Speak Up!
The Annual Persuasive Speech Competition invites students to deliver original 5–7 minute speeches on the theme “Building A Stronger Canada" with specific topics assigned each year. Participants identify these issues facing Canada, a province, or a community, explain their impact, and propose solutions. The competition accepts entries in English and French. Students are free to experiment with speech structure as long as they remain on theme and topic..
Price: Free
Location: Online
Prize: Each division winner recieves $250 plus $250 to donate to a non-profit
Finals: Thursday, January 21st, 2027
7 - 9:30PM Eastern
Division: Junior (Grades 6-9), Senior (Grades 10-12), and French (Junior and Senior)
Evaluation Criteria: Research (25%), persuasiveness (25%), speaking style (25%), and clarity of the problem and
solution (25%)
Finals MC: Nikhil Gowd, Director for Speech & Debate Canada Foundation.
Third Edition
Date: February 11, 2024
Theme: Making Canada Stronger
Winners:
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Junior: Emily Qian (Winner), (2) Carolyn Smart, (3) William Wong
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Senior: Yuri Salcedo (Winner), (2) Zhilun Yu, (3) Michaela Chan
Judges:
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Preliminary: Lisa McLeese, Marilyn Lunde, Jordan Burg, Efrain Vasquez, John Robinson
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Finals: Tracey Lee, Lisa McLeese, Jordan Burg, John Carmichael, Scott Stirrett
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MC: Nikhil Gowd
Fourth Edition
Date: February 22, 2025
Theme: Making Canada Stronger
Winners:
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Junior: Olivia Liu (Winner), Durga Anand (Finalist), Logan Gordon (Finalist)​​
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Senior: Nicole Liu (Winner), Muskaan Jaiswal (Finalist), Carol Qin (Finalist)
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French: Eric Sweeny (Winner)​
Judges:
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Preliminary: Richard Picotin, Jordan Burg, Marilyn Lunde, Efrain Vasquez, Arghya Dev Biswas Aryan, Arka Dev Biswas Deepra. Alaa Ibrahim, Ethan Curry, Massoma Kisob
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Finals: Tracey Lee, John Carmichael, Nikki Cupit, Massoma Kisob, Vinayak Mishra, Robert McLeese
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MC: Nikhil Gowd
Fifth Edition
Date: February 28, 2026
Theme: Making Canada Stronger
Winners:
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Junior: Emma Rinot (Winner), (2) Reyna Li, (3) Alysia Li
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Senior: Zunaira Wasi (Winner), (2) Elise Nguyen, (3) Emmanuelle Etienne-Krief
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French: Justin Huang (Winner), (2) Vicky Zhao, (3) Erin Sweeney
Judges:
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Preliminary: Marilyn Lunde, Jane Hayward, Alaa Ibrahim, Pachaline Eze, Rowena Cahil, Richard Picotin
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Finals: Paschaline Eze, Vinayak Mishra, Kevin Vuong, Tracey Lee, John Carmichael, Jordan Burg
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MC: Nikhil Gowd