Bluffton University will hold its annual C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest at 6:30 p.m. on April 11 in Yoder Recital Hall. 

Students selected to participate will prepare an oration, no more than ten minutes in length, that applies a peace-church perspective to an issue of contemporary concern. 

Katey Ebaugh ’18 of Lancaster, Pa., will present a speech titled, “Our Neighbors Have No Home.” A speech titled, “Little Boy and Fat Man: Blessing or Plague?” will be presented by Jared Hurst ’19 of Sharon, Pa. Joel Jacobson ’18 of Franklin, Ohio, will share “Truth, Peace and Media Literacy, while Floid Krajcovic ’19 of Robertsville, Ohio, will speak on “The Peace of Universal Health Care.” Julian LaValle ’21 of Jefferson, Ohio, will present the speech “Bluffton Values for Real Life Situations, and Irena Xhari of Lezha, Albania, will share “Restorative Justice and Sexual Violence.”

The student who is awarded first prize will receive $175. The second and third prize speakers will receive $125 and $100, respectively.

The first prize winner will advance to compete with winning students from other North American Mennonite colleges. The bi-national competition awards $250 for first place, $150 for second place and $75 for third place.

The contest is named in honor of C. Henry Smith, an early 20th-century Mennonite historian and a professor at Bluffton as well as at Goshen College.