2019-11-02 Hana Foundation Youth English Speech Contest

The Hana Foundation held its third Youth English Speech Contest. I was delighted to be a judge for the third consecutive year and for TNKR volunteers to also mentor many of the contestants.

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From A-B-C to T-E-D

* Eunhee Park, grand prize winner of the Young Adults category, is a TNKR student and ambassador. It didn't take long for the judges to conclude that she was the winner yesterday. It is hard to believe that four years ago, she was at the ABC level.

People naturally focus on the winner of a contest, but one thing I try to stress in TNKR is the process. Eunhee competed in three TNKR English speech contests before she won, going from honorable mention, to 2nd place, to Grand Prize winner last year. She is fearless, thoughtful, so she probably has an advantage over others who fear the stage. That's also why she was the NK refugee to be co-MC of a TNKR English speech contest. She has now started a YouTube channel (SUBSCRIBE!) and be sure to check her TEDx Talk.

TNKR co-founders Casey Lartigue and Eunkoo Lee with Eunhee after the contest.

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* The winner of the Youth category was mentored by TNKR volunteers. Eunju's speech has been published in "Voices from the North" at the Korea Times.

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The top two award winners

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* TNKR's co-founder, Casey Lartigue, Chief Judge.

I have been one of the judges at all three contests, but they still act like they don't know me! :-)

The judges, with the toughest role of all: To decide the rankings of the contestants, with family, friends, teachers and other concerned people who only want their loved one to win, even if they fall off the stage.

The judges listening.

Deliberation time.

As Chief Judge, I was asked to make some comment. My main point, probably not translated well, was to quote Nelson Mandela: "I never lose. I either win or learn."

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MC Jieun Shin

Jieun Shin, MC of the event, has an important place in TNKR history. Even before we were an official organization, she interviewed me in a podcast that led to a 49 minute feature on TVN. Many North Korean refugees also heard of TNKR because of that podcast.

2015 interview with Jieun

TVN special
https://www.facebook.com/CaseyLartigue/videos/1135977703212890/

In addition, we were also co-hosts of a podcast bringing attention to Hwang In-Cheol's campaign to have his father freedom from North Korea.

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Presenting Awards

I also had the honor of presenting awards.

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GROUP PHOTOS

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PHOTO TIME

Even though I was one of the judges, many of the contestants wanted to meet me, although not all can show their faces.

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PAGODA EXECUTIVES

The contest was hosted by the Pagoda Institute, so their executives were there to meet-and-greet. They had never heard of TNKR before yesterday, but they heard about it a lot, including when refugees singled us out.

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MORE TNKR participants

Other refugee youth coached by TNKR speech coach mentors also participated, and the second prize winner was the winner of a previous TNKR English speech contest.

It was a great experience overall, and later, I only had one disgruntled attendee who emailed me later, threatening to wage a campaign against me.

More updates later (when I receive photos or find media coverage of the contest).

http://www.newdaily.co.kr/site/data/html/2019/11/04/2019110400238.html

http://www.etnews.com/20191104000397

TNKR's next English speech contest will be held in late February 2020.

Translated into Korean by Youngjoo Yoo: https://blog.naver.com/tnkr21/221699790915

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https://www.facebook.com/FreedomSpeakersIntl/fundraisers

Donate to FSI.

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