DECLAMATION CONTEST

Winning Speech 2018

• During the conference, students will be given the opportunity to enter a declamation contest.

• The contest will be held during free time with three semi-finals planned, one for each of the first three days of the conference, followed by a final on the last day. 
• A declamation speech is a re-giving of a past important or famous speech. You can choose a political speech, a graduation speech, a eulogy, a sermon, a speech from a film, a speech from literature or a famous spoken word speech. You are not expected to give the full speech, just a three minute excerpt. If you go over the time, it means instant disqualification, so you really need to be careful about time management. 
• The judgment criteria will be: (a) fluency; (b) confidence/command; (c) interpretation (creation of mood & emotional impact); (d) overall quality of presentation.
• Each category has 10 points, so your final result is the number of points you get out of forty. In the event of a draw between two competitors, a tie-break judge will make the final decision. 
• Presentation is an important aspect of declamation because your speech needs to be strong and full of passion and dramatic flair.  
• When preparing your speech, increase dramatic impact by working out a plan for (a) the words and phrases which need to be emphasized;   (b) the moments where you need to raise or lower your voice; (c) changes in tone during the speech; (d) pauses, both long and short.
• Declamation is where public speaking and drama meet - though you are making a speech, you should consider the speech as your script - there is no requirement for you to learn the excerpt off by heart for the performance, but it is very likely that those who are serious about trying to win the contest and the prize money will memorize their scripts and therefore raise the bar for everyone. 
• You will find a number of sample declamation speeches by following this link.
• The opening date for entries is Tuesday 8 January 2019.  The closing date is the end of the first day of the conference. 
• The number of places in the competition will be limited to 40 due to the time constraints of working within the BRUMUN framework - it is a competition for the benefit of the students most highly inspired to develop their public speaking skills during the conference.
• Additionally, there are really great cash prizes for the winners - €100, €50 and €25 for first, second and third places respectively. 
• One important rule is that no speech can be entered into the competition twice, so if you want one of the speeches from the sample speeches or some other famous speech which others are likely to choose, you need to book it as early as possible or otherwise you may find yourself looking for a new option. 




Below is a PDF version of sixty sample declamation speeches:

Declamation_Speeches_1-60-6.pdf