Nine high school orators survive first round, advance to national semi-finals this afternoon

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Apr 11, 2015, 03:22 ET

INDIANAPOLIS, April 11, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Excitement ran high for nine of 52 top high school orators as they advanced from the first round of intense competition in a national speech contest about the U.S. Constitution conducted by The American Legion. The speakers represent champions from 49 of 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of France and the Department of Puerto Rico. Each comes to The American Legion Oratorical Contest with one objective: leave with the $18,000 college scholarship Sunday afternoon.

Representatives of Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Virginia, Washington and France earned the opportunity to return to competition late this afternoon for the semi-finals. Only three will emerge from that round to the finals set for tomorrow.

Reaching the semi-finals are Greta Minocha of Ocala, Fla.; Rowan Macwan of Naperville, Ill.; Emma Skahill of Earlham, Iowa; Oona MacKinnon-Hoban of Portland, Maine; Caroline Donaldson of Eden Prairie, Minn.; Aubrey Snider of Glencoe, Okla.; Jonathan Corbin of Palmyra, Va.; Cady Crosby of Burlington, Wash. and Austin Muraille of Duisburg, Belgium.

This is the 78^th annual competition, officially called The American Legion High School Oratorical Scholarship Program – "A Constitutional Speech Contest." The three contestants reaching the finals will leave Indianapolis, the headquarters city for the 2.4 million-member American Legion, with a large part of their college education expenses assured. Besides the $18,000 top award, the first and second runners-up receive $16,000 and $14,000 scholarships respectively.

The nation's largest veterans organization holds the competition every year to encourage young Americans to improve their communications skills and to study the U.S. Constitution. More than 6,000 high school students begin competition annually at The American Legion post-community level.

Semi-finalists will be announced later this evening. Sunday's finals will be webcast live at 10 a.m. on www.legion.org. The website also includes a complete list of contestants by state.

MEDIA CONTACT: John Raughter (317) 441-8847, [email protected]. On Site Contact: Shane Abrams (317) 408-3381, [email protected]

SOURCE The American Legion