The WB Williamson American Legion Post 1 hosted the annual Oratorical Contest on Saturday.

The Oratorical Contest, established in 1938, aims to instill constitutional knowledge in Southwest Louisiana’s youth by fostering leadership, speaking and reasoning skills and citizenship awareness.

During the competition, participants gave two speeches related to the United States Constitution. The first is an eight to 10-minute speech on a topic of the student’s choosing. The content of the speech has to pertain to the U.S. Constitution and is written in advance.

The second speech is three to five minutes long and isn’t written until the day of the contest. Participants are assigned one of four topics and are given five minutes to prepare before they give the speech. The possible assigned topics for the 2024 Oratorical Contest included: the Second Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, the 13th Amendment and the 25th Amendment, section three.

For the second year in a row, Leianni Vital – a junior at Lake Charles College Prep – won first place at the local Oratorical Contest, earning her a $500 cash prize from WB Williamson Post 1 and a $2,500 scholarship from Cox Law Firm that can be used at any post-secondary school.

St. Louis High School senior Mary Claire Obluda won second place and Washington-Marion freshman Armund Wilson won third place. Both Obluda and Wilson won $100 in cash.

Vital will represent WB Williamson Post 1 at the 7th District of Louisiana American Legion competition on Feb. 4 in Rayne. Last year, she competed up to the state level and placed second. According to a release from WB Williamson American Legion Post 1, she hopes to grab first place at the state level this year and move on to the national championship that will take place in Indianapolis later this year. If she competes at the national level, she will have the chance to win a first-place $25,000 scholarship.