In support of the International Anticorruption Day, the U.S. Embassy is launching a speech competition “No Corruption Means:….” in which contestants will speak on the topic of what a Romania without corruption means to them. Contestants are urged to include in their remarks what they see as the main social, political, economic or security results of corruption and suggested solutions to the problem.
Romanian undergraduate university students majoring in Law, Political Science, International Relations, History, American Studies, and related disciplines are invited to submit a written speech to infobuch@state.gov no later than January 18, 2019. The speech must be in English, and should take approximately five minutes to read. The written speech should contain no more than 600 words.
Participants should include their full name, e-mail address, phone number, age, major, university and the name of the coordinating professor (if applicable). Family members of the U.S. Embassy employees are not permitted to participate in the competition.
American diplomats will select the top ten written speeches. Speeches will be judged based on their vision, persuasiveness, originality, and correct use of English.
The writers of the top ten speeches will be invited to deliver their speeches before an audience, including a jury of American diplomats and eminent Romanians on February 21, 2019, at 2 p.m, at the American Corner in the National Library in Bucharest. Speeches must be delivered in English and will be judged based on their content vision (10 points), content persuasiveness (10 points), content originality (10 points), effectiveness of delivery (10 points) and correct use of English (10 points). Participants should arrive no later than 1.30 p.m. in order to be in place before the event begins. Speeches should be approximately five minutes in length. If a speech continues beyond seven minutes, the Master of Ceremonies will request that the speaker end their speech immediately.
Speech writers will be contacted no later than February 14, 2019 to be informed if they have been selected to deliver their speech. The U.S. Embassy will not provide cost of transportation to the public speaking event or lodging for out of town participants. By participating in the contest, each student affirms that he or she is responsible for his or her transportation costs to the American Corner on February 21, 2019.
The U.S. Embassy will award the top prize, a laptop, during the ceremony on February 21. Winners of the 2nd and 3rd places will be awarded a GoPro camera and a power bank, respectively. Videos of the three winners’ speeches will be highlighted on the U.S. Embassy website and on other online platforms. All participants – students and teachers alike – will receive certificates from the U.S. Embassy to recognize their efforts.
CONTEST
Rules and Contest Details
- Contest Theme:
“No Corruption Means:….” – In honor of International Anticorruption Day 2018
- How to Enter:
Write a speech that takes approximately five minutes to read out loud, addressing the theme of the contest, “No Corruption Means:….” focusing on what a Romania without corruption means. Speeches need to be the original work of the contestants and written in English. This contest is open to Romanian university students studying Law, Political Science, International Relations, History, American Studies, and related disciplines in Romania. Once a speech is submitted, it is considered a final submission and may not be modified or edited, or replaced. Participation in this contest is automatically deemed as acceptance of these Official Contest Rules.
III. Speech Submission:
Speeches (the “Entry”) must be sent to infobuch@state.gov on or before midnight January 18, 2019. Participants will submit their full name, e-mail address, phone number, university, major, and age.
- Content Requirements
Entries cannot:
- be sexually explicit or suggestive, or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group or the disabled, be pornographic, or contain nudity;
- promote alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing), any activities that may appear unsafe or dangerous, or any particular political agenda or message;
- defame, misrepresent or contain disparaging remarks about other people or companies;
- contain any prominent use of trademarks, logos or trade dress (such as distinctive packaging or building exteriors/interiors) owned by others as determined by the U.S. Embassy, Bucharest, or advertise or promote any brand or product of any kind, or contain any personal identification, such as license plate numbers, personal names, e-mail addresses or street addresses;
- contain prominent copyrighted materials owned by others (including photographs, sculptures, paintings and other works of art or images published on or in websites, television, movies or other media) as determined by the U.S. Embassy, Bucharest;
- quote other author’s written or spoken words without attribution;
- communicate messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or goodwill to which the U.S. Embassy, Bucharest wishes to associate; or
- be in violation of any law.
