Pro-Life Oratory Contest

You can use your voice on behalf of the voiceless at The Wabash Valley Right to Life Oratory contest. We are thrilled to invite High School Youth to participate on Sunday, April 12th @ 1:00pm. Open to 10th, 11th and 12th grade high school students, the WVRTL Oratory Contest is your chance to share your pro-life views with others. The winner receives $1,000 prize money, plus a $200 grant for their school, church, or sponsoring organization. In addition, the winner of our contest goes on to represent WVRTL at the state oratory contest and possibly the National Right to Life Oratory contest. Only juniors and seniors may advance to the state contest.

2025 Participants

Congratulations to Kayla MacDonald (right) our 2025 Oratory contest winner and recipient of the $1,000 prize and to our 2nd place participant Yasmine (left)!

Winning speaker prizes will be awarded by the WVRTL on the day of the contest: FIRST PLACE – $1,000.00, SECOND PLACE –$500.00, and THIRD PLACE – $250.00. The First Place winner’s sponsoring school or church (as specified on the contestant’s entry form) will also be awarded $200.00. Sophomores are allowed to compete for prize money but are not eligible to advance to the State and National Contests.

State Oratory Contest Prizes:

Grand prize will be paid travel, hotel and meals for the contestant and a parent to the NRLC 2025 national contest.

More information about the contest…

Statement of Purpose

The Indiana Right to Life Oratory Contest strives to promote the ability of high school
juniors and seniors to share their pro-life view with others. Although speaking ability is
important, this contest also seeks to help teens organize and express their pro-life views.

Contest Rules 2026

1. High school juniors and seniors, in that grade February 1, 2026, are eligible to
compete. In the case of advanced students, non-traditional students, or home-
schooled students, the school must recognize the student as a junior or senior or the year the student will enter college will be used to determine eligibility.
2. Students who have competed in their junior year may compete the following year as
a senior (with an entirely new speech) EXCEPT a student who has won the national
contest may not compete. Second place winners may compete again.
3. Contestants are to research, write, and present an original pro-life speech on
abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, or stem cell research.
4. The speech is to be 5-7 minutes in length. A contestant will be disqualified if the
speech is timed to be less than 4 minutes or over 8 minutes in length. Judges are
instructed to use their judgment regarding speeches over or under time limit. It is
left to the discretion of the judges how the 4-5 minute and the 7-8 minutes speech
will be reflected in the contestant’s score.
5. Appropriate gestures are allowed. Props are not allowed. 6. Speech content may not be significantly changed as a contestant advances. Fine-
tuning for minor corrections or to adjust time is allowed and encouraged. A written
copy of the contestant’s speech must be available for the contest.
7. The contestant should use up-to-date, factual information.
8. The style or speech type should be appropriate to the message of the speech. A
dramatic presentation is not acceptable. A dramatic presentation is considered
anything read or performed that has been previously written by another author, a
short story, poem, etc. Although quotes to support a position or statement are
appropriate, they may not dominate the speech and should be appropriately cited.
Dramatic presentations are also defined, for the purposes of this contest, to include
acting as a thing or another person, such as acting out the life of an unborn baby.
This rule is not to be interpreted to rule out the use of emotion.
9. The judges’ background and qualifications differ, and although all are pro-life, the
speech should appeal to a broad audience.10. No copyrighted speeches shall be used in the contest.
11.Contestants may use notes, although memorization is encouraged.
12.The contest will have three (3) judges.
13.The judges score contestants in four areas: INTRODUCTION, CONTENT,
PRESENTATION, and CONCLUSION. Contestants are given a score of 1-10 in each
area (10 being the best). The scores are then added together for a perfect score of
40. The total scores from all three (3) judges are added together to establish who
the winner is.
14.The decisions will be FINAL.
15.All efforts will be made to ensure accuracy. In the event of a mistake, every effort
will be made to correct it.
16.Ties will be handled by the Contest Director.
17.These rules apply only to the Indiana Right to Life State Oratory Contest. No other
rules from any national, state, or local speech group apply.
18.The decision of the Contest Director concerning the application of these rules is
FINAL.

The 2026 National Right to Life convention will be held at Crystal Gateway Marriott in
Arlington, Virginia June 12-13, 2026. Travel to and from the National Conference for
winner and one parent, food expenses for both during conference stay, one room at
hotel where conference takes place (1-3 nights) and conference tickets for contest
winner and parent are included. More details of this event will be shared with the
Indiana Right to Life State contest winner.