{"id":52208,"date":"2025-07-25T15:19:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T19:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/?page_id=52208"},"modified":"2026-02-27T12:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:28:18","slug":"speech-competitions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/","title":{"rendered":"Speech Competitions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Putting public speaking skills into action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every year the School of Communication Studies hosts two fun, but spirited, speech competitions where students can win prizes for flexing the skills they learned in either CMST 210 Public Speaking<\/strong> or CMST 240 Business and Professional Communication<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about each competition below!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Charles J. McClung Speech Contest <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Charles J. McClung Speech Contest is the largest public speaking contest in the Southeast. The contest takes place semi-annually, in the fall and spring semesters, featuring unique themes every year. This competition is open to students from the CMST 210 Public Speaking course that is part of the Volunteer Core requirements for all University of Tennessee, Knoxville students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students who want to participate in the competition submit their speech outlines and committee chooses a small group of students to present their speech in front of three judges, who then select five finalists. The finalists then present their speech in front of an audience of about 1,000 people at the Alumni Building Cox Auditorium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The themes of the speeches are always centered on intercultural or international topics and are about four to six minutes long. A panel of experienced judges then rank each of the five finalists, all of whom will win a cash prize that is deposited on their student Vol card.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

Smokey Talks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Smokey Talks competition is a small competition that provides students from CMST 240 Business and Professional Communication an opportunity to present a speech in front of their peers. As one of the required Volunteer Core classes for University of Tennessee, Knoxville, this course typically has around 34 sections and one student is nominated from each section to give a business presentation as part of the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theme of this competition centers around international business or business etiquette. The Smokey Talks speaking competition takes place in the UT Student Union annually. Winners of the competition are determined by fellow students from the CMST 240 Business and Professional Communication.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
<\/span>
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Putting public speaking skills into action Every year the School of Communication Studies hosts two fun, but spirited, speech competitions where students can win prizes for flexing the skills they learned in either CMST 210 Public Speaking or CMST 240 Business and Professional Communication. Learn more about each competition below! Charles J. McClung Speech Contest  The Charles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"no-title","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-52208","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nSpeech Competitions - School of Communication Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Speech Competitions - School of Communication Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Putting public speaking skills into action Every year the School of Communication Studies hosts two fun, but spirited, speech competitions where students can win prizes for flexing the skills they learned in either CMST 210 Public Speaking or CMST 240 Business and Professional Communication. Learn more about each competition below! Charles J. McClung Speech Contest  The Charles […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"School of Communication Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-27T17:28:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/web_CMST-Speech-Contest_213-Enhanced-NR.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/speech-competitions\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/speech-competitions\\\/\",\"name\":\"Speech Competitions - School of Communication Studies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/speech-competitions\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/speech-competitions\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/web_CMST-Speech-Contest_213-Enhanced-NR-1024x683.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-25T19:19:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-27T17:28:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/speech-competitions\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/speech-competitions\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/speech-competitions\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/web_CMST-Speech-Contest_213-Enhanced-NR.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/web_CMST-Speech-Contest_213-Enhanced-NR.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"A student wearing khaki pleated pants and a sleeveless black satin tank gestures and smiles while giving a speech.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/speech-competitions\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Speech Competitions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/\",\"name\":\"School of Communication Studies\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/cmst\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Speech Competitions - School of Communication Studies","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Speech Competitions - School of Communication Studies","og_description":"Putting public speaking skills into action Every year the School of Communication Studies hosts two fun, but spirited, speech competitions where students can win prizes for flexing the skills they learned in either CMST 210 Public Speaking or CMST 240 Business and Professional Communication. Learn more about each competition below! Charles J. McClung Speech Contest  The Charles […]","og_url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/","og_site_name":"School of Communication Studies","article_modified_time":"2026-02-27T17:28:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/web_CMST-Speech-Contest_213-Enhanced-NR.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/","name":"Speech Competitions - School of Communication Studies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/web_CMST-Speech-Contest_213-Enhanced-NR-1024x683.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-25T19:19:56+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-27T17:28:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/web_CMST-Speech-Contest_213-Enhanced-NR.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/web_CMST-Speech-Contest_213-Enhanced-NR.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"A student wearing khaki pleated pants and a sleeveless black satin tank gestures and smiles while giving a speech."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/speech-competitions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Speech Competitions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/","name":"School of Communication Studies","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/cmst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}