The Clark Prize

Eligibility

The Clark Prize is open to all senior students in all disciplines. 

Requirements

The Clark competition requires a speech that addresses the assigned topic. The prize will be awarded to the senior who, through both content and delivery, most effectively addresses the assigned topic. 2023's topic is "What value does studying oral communication add to an education in 2023?"

Preliminary Round

To participate in the 2023 Preliminary Round, record a video of your speech and submit it to this Google Form. Be sure to check out our tips for virtual presentations. Scoring criteria are listed below.

All recordings must be a single take. That is, you may not splice together different recordings to make one complete speech.

Final Round

Each final round competitor will submit a detailed outline or manuscript of the final speech. Each final round competitor will present a six to eight minute speech. Speeches should not be read from a script. Scoring for the final round will be based on the same criteria as the preliminary round, with 10% reserved for evaluation of the content based on the submitted materials.

Scoring

The judges will assign scores on two broad areas: content/organization and delivery. 

CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION

• Content is relevant to speech prompt and maintains a focus appropriate for the audience (Hamilton community).
• Clear organization was followed consistently throughout the speech.
• Speech consistently used evidence that was appropriate for the topic (e.g., narrative, statistics) and was cited as appropriate.
• Language use was appropriate for audience (e.g., avoided jargon) and occasion.
• Logical connections were clearly made between ideas within the speech.

DELIVERY

• Speaker’s use of vocal qualities (volume, pitch, emphasis) enhanced the presentation.
• Nonverbal behaviors (gestures and eye contact) enhanced the presentation.
• Speaker was fluent (e.g., avoided fillers such as “um”) and conversational.

OVERALL IMPRESSION

• The speaker was engaging throughout the presentation.
• The overall presentation was consistently persuasive.

Recent winners

2o22

2021

Lily Delle-Levine '21, "Time for Change: Social Media as Social Action" | video

2020

Haotian Yang '20, "Getting Out There: Make Diversity Happen" | video

2019

Emily Aviles '19, "The True Price of Higher Education" | video

2018

Ryan Bloom '18, “Don’t Follow the Yellow Brick Road: A Defense of the Open Curriculum” | video

2017

Jake Blount '17, "Modern Conservatives and the Myth of Campus Censorship" | video