 "Photo: Jamila Johnson/Echo staff photographer")
Twenty-two students signed up, 14 participated in the qualifying rounds, six were chosen and one came out on top — N.C. Central University Early College senior Bailey Clemmons.
Clemmons won by one point over Zevandah Barnes, a senior in the department of mass communication. The subject of the competition was "Put a Ring on It: The State of Contemporary Relationships."
Clemmons took an unusual approach, expounding on the relationship between a child and her parents rather than between a man and woman.
"I realized that people would talk about the romance aspect of the topic, but I am in high school," she said.
"I've never been in love, so I related it to something I did know." Clemmons said she comes from a single-parent home, which is where she found her inspiration from the speech. She said she feels strengthening communication with the parents is critical.
Clemmons expressed surprise at her first-place win. "It was so surreal!" she said. "I didn't expect to win. I'm glad I put myself out there."
Barnes went in the opposite direction from Clemmons, discussing reasons for not marrying. Barnes opened his speech with, "Hi, I am Zevandah Barnes. I am a Pisces and I am single by choice." He closed with: "The leading cause of divorce is marriage."
Barnes gave hard-hitting facts, made the entire audience burst into laughter — and may even have changed a few minds about getting married.
After his speech, however, Barnes said his true feelings about marriage were not that extreme. "I didn't want to sound like everyone else," he said. "I was going for the shock factor."
Placing third was mass communication senior Crystal Cotton, who stressed the significance of marriage and why it is still "alive and kicking."
The NCCU speech contest got its start in 1988 when former speech professor Nancy Coey initiated speech competitions among her classes.
In 1989 she invited assistant professor Larry Nessly's class to compete against hers, and from there the competition expanded throughout the mass communication department. Prize money, which now ranges from $100 to $300, is provided by the Minnie M. Forte Brown Endowed Scholarship, which is intended specifically for speech contests.
"It is important to continue to have these speech competitions so our students can leave this University and know how to represent themselves properly through speech," said former NCCU lecturer Minnie Forte Brown.
The contest is now coordinated by Shauntae White, associate professor of mass communication.
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