The Shakespeare Competition is designed to encourage students from public, independent and parochial high schools to understand and appreciate some of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets and to be able to recite a monologue from one of his plays to an audience that includes a panel of three judges. The recitation is from memory and has to be presented convincingly, in a way that shows the speaker understands what his or her character is saying in the context of the play.

Since 1986, the Branch has sponsored an annual Shakespeare Competition for high school students from more than 20 southern Arizona high schools every year.  The local winner's prize is a trip to New York to compete in the English-Speaking Union's National finals at the Lincoln Center where he or she competes against about 60 students from other ESU Branches across the country. (These students represent approximately 14,000 high-school students nationwide who were originally involved in local competitions.) The National winner's grand prize is a summer course at Oxford University in England with all expenses paid. A brochure describing the National Shakespeare Competition in more detail is available. (E-mail us with your request, please include your street address.)