to show
that the regular school speakers
wer" not keeping pace with those who
ordinarily ara not attracted to debat-
ing and defamation, but who had
been induced to enter the contest by
The unusually attractive prizes and
the ina gination- stirring scope of the
project
I'ina!ists Furnish Proof.
a glance ut the list OF natlona!
eGalists for 1924 ana 1879 furnishes
IL" best possible proof of the fact that
env boy or girl having ambition and
enthusiasm (hut without actual pre-
yIous public speaking experience OF
amy consequence has right to eN-
pcct worthwhile results from enter
Ft,., l,n n
fnaIistS (seven for each year, only
five had been regularly identified with
forensic activities in their schools
prior to their participation In the
rational oratOriCal contest. Three OF
these IA had not intended to par
ticipate when the contest was first
announced. They only became serious
Contenders when their teachers, I'M
pressed by the literary excellence and
rhetorical quality of the essays hand
cI in by them on the subjects speci-
fed in the contest ION which class
credits we're given in many Schools,.
urged them to try for the highest
honOrS.
II have not attempted to carry this
analysis into the schools or even into
the districts. When it is recalled that
almost 900 awards of various kinds,
exclusive of the national awards, rang
Ing from SO to $1,000 each, have
been distributed among those who
have reached the various stages of the
contest, il is obvious that it is i'm
possible to classify all Of the prize
Winners.
The contest managers in the va
riouS newspaper territories from
whom l have heard on this point are,
however, almost unanimous in saying
that the national oratorical contest
has shown that genuine speaking
ability in high school pupils is oftener
found outside than inside the regular
school speaking societies.
Contest Renews Interest.
The explanation of this is probably
In the fact that III thousands Of
schools the forensic societies have
b>en dWarfed hy the shifting of stu
dent enthusiasm 10 other activities
athletics, journalism. dramatics, etc.
Within the last two decades public
speaking lost its glamour for pupils.
just as for adults.
The National Oratorical Contest
changed all that. Through it a high
school boy or girl can win a national
reputation almost over night. Through
il he or she can get that tremendous
thrill which comes to those tinaliStS
VINO speak in the National Capital