Four Way Test

Four Way Test Speech Contest 2023

 
Jim Bullock, Contest Chair
 
 

Saturday, May 6th, 2023

The Westwood School's Black Box Theater
14240 Midway Road
Dallas, Texas 75244
 
9:30 am to 12:30pm, contestants will need to arrive no later than 9:15 a.m. on May 6, 2023 to check in. 
 
The Four-Way Test Speech Contest in District 5810 invites local high school students to speak about various subjects while applying Rotary’s Four-Way Test – which asks four ethical questions about the things we think, say, and do:
  • Is it the truth? 
  • Is it fair to all concerned? 
  • Will it build good will and better friendships? 
  • Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
 

RULES

WHO: Contestant may be a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior in a public, private, or home school and may have competed and won in previous years. Contest participants write an original speech, of 5-7 minutes in length, which they deliver first at a local Rotary club meeting’s contest. 
 
TOPIC: Material must be original in content and be about applying the Rotary Four Way Test to an important issue in our everyday relationships with other people.
 
DELIVERY: Speech may be memorized or notes may be used, but reading is discouraged. Memorized at District is certainly more impressive.
 
The winner of the local club’s contest advances to the District final to compete against the winners from the other Rotary clubs in District 5810.
 
Judges at the Club-level score participants as the Club determines.
 
Judges at the District level will score each participant’s speech based on content, organization, and delivery. For example, content scores tend to focus on originality, creativity, imagination, timeliness, the human interest, and application of the Four-Way Test. Organization scores tend to focus on the speech’s structure (ex., how effective is the introduction? how were examples used in the body of the speech? how did the conclusion wrap-up the speech?). And delivery scores tend to focus on diction, pronunciation, projection, grammar, clarity, articulation, tonal variance, and the extent to which the participant engages the audience (ex., gestures, eye contact, etc.). Judges will use the “Most Firsts” method (i.e., which candidate has the highest rankings – for example, two “firsts” and one “third” wins over three “seconds”) to rank participants. Speeches shall be no longer than 7 minutes in total; participants will be “cut off” at 7 minutes.
 

DEADLINES

 
  • Deadline for registration AND payment: May 3, 2023. Entry fee is $95.00 and must be paid by May 3 or the contestant will not be allowed to participate
     
  • Clubs must pay an entry fee for their participants.