In light of the growing concern about the spread of the Covid-19 disease, the 32nd Annual BC Japanese Speech Contest was held on March 14 at UBC in a reduced format with precautionary measures taken. It was not open to the public; only contestants, judges, organizers and UBC faculty and student volunteers were allowed to be on site. The event was live streamed online for those who were not able to attend.
Nineteen students from UBC were selected as the finalists to participate in the contest. Nine of them won prizes including the 1st Place in each of the categories. The 1st place winners are Rachel Shi (Beginner), Kim Zhou (Intermediate), Danyi Zhu (Advanced) and Erin We (Open).
At the Award Ceremony, Dr. Christina Yi presented the judges’ comments for the University Division. Professor Ross King, together with Consul General Takashi Hatori, presented prizes to the winners of the University Division at the Award Ceremony, as well as delivered the closing remarks for the event.
Besides all the sponsors, the Consulate-General of Japan and the Department of Asian Studies, the Organizing Committee is particularly thankful to the instructors and Teaching Assistants from the Japanese Language Program who volunteered to help out at the event. They all demonstrated great team-spirit in making the event a memorable and enjoyable one for all attending despite the exceptional circumstances under which it was held.
For more detailed information about the event and contestants’ presentations, please consult the following links:
News article (written in Japanese by Louise Akuzawa) on Vancouver Shinpo, the media sponsor of the contest.
Video clips of contestants’ presentations on YouTube.
