Attention!!!  Calling for Tennessee Homeschoolers to Enter the

Sara Lee Harris Worldview Competition! 

Cash Prizes totaling $1,000 for Senior & Junior Division, with 1ST, 2ND, & 3RD Place Winners!

About the Competition:

These special oratorical contests for Tennessee Home Education Association (THEA) members, sponsored by THEA and CCT, are named in honor of a Home School Grandmother who is now in heaven, who loved to study and to share her Christian faith and also was skilled in and loved public speaking. Her family contributed the prize money which will be awarded to the first, second and third place winners in both the Senior Division and Junior Division on Rally Day, Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010.  As in past years there will be two divisions that will participate in different events; the Junior Division students will compete in an Apologetics Worldview Speech Competition and the Senior Division will compete in Mars Hill Speech Competition. The first place winners of each Division will also win the privilege to present their Speech on the platform in the War Memorial Auditorium on Rally Day.

Deadline to Submit: Midnight February 23, 2010 

Age Categories

The Senior Division is for students age 13-19. The Junior Division is for students ages 8 through 12.

JUNIOR DIVISION: A Worldview Apologetics Oratory Competition

The Junior Division Contest will be a Worldview Apologetics Speech Competition. Read more about the Worldview Apologetics Speech event HERE. The Worldview Apologetics Speech Competition deals with issues of faith. The goal of Worldview Apologetics is to motivate students to study their Christian faith and be prepared to articulate a defense of what they believe. Junior Division students will prepare a 3-minute maximum speech on one of the following topics:

1. How is Jesus different from the founders of other world religions?

2. How is the Bible different from other religious writings?

3. In what ways does the world around us show that there must be a Creator God?

4. Why do you love Jesus?

NOTE: The questions for the apologetics event are the same ones used for the December CCT tournament and will be also used for the Spring CCT tournaments.

Read more about the Worldview Apologetics Speech event HERE.

SENIOR DIVISION: A Mars Hill Oratory Competition

To compete in this Contest, Senior Division students will prepare an 8-minute maximum Mars Hill Speech. Read more about the Mars Hill Speech Event HERE. In short, this event is an 8 minute prepared speech using one or more propositions expressed by our culture (in song, movie, commercials, print or other media) as a point of contrast from which some truth of the gospel is drawn.

Read more about the Mars Hill Speech Event HERE.

Awards:

The Awards schedule for the Sara Lee Harris Worldview Oratory Contest is:

Senior Division:        

1st place-$500

2nd place-$200

3rd place-$125

Junior Division:          

 1st place-$100

2nd place-$50

3rd place-$25

How to Participate in the Sara Lee Harris Worldview Oratory Contest:

Submit Your Speeches Electronically

To enter the Sara Lee Harris Worldview Oratory Contest, the students' family must be a member of THEA. To join THEA and be eligible to compete, please go to the Organizations tab and select the area of the state in which you live and contact your local chapter of THEA to join. Find them listed at www.tnhea.org.

Students must e-mail their typed speech to THEA at this e-mail address: president@tnhea.org and carbon copied to lana.thornton@gmail.com.

The speech can be in the form of a WORD document, a PDF, or simply typed in the body of the e-mail.

Please type "Sara Lee Harris Oratory Contest" in the subject line, so we don't overlook your speech!

The e-mail must be submitted by midnight Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010. Once again this year we are not requiring audio copies of your speeches, only e-mailed submissions. Be sure to send it by Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010!

Judging Criteria 

The criteria judges will use in evaluating the Apologetics and Mars Hill Speeches include an analysis of the content of the Speech. Questions covering the content include; did the student adhere to the topic, support assertions with outside evidence, properly cite sources, and most importantly, did the student provide a biblical basis for their position? The judges will also evaluate the Apologetics speeches by whether their defense is logical and well-reasoned. This is not primarily a devotional speech, but a well-reasoned, logical defense of a Biblical position. Organization and Analysis evaluation includes these criteria: Did the student relate a clear thesis statement? Did the student demonstrate a thorough, working knowledge of their topic, of Scripture and other sources? Did the student appropriately use analysis and reasoning, presenting a logical, well-reasoned flow of ideas? Failure to address the topic is, of course, a major flaw in the Sara Lee Harris Worldview Oratory Contest can result in disqualification of the Speech.

More specific details on the judging criteria can be found by looking at the CCT ballots for Worldview Apologetics (Junior Varsity) and Mars Hill (Senior Varsity).  NOTE: Ballot sections on vocal and physical deliver will obviously not be used.

Winners will be contacted and results posted to the THEA and CCT websites by March 15^th.