Aグループのグランプリに輝いたのは、国際学部1年生の坂根葵（さかね あおい）さん。三秋縋（みあき すがる）著『いたいのいたいの、とんでゆけ』について魅力を語ってくれました。
高校生の頃にもスピーチの仕方について学んだことがあるという坂根さんは、その学びも活かし、観客を引き込むようなスピーチをしてくれました。

Bグループのグランプリは国際学部1年生の西山空虹愛（にしやま そにあ）さん。
西山さんが選んだのは、八木仁平著『世界一やさしい「やりたいこと」の見つけ方』でした。なんと西山さんは今回の発表のために筆者や出版社にまで連絡をされたようで、出版社からのメッセージもスピーチに含め、この本の素晴らしさを語ってくれました。

国際学部では今後も1年生を対象としたスピーチコンテストを実施する予定です。

On Wednesday, July 19 2023, the School of International Studies held a speech contest for the first time.

The theme of the contest was "My Best Book". Each student had 3 minutes to present his or her best book in an appealing manner in order to make others want to read it.
Twenty-one representatives from each class of the "Basic Seminar A," a required first-year course, were divided into two groups and gave their presentations in classrooms G-IS303 and G-202.

Obviously there was a tense atmosphere in both groups before their presentations, but once the presentations began, it was all blown away and all the presenters gave excellent presentations, full of confidence.

The Winner of Group A was Aoi Sakane, 1st year student of the School of International Studies. She spoke about the appeal of the book "Itai no itai no, tonde yuke" written by Miaki Sugaru.
Aoi, who also learned how to give speeches when she was in high school, used what she had learned to deliver a speech that drew in the audience.

The first place of Group B went to the 1st year student of the School of International Studies, Sonya Nishiyama. Sonya chose "The World's Easiest Way to Find What You Want to Do" by Jinpei Yagi. Sonya even contacted the author and publisher for this presentation, and included a message from the publisher in her speech, talking about how wonderful this book was.

The School of International Studies will continue to hold the Speech Contest for the first-years students.