CA 100 Speech Contest Spring 2016

On the evening of April 26, the top 16 persuasive speakers enrolled in the fall semester of Communication Arts 100 competed in the CA 100 Speech Contest.

The speech contest is a long-standing tradition at the end of each semester. Teaching assistants from all sections of the course submitted the speeches of their top two students; from this group, a semifinal field of 16 speakers was chosen.  They competed against each other in groups of seven, with the top two from each group advancing to the final round, which was judged by Dr. Sarah Jedd and Communication Arts graduate students Brandi Rogers, and Andrew Peck

The six finalists are pictured above with their instructors. Front Row from left to right: Chaz Elliott, Sophie Martin, Emily Toboyek, Lauren Silber. Back row from left to right: Nicholas Pavelic, Alex Harwood, John Doolin, Trace Palmer, Jonah Horwitz.

Contest finalists, their TAs, and speech topics were:

  • Nicholas Pavelic (Alex Harwood): Musical Theater Major at UW-Madison (1st Place)
  • Sophie Martin (Alex Harwood): Food Insecurity (2nd Place)
  • John Doolin (Jonah Horwitz): Pharmaceutical Advertisements (3rd Place)
  • Emily Toboyek (Ben Sayre): Mindfulness
  • Chaz Elliott (Trace Palmer): Automatic Voter Registration
  • Lauren Silber (Cuixia Zhou): Social Media Acitvism

We are extremely grateful for gifts from the Theodore Herfurth Fund, which supports this event.

Congratulations to the winners—and to everyone who participated in the contest!