THE PERSUASIVE SPEAKING CONTEST: AN ANALYSIS OF TWENTY YEARS OF CHANGE Timothy L. Sellnow and George Ziegelmueller* Although collegiate persuasive speaking competition has ex- isted in this country for more than a century, surprisingly little research has been conducted regarding it (Schnoor, 1984). Most of what has been written regarding oratory or persuasive speaking has been from a "how to" perspective. William Schrier (1971) has published an entire text dedicated to the writing and coaching of contest oratory, but only a limited amount of data-based research has been conducted regarding persuasive speaking contests. In 1967, Purnell and Wilkes examined contest orations from the early 1960s, but their analysis was concerned only with the issue of ethos. Robert L. Frank (1983) studied the speeches of the finalists in persuasive speaking at the 1981 National Forensic Association's Individual Events national contest. Frank's research has proven insightful and influential, but it is limited to a consideration of a single compositional element, evidence, and to a single round of competition. Thus, there are no long-term, data-based studies of the broad compositional aspects of successful college orations. Research regarding the nature of successful contest oratory is especially appropriate today. Over the past two decades, individual events has grown in popularity at a tremendous pace. Both the National Forensic Association's Individual Events Nationals and the American Forensic Association's National Individual Events Tournament were founded during the 1970s. During this same period, competition in persuasive speaking at the Delta Sigma Rho - Tau Kappa Alpha and Pi Kappa Delta nationals and at the Inter- state Oratory Contest has remained strong. Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine major compositional aspects of successful persuasive speeches in order to better under- stand the nature of the event and to identify shifts in judging and teaching standards over time. Specifically, a series of contest speeches from the 1960s and the 1980s are categorically compared and contrasted. Four areas of concern are addressed: (1) unique *The National Forensic Journal, VI (Fall, 1988), pp. 75-88. TIMOTHY L. SELLNOW is Assistant Professor in Speech Communica- tion and Associate Director of Forensics at North Dakota State University. Fargo, ND 58102; GEORGE ZIEGELMUELLER is Professor of Speech Com- munication and Director of Forensics at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202. 75