C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest

The annual C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest gives Goshen College students an opportunity to explore peace from a faith perspective, get involved in the cause of peace, test ideas, and cultivate rhetorical skills.

Each participant steps to the lectern to deliver an 8- to 10-minute speech on their chosen topic relating to the Christian peace position, in a universal or specific context, including war and violence, political policies, agencies of justice and peace, peacemaking strategies or current events. The addresses are judged on originality, the integration of topic and a peace position and general standards of delivery.

Participants compete for cash prizes and the top winner may enter the U.S./Canada Mennonite Central Committee-sponsored C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest. The trust of C. Henry Smith, a 20th-century Mennonite historian and professor at Goshen College and Bluffton (Ohio) College, funds the contest, which gives students an opportunity to become involved with the peace cause while cultivating rhetorical skills. Speech contests have been part of Goshen College’s history since the early 1900s; the C. Henry Smith contest allows the campus and the wider Goshen communities to hear about faith-related, socially relevant, contemporary issues.