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Tennessee's winner of the 11th annual
Pro-Life Oratory Contest for High School Students has also won the national
contest held June 26 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Clay Smith, son of Tim and
Kimberley Smith, won the opportunity to represent Tennessee during state finals held earlier this year at Aquinas College in Nashville. There, Clay's speech was awarded first place and an
expense paid trip to the national finals held annually in conjunction with
the National Right to Life convention.
"Every year it's difficult to choose a winner from among the many
excellent speeches given by pro-life students," said Brian Best, coordinator of the annual Tennessee contest. "Our judges were very impressed with
Clay's presentation and felt that he would represent our state very
well. As it turns out, they were right," Best said.
Smith's speech highlighted basic facts regarding the humanity of preborn children,
the nature of abortion in America and adoption as a practical and positive alternative.
Clay is a 2010 graduate of David Lipscomb High School in Nashville and will be a freshman this fall at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.
Previous winners of the TRL contest include:
2000 Rebecca Thompson,
Davidson County
2001 Caleb Colley, Shelby County
2002 Caleb Colley, Shelby County
2003 Kelly League, Wilson County
2004 Vanessa Hale, Coffee County
2005 Lee Ann LaPlue, Hawkins County
2006 Hanna Lee, Knox County
2007 Joseph Riley, McMinn County
2008 Joseph Riley, McMinn County
2009 Alexis Ziarkowski, McMinn County
The
2010 Tennessee Right to Life Oratory Contest for High School Students was sponsored by
members of the organization with special support from Aquinas College, Charles and Mary Labron Beam, Kemp Orthodontics, and the
Nehemiah Foundation.
More
than 1,000 Tennessee students have participated in the contest since its inception
with some students continuing their pro-life advocacy at college campuses
around the state.
For more information or to make a tax-deductible contribution to help defray
contest expenses, contact info@tnrtl.org.
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