- Eligibility:
- Contestants must be university students currently studying for an undergraduate degree in Law, Political Science, International Relations, History, American Studies, and related disciplines.
- The written contest commences on December 9, 2018, and closes at 23:59 on January 18, 2019. The person submitting the speech will be considered the contestant and will be the only person eligible to deliver the speech on February 21 and compete for the prizes.
- Family members U.S. Embassy employees are not eligible to participate in this competition.
- Selection of Winners:
Judging Criteria
All speeches will be screened by a panel of American diplomats from the U.S. Embassy, Bucharest and other Americans affiliated with the U.S. Embassy, Bucharest.
The criteria for judging the delivered speeches are: content vision (10 points), content persuasiveness (10 points), content originality (10 points), effectiveness of delivery (10 points) and correct use of English (10 points).
Speech Delivery
In order to compete for the final prizes on February 21, 2019, participants must arrive at the American Corner in the National Library no later than 1.30 p.m. so that the event can begin on time and not suffer from interruptions. Participants arriving after 2 p.m. will not be able to deliver their speeches. In order to win the contest, participants must deliver their speech in front of an audience that may include journalists. Participants acknowledge that they may be recorded/video tapped while performing their speeches and these recording may be rebroadcasted by media or by U.S. Embassy, Bucharest. Likewise, participant’s speeches may be reprinted in whole or in part in print media or by U.S. Embassy, Bucharest.
VII. Terms & Rights:
By entering you represent and warrant and agree that:
You have written and submitted the Entry. All elements of your Entry are original and are not copied from any other work without proper attribution to the original author and do not infringe upon the rights of any third party. You retain ownership of the Entry you submit, however, by entering you grant the U.S. Embassy, Bucharest the perpetual, fully-paid, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to publish, reproduce, prepare derivative works of, distribute, display, exhibit, transmit, broadcast, televise, digitize, otherwise use, and permit others to use and perform throughout the world the speech in any manner, form, or format now or hereinafter created, including on the Internet, and for any purpose, including, but not limited to, advertising or promotion of Contest Entities and Contest all without further consent from or payment to you, including any Entry which was not selected. By submitting your Entry, you agree that the U.S. Embassy Bucharest has no obligation to post or publish your Entry, that all such postings or publication, if any, will be in the U.S. Embassy Bucharest’s sole discretion and that the posting or publication of an Entry does not guarantee the Entry will be selected as a finalist or as a winner.
By submitting an Entry, each entrant understands and grants to the U.S. Embassy Bucharest permission for his/her Entry to be posted on the Embassy’s online platforms (e.g. Facebook, YouTube), and web pages in perpetuity throughout the world for viewing by visitors to the Websites. The U.S. Embassy Bucharest is not responsible for any unauthorized third party use of any Entry. Entries will not be acknowledged and will not be received or held “in confidence” and a submission does not create a confidential relationship or obligation of secrecy between you and the U.S. Embassy Bucharest or any of its affiliates.
Each Entry must not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity. If the Entry contains any material or elements that are not owned by the entrant and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, the entrant is responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the Entry, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the use and exhibition of the Entry by the U.S. Embassy Bucharest in the manner set forth in these Official Rules. The U.S. Embassy Bucharest reserves the right to request proof of these permissions in a form acceptable to them from any entrant at any time. By submitting an Entry, entrant warrants and represents that he/she consents to the submission and use of the Entry in the Contest, and to its posting on the U.S. Embassy Bucharest or other USG web pages.
The U.S. Embassy Bucharest reserves the right to disqualify any Entry for any reason, in its sole and absolute discretion. The U.S. Embassy Bucharest is under no obligation to disclose why an Entry has been disqualified other than the Entry was ineligible under these Official Rules. Furthermore, the U.S. Embassy Bucharest reserves the right to not award any prize if, in its sole and absolute discretion, it does not receive a sufficient number of eligible and qualified entries in the entry period.
