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 Saturday, April 12th @ 11:00am. 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.

Register to join the Oratory Contest by clicking the link below.

Register Here! (closed for 2025)

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 2025

1. High school juniors and seniors, in that grade February 1, 2025 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 over or under time limit speeches. It
   is left to the discretion of the judges how the 4-5 minute and 7-8 minute 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-
   turning 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, 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 judges are added together for 80% of
    score. 20% of this year’s score determined by pro-life viewers.
14. The decisions will be FINAL.
15. All efforts will be made to assure 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 Indiana Right to Life Oratory Contest. No other rules
    from any national, state, or local speech group apply.
18. The decision of the Contest Director concerning application of these rules is
    FINAL.