The way a speech is “submitted” in our program of contests is by delivering it orally to an audience, without notes, lectern, props, or sound system, at each level of the tournament. Your original, main speech, or prepared oration, should be 8 to 10 minutes long on some aspect of the U.S. Constitution, with emphasis on the duties, obligations, rights, and privileges of American citizenship, and you can revise, rename, or improve it each time. For your main speech, you can use your own topic, or you can choose one of the assigned topics.
Everyone must be prepared to speak for 3 to 5 minutes on each one of the assigned topics https://www.legion.org/oratorical/topics found in the Official Rules brochure. One of the assigned topics is randomly drawn in each contest, and after the main speeches are given, all of the contestants must then speak on the same topic drawn. Each contestant will be given five minutes to prepare in a private room for the assigned topic speech, just before giving it. Notes are not allowed in the preparation room, only the topic card.
Penalty points are given for going over or under the required times, one point for each minute or fraction thereof. At the end of the Official Rules brochure, the Judge’s Scorecard shows the point system for judging content and speaking skills, and you can see how judges are instructed in the video Oratorical Contest Judges Briefing on the National website at this link: www.legion.org/legiontv?pid=latest&v=kGbzxxfzLc0
The letter below has the initial info, and the Official Rules brochure on our National website www.legion.org/publications/246265/oratorical-contest-ruleshave the rules the contests are governed by. Your first contest does not have to be your last, if you don't advance and are seriously interested in continuing in the program. You have until mid February to qualify to advance to the district level and should be cautious about scheduling ACT or SAT tests from then until the state final in April.
Please study the rules and watch the videos available on the National website at www.legion.org/oratorical. And then it’s practice, practice, practice…