April 24, 2024
Memorial Student Center, Ballrooms A & B | 7:00 p.m.
The Communication Skills Showcase is a celebration of student speaking excellence in Communication Studies (COMST 100), as well as student writing excellence in our Writing Workshop (ENGL 90), Composition I (ENGL 101) and Composition II (ENGL 102) classes. The event gives our outstanding communicators a place to shine outside of the classroom, in a venue where they can share their talents with the university and community.
The event features oral presentations from Communication Studies students, with awards for the top three speakers as chosen by a panel of judges. Recipients of the Andrea Deacon Writing award, which honors exemplary essays written by students, will also be recognized.
Public Speaking Award
Every semester, instructors from our Introduction to Communication Studies (COMST 100) classes nominate their most impressive student speakers to present in the showcase and be considered for the Public Speaking Award. These student speakers share polished versions of the same speeches that gained them admiration in their classes, with the use of audio and visual aids. A panel of communication studies instructors and campus/community celebrities adjudicate speakers on their delivery, organization and content, ultimately choosing the top three students for first, second and third place awards.
Past Award Recipients
- Karina Martin, “How to Choose an Apartment” (2023)
Andrea Deacon Writing Award
UW-Stout's first-year writing program would not exist without the leadership, passion and persistence of Dr. Andrea Deacon. Andrea’s deeply held belief in written communication as an essential skill for UW-Stout students and her commitment to formalizing UW-Stout’s first-year writing course sequence into a program built on the best practices of composition scholarship earned her the admiration of colleagues and students alike. Beginning in 2024, the Andrea Deacon Writing Award will be given to students whose essays in their first-year composition classes (Writing Workshop [ENGL 90], Composition I [ENGL 101] and Composition II [ENGL 102]) best model the principles of excellent writing that Andrea championed. Instructors from ENGL 90 will name one Writing Workshop student to be recognized with the award, while instructors teaching ENGL 101 and ENGL 102 may each nominate one student to be considered for first, second and third place, and honorable mention awards.