Group photo of the winners of the Edward Everett Prize in Oratory.

The 14th Annual Edward Everett Oratory Competition

Written by Emily Runge

In early February, 16 students wrote, memorized, and delivered speeches in hopes of making it to the final competition and winning the grand prize of $3000. The finals were held Tuesday, March 4th. Senior Melika Willoughby won the competition, followed by Shaun Lichti in second and Keyona Shabazz in third.

The competition is named after Edward Everett, a great American statesman and orator, who delivered an oration in dedication at the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Unfortunately, his two-hour speech was overshadowed by President Lincoln’s famous two-minute Gettysburg Address. Nevertheless, Everett should be celebrated as a man who served his county through politics, education, and diplomacy.

This competition, presented by the Department of Theatre and Speech, encourages students to utilize the five Aristotelian pillars of rhetoric—Discovery, Structure, Style, Memory, and Delivery—in order to craft a speech on the topic announced each January. This year, the topic was “Privacy and Surveillance: The Costs to Our Free Republic.” The surveillance of US citizens, particularly by the National Security Agency, has become a significant public policy issue. Senator Rand Paul has filed a lawsuit against the Obama Administration for the activities of the NSA, and there have been several initiatives to reign in the surveillance power of the federal government in Congress.

Discussion on the delicate balance of civil liberty and security is not limited to the Everett Competition. There is an ongoing conversation between students and faculty, especially in the Politics and History departments, about a subject that has been extremely important throughout American history. In many courses, civil liberties and war are the subjects of exploration as students study the founders’ perspective on civil rights and the history surrounding the suspension of civil rights. For instance, the separate study of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt illustrate the difference in how they approached their wartime powers. The courses offered by Hillsdale create a foundation on which students can build their speeches for the competition.

At the luncheon following the competition, Dr. Larry Arnn described senior Melika Willoughby as brilliant—which is also descriptive of her account of the original meaning of the 4th Amendment and its application to the NSA. Her oration (read Melika Willoughby’s oration here) included references to James Otis, John Adams, John Locke, St. Thomas Aquinas, and others which were woven into a compelling argument for the unconstitutionality of the NSA.

Every year, the Everett Competition gives students the opportunity to address extremely pressing issues through synthesizing the knowledge they have acquired and creating a persuasive speech. While rhetorical skills are necessary to winning the Everett Competition, they are even more important to the future dissemination of the principles that we celebrate here at Hillsdale College.


Emily Runge is a sophomore at Hillsdale College who is majoring in Politics and minoring in History. She is a George Washington Fellow, a member of Pi Beta Phi women’s fraternity, a member of the Hillsdale College Honors Program, and a volunteer at Will Carleton Academy.