Sunday, April 28, 2013

Congratulations Robert!

Schmidt, Barnhill, Jersak, and Addison
Last night, April 27, 2013, Lubbock Toastmaster Robert Barnhill won the District 23 International Speech Contest with his speech "Presidents Don't Sing ... Do They?"

Representing Lubbock and the rest of Division F, Robert competed against 5 other Toastmasters who represented the other Divisions in District 23 during the Spring Conference in Lubbock, TX.  Along with this prestigious victory, Robert also took the first place trophy in the District 23 Table Topics contest which took place Friday night.

In August, Robert will move on to compete in the Semi-Finals of the International Speech Contest during the Toastmasters International 2013 Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The Semi-Finals is a contest of the district champions from all across the world.  There will be 10 semi-final contests, each with 8 to 10 contestants.  The winners of each of those contests will move on to the finals two days after the semi-final round.

Visiting Past International President Gary Schmidt presented the top three finishers of the contest to the audience of 125 during the Saturday evening awards ceremony.  Along with Robert, Merv Jersak of Albuquerque finished second with "My Marble," while Sarah Addison of Las Cruces came in third with "Humpty Dumpty."

Good luck in Cincinnati, Robert!