District Contest Winners

​Luisa Montalvo (middle) took first place in the International Speech Contest.

Luisa, a member of several Toastmasters clubs: Alpha Toastmasters in McAllen, HUB City in Pharr, and S.H.I.E.L.D. in Harlingen, surpassed fierce competition to win over the judges with herspeech, “It’s Time.” The speech touched on the themes of bravery, passion, and confidence.  When it comes to connecting with an audience, she said, “Talking to everybody in the audience as if I was talking one-on-one.” 

Luisa will compete with up to 113 other winners from districts around the world who advance to the 2019 region quarterfinal round after winning their club, area, division and district speech competitions. Their five- to seven-minute speeches were judged on content, organization, gestures and style.

“Toastmasters speech contests are another way to build your confidence and speak to many different audiences,” says Luisa. “I look forward to competing at a whole new level, competing against new contestants, and broadening my view of contest!”

Luisa is retired and now spends her time rescuing dogs. She joined Toastmasters to continue on be better able to engage an audience and get her point across.  

The Toastmasters International Speech Contest began in 1938 and is the world’s largest speech contest, involving 30,000 participants from 143 countries. It culminates with the popular World Championship of Public Speaking held annually at the organization’s International Convention.

Lorraine Willias, EC2 from Northwest Toastmasters club in San Antonio took first place in the Tall Tales contest. She weaved together with a fantastic tale of a fire breathing dragon and tomatoes.

While the winner of the International speech contest goes on to represent the District at the Regional level, the Tall Tales contest culminates at the District level.