The students will advance to the National Oratorical Contest May 16-17 in Hillsdale, Mich., to compete for over $203,000 in scholarships.
The American Legion’s annual National Oratorical Contest, a high school speech contest on the U.S. Constitution, will get underway May 16 in Hillsdale, Mich., where 53 department winners will compete to earn a top three finals spot and over $203,000 in scholarships.
The students won their respective American Legion post, district and department oratorical contest to advance to the national contest that is held on the campus of Hillsdale College. This year, the National Oratorical Contest will see six returning department winners from 2025 from the states of Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana and West Virginia.
The contest will begin on Saturday, May 16, where the 53 competitors will be divided into nine groups for the quarterfinals to give a prepared eight- to 10-minute oration on the U.S. Constitution and a three- to five-minute oration on an assigned topic discourse – a phase of the Constitution selected from Articles and Sections – in front of judges and family members. The top 18 will advance to the semifinal round to again present their prepared oration and assigned topic. Following the semifinal round, the top three finalists will advance to the final competition at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 17.
Each department (state) winner who participates in the national contest’s first round receives a $2,000 scholarship. The 18 semifinalists will receive an additional $2,000. And the three finalists will compete for first place and a $25,000 scholarship. Second and third place will earn $22,500 and $20,000 respectively.
2026 department oratorical winners:
Alabama: Prestley Claire Skelton of Jasper
Alaska: Reagean Wingard of Sitka
Arizona: Wendy Gluski of Scottsdale
Arkansas: Addison Choate of Little Rock
California: Christina Fayad of Murrieta
Colorado: Juliet Hetzel of Colorado Springs
Connecticut: Aangad Singh of Milford
Delaware: Joseph Zogheib of Wilmington
District of Columbia: Fadilah Sule
Florida: Brianna PeAguirre of Brandon
France: Sophia Wick
Georgia: Asa Scott of Macon
Hawaii: Keoni Randolph of Hilo
Idaho: Josiah Cecil of Mackay
Illinois: Chaithrika Sripathi of Naperville
Indiana: Tyler Paul of Kendallville
Iowa: Helen Peng of Cedar Falls
Kansas: Reghan Ervin of Severy
Kentucky: Cayden Dunn of Bowling Green
Louisiana: Betty Mutoji of Rayne
Maine: Corey Brackett of Raymond
Maryland: Dhruv Veda of Ellicott City
Massachusetts: Pradnya Cowlagi of Shrewsbury
Michigan: Brianna Zhang of Portage
Minnesota: Elijah Cox of Walker
Mississippi: Joseph Nichols of Blue Springs
Missouri: Tess Lehman of Taylor
Montana: Carmen Katzenberger of Harlowton
Nebraska: Frank Kovacs of Minden
Nevada: Logan Price of Henderson
New Hampshire: Andrew King of Concord
New Jersey: Diya Ranjan of Edison
New Mexico: Alexandria Landavazo of Belen
New York: Heyan Chung of Vestal
North Carolina: Matthew Smith of Stanley
North Dakota: Jayla Roberts of Williston
Ohio: Anna Schutte of Beavercreek
Oklahoma: Deborah Nkurumeh of Oklahoma City
Oregon: Chase McMullen of Yamhill
Pennsylvania: Judah Donnelly of Clarks Summit
Puerto Rico: Jorge Gonzalez of Toaalta
Rhode Island: August Pittman of Warwick
South Carolina: Eliana Oliver of Hanahan
South Dakota: Lewis Carlyle of Rapid City
Tennessee: Andrew Darlington of Johnson City
Texas: Anoushka Rai of Frisco
Utah: Katie Bell of Mapleton
Vermont: McKinley Keaffaber of Bennington
Virginia: Varsha Shankar of Aldie
Washington: Henry Offutt of Castle Rock
West Virginia: Juliann Harlan of Elkins
Wisconsin: Stephen Bott of Nashotah
Wyoming: Lara Haney of Wilson
- Oratorical