Marie Clegg-Jones Speech Competition offers cash prizes

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Communications Department is hosting the third annual Marie Clegg-Jones Speech Competition on March 2.

Winners of the competition will receive cash prizes of $500 for first place, $250 for second and $125 for third.

Any student attending UVU can participate in this speech contest – all that each student needs to prepare is a five to seven minute persuasive speech on any topic without the use of visual aids.

“We’ve had every speech; the first year the winner’s topic was why men should not wear Speedos,” said Dr. Janet Colvin, assistant professor in the Communications department.

The competition will consist of two preliminary rounds. The first round will begin at 2 p.m. and the second will be at 4 p.m. From those two rounds the judges will decide on seven finalists to compete for the cash.

The judges for the first two rounds will be speech professors from UVU and the judges for the seven finalists will include President Matthew Holland; Dean David Yells of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Janeen Bullock, managing partner of Connect Public Relations; Marie Clegg Jones and Lori Stevens, assistant director of the Orem Public Library.

The first two rounds will be held at various locations on campus and will not be open to students. However, the final round will be located in the lecture hall in the library and will be open to the public.

The deadline to sign up for the competition is Feb. 19 and there are still plenty of open slots to have a chance at the cash prize.

“It’s one afternoon and if you’re interested in public speaking, why not stop by and try and win some money,” said Colvin.

To sign up for the contest, simply e-mail Dr. Janet Colvin at [email protected]. Make sure to include your name, UVID and address. For further information, log on to www.uvu.edu/comm/opportunities/clegg_jones_speech_contest.