Holle Award for Excellence in Public Speaking

The Holle Award for Excellence in Public Speaking recognizes exemplary oral communication skills.

Who’s Eligible?

This award is open to students who have been enrolled in a public speaking course in a U.S. institution of higher learning during the 2025-26 academic year. Students must be nominated by their course instructor to apply for this award. Course instructors must complete a nomination form (linked below) that the student will include in their application materials. Students who are graduating during the calendar year of submission are eligible to apply, even though the award may be conferred after they have graduated. Students who are currently receiving scholarships or funding for college speech and debate activities are ineligible for this award.  

Requirements For Speech Competition

• The speech entered for the competition must be an original speech written and developed by the contestant.
• Contestants will submit 1 video of their speech delivered in front of a live audience. The video must capture both the speaker and the audience. The size and specification of the audience are up to the instructor in the course. Videos of a speech presented directly to a camera will be disqualified. Nominees from university courses can elect to do a separate recording for the specific purpose of submitting for the contest.
• All recordings should clearly show the speaker and have clear and high-quality audio. Inaudible or indiscernible recordings will be disqualified.
• The chief aim of the speech must be to persuade the audience regarding a specific action, policy, or value.
• The speech presentation must meet the 8-10 minute time requirement.
• Contestants should consider ways to enhance credibility in attire through professional dress.

Contest Structure

• Each school can nominate up to two contestants, but only the first 25 nominations will be accepted.
• The submission window is May 1st to May 31st.
• Each nominator is required to serve as a judge during the preliminary rounds.
• Judging of speeches will occur virtually in an asynchronous format in June and/or July. Judges will be sent links to 5-6 different speeches to submit their feedback, ranks, and ratings through a secure awards platform. Judges will receive additional information about the judging process and deadlines by the awards coordinator. After preliminary competition, contestants will be broken out to a Final Round, which will be judged by a Holle Award Selection Committee to determine the winner.
• If the number of overall submissions is less than ten, preliminary judging may be waved and entries will advance to the final review stage.

Submission Guidelines and Materials

• Applicants must create an account with the Submittable platform to apply for the award. Complete the online application form.
• Submissions should be anonymized. Please remove or distort any identifiable information from your entry including any reference or representation of your affiliated institution.
• Participants must present a formal persuasive speech that advocates change or support of specific actions, policies, concepts, or behaviors that impact society. Presentations should address a specific problem and provide a solution to that problem in the speech. Speeches must contain logical structure, evidence of persuasive appeals, credible secondary research, and display exemplary standards of delivery.
• Upload an edited and finalized video of your speech to the awards platform. You will also be required to provide a direct web link to your speech. We recommend that you create a recording in a private YouTube or Vimeo account and share a viewer link.
• Submit a 100-word abstract summarizing your speech and how it aligns with the Holle Awards mission. 
• Upload a signed nomination form, completed by your faculty reference/sponsor at your current institution. Only one nomination per application and only two nominations per institution.
• Include a professional headshot and brief bio. Headshots should have a neutral background and include your head and shoulders only.

AI policy: The use of AI is not allowed for submissions to the Holle Award for Excellence in Public Speaking. Applications will be disqualified if AI or plagiarism is suspected. All advanced entries will be checked with AI-Detection tools to ensure compliance. The Holle Awards are intended to reward originality, creativity, and ingenuity.

All applications should align with the mission of the award and the vision of Everett Holle.

Holle Award winners will be required to release the use of their name, image, likeness and representation of their work for promotional purposes but not commercial gain.