By Justin Walker
Communications Specialist
Students interested in gaining communication skills, advancing their leadership skills and potentially earning scholarship money are encouraged to apply for the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Free Enterprise Speech Contest.
“The contest is important for young people, because it gives them the opportunity to express their knowledge of the free enterprise system,” Mia Balko, TFB director of Youth and Urban Outreach, said.
In the contest, students share their perspectives on the benefits of the free enterprise system and a constitutional government.
To qualify as a contestant, students must have attended the 2018 TFB Youth Leadership Conference, presented at least five free enterprise speeches from June 18 to Sept. 21 of this year and be a part of a TFB member family.
Contestants are judged on organization, language, voice, use of notes, eye contact, overall persuasiveness and relevance of speech topic.
District contests will take place during the month of October. Contestants will be notified of the date, location and time of the contest by their county Farm Bureau.
One winner and one runner-up will be selected by each district. The district winners will advance to the state contest at the TFB Annual Meeting in Corpus Christi on Dec. 1.
The winner of the state contest will be awarded a $6,000 scholarship, and the runner-will receive a $3,000 scholarship.
Four additional finalists will receive $2,000 in scholarships, and will join the state winner and runner-up on a four-day, three-night, expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with their representatives next summer.
Applications are available online.
Completed forms must be signed by the county Farm Bureau president and received by the state office by Sept. 21.
For more information, contact Balko at mbalko@txfb.org or 254-399-5037.