Three local teens secured the top spots in the 2021 Oratorical Contest sponsored by Our Authors Study Club (OASC) and the Sigma Sigma Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
The virtual event was held March 27 and the awards were presented on April 10, with each recipient receiving certificates, gifts and cash prizes.
Mia Moore, a 9th grader from Glendale, won 1st place for her exhortation of the topic, “The Black Family: Representation, Identity & Diversity.” Hunter Young, a 9th grade student at Branded Genius Academy and a member of Boy Scout Troop 848 in Los Angeles, received the 2nd place award.
Third place went to Jeremiah Davis, an 11th grader at St. John Bosco in Bellflower, who also represented the Gamma Zeta Boulé Foundation. Ryshaun Brown, a 9th grade student at Blue Ridge Academy in Santa Clarita, garnered an honorable mention awarded.
“It is with great honor that OASC and the Sigma Sigma chapter continue to cultivate young orators and keep the sacred traditions of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which was founded in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson,” said a spokesperson. Both organizations are connected through the late Vassie Wright, who established the OASC Los Angeles Chapter in 1945 and was also a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority.
Currently, Ernestine Jan Gordon serves as OASC president, Vanessa Rickman is the basileus (president) of the Sigma Sigma Alumnae Chapter and Rasheeda S. Liberty is the grand basileus Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
To learn more, visit oratoricalcontest.com or asalh.org.
LaRita Shelby contributed to this article.
