World Championship of Public Speaking

The World Championship of Public Speaking began in 1938 and has grown to over 50,000 participants in 149 countries in 2022. In its early decades, it was referred to as the Toastmasters Speech Contest.[1] By the 1990s, there were about 10,000 participants every year.[2] The contest's popularity grew rapidly in the 2000s.[3] The contest has been called the "largest speech contest in the world" by Daijiworld.[4]

World Championship of Public Speaking
Tournament information
Established1938
Number of
tournaments
81
Current champion
Jocelyn Tyson

History

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1960 champion Glenn E. Carroll is the first non-American (from Canada) to win the title. 1977 champion Evelyn Jane Burgay is the first woman to win the title. 1982 champion Kenneth Bernard is the first from outside North America (Australia) to win the title. 1985 champion Marie C. Pyne is the first European (Ireland) to win the title. 1995 Champion Mark Brown is the first and only Jamaican to win the title. 2014 champion Dananjaya Hettiarachchi of Sri Lanka was the first Asian to win the championship. In 2008, Lashunda Rundles became the first African American woman to ever win the title of World Champion of Public Speaking. She also was the first woman to win in almost two decades. In 2018, Ramona J. Smith became the second African American woman to win, it had been a decade since a woman took the title. Also in 2018, for the first time ever in the history of Toastmasters International, three women became the top speakers in the world. Sherri Su of China took 2nd place. Anita Fain Taylor of Florida, USA took 3rd place, Ramona J. Smith took 1st place. In 2021 Verity Price (South Africa) became the 6th woman to ever win the international speech contest, and the first speaker in history to win from Africa.

[5][relevant?]

Year Name From
1938 Henry Wiens Reedley, California
1939 William Roberts Huntington Park, California
1940 David MacFarlane Santa Monica, California
1941 John McGinnis San Francisco, California
1942 Cavett Robert Phoenix, Arizona
1943 Lloyd Prante Monrovia, California
1944 NO CONVENTION
1945 NO CONVENTION
1946 Thor Myhre Spokane, Washington
1947 Douglas Sherwin Clearlake, Iowa
1948 Robert Dellwo Spokane, Washington
1949 Dalton McAllister Fort Wayne, Indiana
1950 Charles Hilton Mason City, Iowa
1951 Albert Green Jr. Seattle, Washington
1952 George W. Armstrong Omaha, Nebraska
1953 Theodore B. Furlow Long Beach, California
1954 Herbert Thompson Wood River, Illinois
1955 Charles W. Bryant Tacoma, Washington
1956 David Holmes Jr. Toledo, Ohio
1957 Charles Jones Fort Smith, Arkansas
1958 Edmund J. Shine Hamburg, New York
1959 Dean F. Berkeley Bloomington, Indiana
1960 Glenn E. Carroll Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
1961 John J. Carver Seattle, Washington
1962 Robert Garton Columbus, Indiana
1963 Larry Beitel Winston-Salem, North Carolina
1964 Anthony C.L. Bishop Northridge, California
1965 John L. Nydegger Lewiston, Idaho
1966 Michael Yaconelli San Diego, California
1967 Dale Smith Goshen, Indiana
1968 Grant R. Sheehan Washington, D.C.
1969 Dennis Mangers Delano, California
1970 Stephen D. Boyd Bloomington, Illinois
1971 Bert Angus Transcona, Manitoba, Canada
1972 Rudy Valle Canoga Park, California
1973 Charles W. Stewart San Antonio, Texas
1974 Bennie Powell Los Angeles, California
1975 Andy McKay Rochester, New York
1976 William Johnson Aberdeen, Maryland
1977 Evelyn Jane Burgay Springfield, Virginia
1978 Michael Aun II Lexington, South Carolina
1979 Dick Caldwell Calgary, Alberta, Canada
1980 Jeff Young Los Angeles, California
1981 Jim Joelson Reno, Nevada
1982 Kenneth Bernard Australia
1983 Roy Fenstermaker Downey, California
1984 Joe Boyd Bellingham, Washington
1985 Marie C. Pyne Ireland
1986 M. Arabella Bengson Islington, Ont., Canada
1987 Harold Patterson Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
1988 Jerry Starke Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1989 Don Johnson Torrance, California
1990 David Brooks Austin, Texas
1991 David Ross Norman, Oklahoma
1992 Dana LaMon Lancaster, California
1993 Otis Williams Jr. Cincinnati, Ohio
1994 Morgan McArthur Idaho Falls, Idaho
1995 Mark Brown Mount Vernon, New York
1996 David Nottage Auckland, New Zealand
1997 Willie Jones Honolulu, Hawaii
1998 Brett Rutledge Auckland, New Zealand
1999 Craig Valentine Ellicott City, Maryland
2000 Ed Tate Aurora, Colorado
2001 Darren LaCroix Auburn, Massachusetts
2002 Dwayne Smith Decatur, Georgia
2003 Jim Key Rowlett, Texas
2004 Randy Harvey Sherwood, Oregon
2005 Lance Miller Glendale, California
2006 Edward Hearn Chicago, Illinois
2007 Vikas Jhingran Cambridge, Massachusetts
2008 LaShunda Rundles Dallas, Texas
2009 Mark Hunter Albany Creek, QLD, Australia
2010 David Henderson San Antonio, Texas
2011 Jock Elliott Bongaree, QLD, Australia
2012 Ryan Avery Portland, Oregon
2013 Presiyan Vasilev Chicago, Illinois
2014 Dananjaya Hettiarachchi Nawala Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka
2015 Mohammed Abdullah Qahtani Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
2016 Darren Tay Singapore
2017 Manoj Vasudevan Singapore
2018 Ramona J. Smith Cleveland, Ohio
2019 Aaron Beverly[6] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2020 Mike Carr Austin, Texas
2021 Verity Price[7] Cape Town, South Africa
2022 Cyril Junior Dim[7] Wrocław, Poland[8]
2023 Jocelyn Tyson[7] Mt. Laurel, New Jersey

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Toastmasters Speech Contest Begins in Boston Tomorrow (A 1)". Boston Globe. 23 March 1958. ProQuest 845465194.
  2. ^ Santos, Jenny Delos (23 June 2017). "Hawaii News Maui orator gets set to enter Toastmasters championship". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  3. ^ Blake, John (14 October 2016). "Stop texting and start speaking: The Olympians of storytelling show you how". CNN. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  4. ^ "Mangalurean advances in the world's largest speech contest in USA". Daijiworld. July 9, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  5. ^ "WORLD CHAMPION OF PUBLIC SPEAKING TO VISIT BAHRAIN". Daily Tribune. 22 October 2014. ProQuest 1615139200.
  6. ^ "Toastmasters International -2019 World Championship of Public Speaking".
  7. ^ a b c "Toastmasters International -Word Championship of Public Speaking". www.toastmasters.org. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
  8. ^ "Cyril Junior Dim Linkedin profile". www.linkedin.org. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
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