Mia White ’26.5 took home the trophy for the seventh annual Spencer Prize Championship for her speech about discussing theories formulated by Judith Butler with her community friend.
Named after the late Professor Emeritus and former trustee of Middlebury College John Spencer, the Spencer Prize Championship is a speech competition presented by Oratory Now for first year students at Middlebury. On Jan. 30 in Mahaney Arts Center’s Robison Hall, six finalists each delivered a five-minute speech in response to the prompt, “Connect something you’ve discovered in a Middlebury class to something you care about. Can you get your audience to care too?”
The selection process for the Spencer Prize Championship allowed faculty to nominate up to four students from the classes of 2026.5 and 2027.
“Nominations are asked to recognize students for public speaking potential as well as current ability, or for their eloquence and engagement in classroom discussions,” according to the Oratory Now website.
As a former professor of African history and trustee, Spencer emphasized the importance of oral presentation skills.
“Many current faculty will remember him as a mentor, offering sage advice about how to survive and be exceptional at Middlebury,” said Ted Perry, Fletcher professor of the arts emeritus, quoted on the Spencer Prize website. “Many students will remember his extraordinarily helpful role in emphasizing oral presentations, a practice he made central to success in his classes. He knew it was a skill they would need in whatever life’s work they chose.”
After the students participated in three qualifying events judged by faculty and staff, the championship event featured the six finalists: Alison Penner ’27, Juan Salazar ’27, Meghasha Dangal ’27, Israel Ostos ’27, Weronika Wozny ’27 and White. Judges for the championship round included Vice President for Student Affairs Smita Ruzicka, Vice President for Advancement Dan Courcey, Dean of First Year Experience Sabrina Durand and alumnus Mark Collins ’79.
After an energetic competition, much anticipation from the crowd and the Oratory Now tradition of the “Viking Drumroll,” White was named the event’s winner. In her speech, she spoke about how theories formulated by Judith Butler were useful in conversations with her community friend. “I talked about Judith Butler’s theory of gender performance and how I noticed its relevance in conversations with my community friend. It was striking to me that such a complex theory was so applicable and relevant even in conversations with a 10 year old,” White said in a message to The Campus.
From Seattle, White is on the crew team, works at Crossroads Café, and does rock climbing, puzzling, sledding and skiing in her free time.
White was excited to win the competition and proud to have competed with other talented students. “I kind of buffered when they called my name because I genuinely didn't expect it. All of the finalists gave such compelling, impressive speeches and I was just proud to stand up there with such an awesome group of people,” she said. “It was such an honor to win and I’m just happy my speech resonated with so many people.”
The cohort was invited to a social event with their fellow nominees, a specially designed Spencer Speechwriting Workshop run by student speakers from the previous Spencer Prize competitions and a one-on-one delivery practice session with one of Oratory Now’s peer coaches.
White said she appreciated the workshops hosted by Oratory Now as she prepared for the competition. “I had no idea what I was going to talk about until I went to a workshop hosted by oratory now and was able to talk with some of the awesome coaches and brainstorm in a low stakes environment,” she said.
“I must have heard the different parts of the event rehearsed many times before the actual night, but it was really lovely to see all the moving parts come together nicely,” Alpana Bakshi ’26, a co-producer of this year’s championship, told The Campus. “We Oratory coaches put in many hours behind the scenes, planning and prepping, and I just felt super grateful for having such a great team of people to make it happen.”
Salazar said that he was excited to receive an email notifying him of his nomination for the competition, despite not previously knowing what it was.
“I enjoy taking on challenges, and having set myself to have a busy J-Term, preparing for the Spencer Prize qualifying rounds and grand championship positively added to the wish of mine to be better and help others through the process,” Salazar said.
Wozny said that the Spencer Prize competition was simultaneously challenging and rewarding.
“On one side, I was so tremendously happy and grateful that I had the opportunity to share my story, but on the other hand, the mere thought of speaking in front of someone was causing a spike in my pulse,” she explained .
Wozny described finding the initial speech-writing process difficult, but used the advice of Professor of Theatre Dana Yeaton to go deeper with initial content.
“In the beginning, I had no idea how to go about that advice. Fortunately, after many conversations, I realized that in order to reach that depth, I needed honesty and a little vulnerability, both with the people in the audience and myself. It felt scary, but reflecting on the whole experience, I am incredibly happy with the end result and proud that I shared my truth,”she added.
Xander Bowles ’26, a co-producer of this year’s competition, described the championship as a culmination of everyone’s hard work throughout the process. “It’s fun to see it all come together and know I played a role in that,” Bowles said.
Bowles added that being a co-producer of the championship this year was a full circle moment, as he was a nominee for the prize last year.
Bakshi described the excitement of watching the speakers grow and progress on stage from the qualifying rounds to their final speeches. “I was a Spencer Prize competitor and it was one of the most rewarding experiences I had as a first-year, finding myself through storytelling and having the opportunity to share that story. It was amazing to witness that now as a producer for the new round of speakers,” she said.
Both student competitors and organizers found being a part of this year’s event rewarding. “I’m really pleased with how this year’s Spencer Prize has gone and I’m looking forward to seeing it grow. We’ve already got notes and plans going for next year,” Bakshi said.
“I’m… immensely grateful for everyone who helped me through the whole process,” Wozny said, expressing her thanks to the Oratory Now team, her friends and family, for making the experience worthwhile.
Bakshi added that after the success of this year’s championship, the Oratory Now team already has plans in the works for next year’s event.
