The Sherman Prize Speaking Contest

The 121st Annual Sherman Prize Speaking Contest was held on February 13, 2025. Juniors pour their experiences and heart into a personal speech, delivering it to faculty judges in preliminary rounds. Six finalists deliver their speeches in one of the highlights of the year's assemblies. Congratulations and thank you to all who participated, and to each finalist for taking the stage to entertain, educate, encourage, and inspire their US audience. 

 

Sebastian Perez ’26 was named the winner of the 121st Annual Sherman Speaking Contest this morning for his work “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” In a speech that transcended into spellbinding soliloquy, Sebastian took the audience on an emotional journey to Columbia, recalling his personal experiences in his family's country, and the violent challenges the country faces today. 

 

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

Honorable Mentions:

 

At the assembly, students, faculty, and staff were joined by speakers’ family members and three judges—the people with the unenviable job of choosing today’s speaking contest winners. The six juniors’ speeches were judged based on originality, clarity, organization, and quality of delivery. Thank you to this year’s judges:

English teacher and Sherman Speaking Prize Advisor, Retired (1998 - 2018)

President

Medical Director  

 

With gratitude, we also recognize the faculty members who happily devoted many hours to the contest's administration, helping students in their creative and rehearsal processes, listening to all 66 speeches, and selecting the finalists. Thank you to Sherman Prize Speaking Advisor Mr. Somers, and those who worked with the students and judged preliminary rounds: Ms. Budd, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Garrett, Mr. O'Brien, Dr. Fallon, and Dr. Boehnen.

 

Mrs. Henry Sherman, née Harriette Amelia Benedict, established The Sherman Prize Speaking Contest in 1904 in memory of her son, George Benedict Sherman, Class of 1903. George Sherman died during his freshman year at Yale in a rock-climbing accident.

 

George Sherman's maternal grandfather, George A. Benedict, was for many years the managing editor of one of the earliest Cleveland newspapers, the Cleveland Herald. George Sherman has another notable ancestor. His great uncle is General William Tecumseh Sherman, of the Union Army in the Civil War.