On February 12th 2023, Toastmasters in St. Vincent and the Grenadines conducted its annual Area Speech Contest under the theme “We Rise.” The dynamic event was hosted by Area 16 and took place via the Zoom platform, which engaged local, regional and international supporters. The contest was presided by Contest Chair Rosemary Sweeney, and Chief Judge Evetlyn Durand.
Area Director Jacqui English-Jacobs stated in her welcome remarks that “as we rise at this
speech contest, let’s lift up all the contestants and functionaries, especially, as they will ultimately lift up prospective Toastmasters and contest role players.” The vote of thanks was delivered by Assistant Area Director St. Clair Stapleton.
The sole contestant of the International Speech Contest Jackleen Wyllie rose to the occasion with her presentation entitled “Random Call.” The Toastmasters International Speech Contest
derived its name from Toastmasters International, where each district winner goes on to the Toastmasters International Convention to compete for the title of World Champion of Public Speaking.
Janeel King rose as the only Humorous Speech Contestant, with her speech captioned ‘Life Lessons My Daddy Taught Me.’
Andrew Dasilva rose as the champion of the Table Topics or Impromptu Speech Contest. The impromptu topic ‘Seven Times To Rise Seven Times To Fall’ was also contended by second place winner Joanna Justin, third place winner Kazon Simmons, and the remaining contestant Janeel King.
The Evaluation Speech Contest was also topped by Andrew Dasilva. While, Jenieve Cato placed second and Janeel King placed third. The other contestant was Joanna Justin.
The first place winners Andrew Dasilva, Jackleen Wyllie, and Janeel King will proceed to enter the Division C Speech Contest on March 11th via Zoom. The champions of Division C contest will then advance to the Caribbean District 81 Speech Contest from May 18th – 21st 2023 in Grenada.
Toastmasters of Area 16 extend congratulations to the contestants, and convey gratitude to local and regional contest officials and all supporters for facilitating this successful event.
Area 16 is made up of the following three (3) active Toastmasters clubs in SVG: Achievers
Toastmasters, Creative Thinkers Toastmasters Club, Imperial Champions Toastmasters Club.
These clubs aim to empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders.