McKinney Prize in Oratory

Hamilton College Trustee Charles McKinney of Binghamton, N.Y.  signed an agreement in 1878 which allowed Hamilton to claim a portion of his estate for the purpose of establishing these prizes. His intent was to have the prizes “stimulate the undergraduates of said College to diligence and proficiency in that department [oratory].” Thus, the McKinney Prizes in Oratory have been given out since 1885.

One winner from each class year will take home $1,250; all winners will be recognized at Class and Charter Day.

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Eligibility

The McKinney Prize is open to all full-time students, with one prize awarded in each class. There must be at least four contestants from each class for the preliminary round in order to have a competition for that class. In the event that too few competitors enter for a certain class year, class years may be combined.

Requirements

This competition requires a persuasive speech. The topic should have relevance and interest for a Hamilton College audience and should be presented in a manner appropriate for the occasion and setting. 

Preliminary Round

To participate in the 2025 Preliminary Round, you must record your speech at the OCC during one of our dedicated recording times. Times will be available between Thursday, February 13 and Monday, February 17, and can be reserved in TracCloud.

You will only have one opportunity to record your speech. You may restart once if you make a major mistake less than one minute in, but you may not come back to re-record.

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Scoring

The judges will assign scores on two broad areas: content/organization and delivery. Judges will also score each entry on overall engagement and persuasiveness.

Final round scores are separate from preliminary round scores, but are scored on the same criteria.

Content and Organization 

• Speaker made a clear case for why a Hamilton community member should listen to this speech.
• Language use was accessible to the listener.
• A listener could easily follow the organization of the content.
• Speaker used evidence that supported the main point of the speech.

Delivery

• Speaker’s use of vocal delivery (volume, pitch, emphasis) enhanced the message.
• Nonverbal delivery (gestures and eye contact) enhanced the message.
• Delivery was conversational rather than rotely memorized or read.

Overall Impression

• The overall presentation was consistently persuasive.
• The speaker was engaging to watch throughout the presentation.

Scoring Notes

In the event of a tie, overall engagement and persuasiveness will be used to determine the winner.

For the final round, speakers will be shown a countdown of their remaining time. The minimum time is 6 minutes and maximum time is 8 minutes. If speeches run shorter than the minimum or longer than the maximum, they will incur a 5% point penalty after a ten second grace period.

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Recent winners

2024

Emma Reilly '24, "Hannah Montana Said It First: Nobody's Perfect" | video

Amaris Martins '26, "The Injustice We Call Justice" | video

Grace Wilde '26, "The Consequences of Caring: A Look Into Our Mandated Reporting System" | video

Nana Hayrumyan '27, "Lessons in Gratitude from a Republic that was Lost Overnight" | video

2023

First place Amaris Martins '26, "Lives Are Set Up For Failure Before They Even Began: Reforming Student Aid Programs For Higher Education" | video

Second place Abigail Moone '23, "It Grows Back! The Phenomenon of Dorm Room Haircuts, and Why You Need One" | video

2022

Abbie Wolff '22, "Apathy and Access: Accessibility at Hamilton College" | video

Tinashe Dylan Manguwa '25, "Here Is Holy" | video

2021

Aurora Cai '21, "Do Not Let Your Uniqueness Mute You" | video

Abbie Wolff '22, "Mark Zuckerberg Wants You to Keep Scrolling: The Real Value of Your Screen Time" | video

Eric Moss '24, "The .1%" | video

2020

Taomi Kenny ’20, "Face Your Feelings" | video

Abbie Wolff ’22, "The Will of the People: Why the Filibuster Threatens American Democracy" | video

Sam Lieberman ’23, "The Woods" | video