Official Oratorical Application

The two Forsyth County Optimist Clubs are honored to conduct an annual oratorical contest. This program is offered to all Forsyth County students in grades 5 through 12. Students create and present a speech based on a specific topic.

Topic for the 2024-2025 school year “How Optimism Has Guided Me Through Trying Times”

For sometime our program has been the largest Optimist Oratorical in the world. This years Contest will run from February 26th through March 7th 2024.

We are grateful to the parents, school coordinators and principals for their participation and support in helping us bringing out the best in our kids.

The two Middle/High School Forsyth County winners will each receive $500 and advance to the Zone contest held in March of 2025. The Zone Contest winners were announced last year on March 24th and posted on our Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/scocga

The Area contest date in April of 2025.

The District contest will be held during the Gateway District Conference April of 2025 – the three winners will be awarded scholarships of $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000 respectively for first, second and third place.

The Regional and International World Championship contests will be held at St. Louis University in St. Louis, MO in July 17th -18th, 2025. The Optimist International World Championship winners will receive scholarships in the amounts of $15,000, $10,000, and $5,000 to the first, second, and third place winners, respectively.

The Oratorical Chairs are:

Carolynn Martin (Club President) and Janna Shacklett (Co-Chair and Member)

You may leave a message for them at our club voicemail – 770-402-8689.

Last years 2024 winners:

2024 Championship in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd:

• Calleigh Neal Middle American Regional Winner $5,000 & 1st Place World Winner $15,000
• Addison Journey Mid-Atlantic Regional Winner $5,000 & 2nd Place World Winner $10,000
• Sana Beldjilali Optimiste Francophone Canadien Regional Winner $5,000 & 3rd Place World Winner $5,000

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