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The 'Demostene' National Rhetoric Contest is a national Romanian competition, organised every year by Interact Club Pitesti, a non-profit, non-governmental organization from Pitesti, Romania, that promotes the public speaking abilities of the Romanian youth. Hundreds of people gather in Pitesti around April or May each year to take part in and support this contest and its participants.

Interact Club Pitesti
Interact, a non-governmental, non-profit organization focused on the direct and indirect benefits of teamwork, aims to promote non-formal values ​​among young people between the ages of 12 and 18. Interact is an organization under the aegis of Rotary International, a club by which we are sponsored, but are independent from from an organizational point of view, and we are also helped by our older Rotaract colleagues. The syntax on which all Rotary clubs are based, as well as Interact, is "service above self". Interact clubs operate on the basis of an internationally agreed set of rules, but each club has the opportunity to set its own operating rules.

Along with more than 300,000 young people from over 13,000 Interact clubs in 138 countries, Interact Pitesti members are organizing projects that aim to promote communication skills and leadership. Established since 2002, but disbanded for several years, Interact Pitesti Club has been reborn by the efforts of the young high school students in Pitesti in 2007. With more than 60 members, the Interact Pitesti club can be proud of being one of the largest and most active clubs out of a total of 52 clubs in Romania. The main projects of our club are "Occasional Grandchild For Lonely Grandpa", "Christmas charity show", "Talent Show", "Volunteer in the world of children" and "Demosthenes National Rhetoric Contest", contest whose national phase takes place in Pitesti and that is the first project of the 2241 District: Romania & Republic of Moldova.

'Demostene' National Rhetoric Contest
In an effort to inspire the community, Interact Club Pitesti annually organizes the National Demosthenes Rhetoric Contest, which is also the first such project of the 2241 Romania & Republic of Moldova District. The project was born in the spring of 2007, becoming a tradition not only in the Arges community but also in the rest of the country. The contest is seen as one of the safest ways of shaping the different sets of values ​​of citizens and, implicitly, of young people, through the philosophical and general human themes proposed for debate, focusing on the importance of public speaking skills, and develop the rhetoric, analytical, and persuasive spirit. The two stages of the competition are specifically designed for the participants, who have the opportunity to exploit their potential to the fullest - the free speech test based on a theme chosen by the participant from the two proposed by Interact Club Pitesti, the organiser, and the Elevator Pitch speech test, which consists of a spontaneous speech of no more than one minute, based on a theme chosen by lottery and different for each participant. For the entire time the competitors and club members from the District are hosted in Pitesti to be enjoyable, Interact has proposed a Treasure Hunt as a means of entertainment. It aims to promote the international understanding of Romania and the Republic of Moldova, a Rotarian value exploited at the highest level, annually, by diversifying the topics on which the teambuilding is built. Thus, the "Demostene" National Rhetoric Contest manages to improve public speaking skills, year after year, both through the variety of proposed themes and the excellence of the participants.

2012
On Tuesday, April 3rd the first local stage of the contest took place in Pitesti, Romania. Here are a few pictures from the event: https://picasaweb.google.com/109302991662422196713/OratorieFazaLocala?authkey=Gv1sRgCOf3l5azpf2h5AE On May 12th the national stage of the contest took place in Pitesti, Romania: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.459030757457298.124767.154293224597721&type=3

2013
Given the large number of enteries, in 2013 the highschool stage was introduced. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.616086805085025.1073741825.154293224597721&type=3 https://www.facebook.com/InteractClubPitesti/posts/341347029319226 The local stage was next, followed shortly by the national stage of the contest. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.650912108269161.1073741832.154293224597721&type=3

2014
The 7th edition of the contest took place on April 4th 2014. https://www.facebook.com/InteractClubPitesti/photos/a.776424952384542.1073741834.154293224597721/844497382243965/?type=3

2015
The 8th edition's local stage took place at the Arges county's largest Library, the 'Dinicu Golescu' Library in Pitesti. At the 8th edition, on 27 February, the Demostene Rhetoric Contest took place. This is a regional project encouraged by Rotary and Interact clubs in Romania, representing an event expected by young high school students who want to acquire the skills of a good speaker. Competitors and those present shared opinions and learned that in order to convince others, you have to convince yourself in the first place. https://www.facebook.com/InteractClubPitesti/posts/1068197156540652

On Saturday, April 18th 2015, in the "Constantin Brancoveanu" University Hall, the 8th national edition of the "Demostene" National Rhetoric Contest was held, a districtual project encouraged by Rotary and Interact Clubs in Romania, representing an event expected by young high school students, who want to express their thoughts in front of an audience and acquire the skills of a good orator.The competition took place in an interactive way, so everyone present at the event went home with a life lesson. https://www.facebook.com/InteractClubPitesti/posts/1092811870745847

2016
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1281495261877506.1073741845.154293224597721&type=3

The national phase of the "Demostene" Oratory Contest is the event where the best speeches are held by the best oratories all over the country. All participants will take 4-5 minutes lectures in front of a jury, who will deliberate at the end and choose the winner of the 9th edition of the Demostene Contest, on the 27 of April, at Aula Magna of Constantin Brâncoveanu University. The contest addressed young people aged 14-19, based on one of the quotes: "As long as you do not cease to climb, the steps will not end" (Franz Kafka) and "Whether you think you can do something or think you can not do it, you're right." (Henry Ford).

The 18 contestants coming from different counties of the country have impressed by the extraordinary capacity to expose singular personal interpretations of the proposed quotations in a professional manner, which generated unanimity of pleasant impressions among the public. The jury did not just have the opportunity to listen to the orators, but also ask them questions to clarify the message sent or to test their credibility and authenticity.

Thus, the first prize of 1000 lei was obtained by Ştefanopol Călin from Constanţa, the second prize of 800 lei was returned to Condrea Sergiu from Braşov, followed by Iacob Andrei with the third prize worth 600 lei. Mentions were also given: Mention I (300 lei) - Şerban Gabriel, Mention II (200 lei) - Badea Daria and Mention III (100 lei) - Gherasim Andrei.

The 9th edition of the "Demostene" National Rhetoric Contest managed to raise impress in a spectacular way, both through the unique performance of each competitor and by the indisputable dedication of the organizers. Conducting this contest was a success, bringing together young people from across the country who demonstrated simply by participating that their desire for memorable experiences, knowledge and, last but not least, personal evolution is alive and more present than ever.

2017
Rhetoric is a proof of power and courage in successfully expressing an opinion to the people. Interact Club Pitesti organized on February 17th, 2017 the local stage of the "DEMOSTENE" Rhetoric Contest, according to the annual tradition. This year, participants had to resort to both creativity and reason to present their speech based on one of the two quotes: "Reason is the slow and introverted method by which those who do not know the truth discover it." -Blaise Pascal or "The fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; the fantasy united with reason is the mother of the arts and the origin of miracles. "- Goya. All of us, from the audience to the members of the jury and the participants, took home a message from the speeches presented. The diversity of interpretations with clear and rational messages, nostalgic and full of sensitivity or philosophical and abstract, gave every person in the room the chance to go home richer, both from the spiritual and intellectual perspective. The speeches that had the biggest impact on the audience and the jury were Caraiman Andrei Timotei (third place), Gherasim Andrei (2nd place) and Copacianu Andrei (1st place), the last two winning the chance to represent Interact Club Piteşti further, at the national stage. From the national stage of the 10th edition of the Contest, there is a live video (https://www.facebook.com/InteractClubPitesti/videos/1717646274929067/) featuring the second phase of the contest, Elevator Pitch, as well as a video of the jury announcing the winners (https://www.facebook.com/InteractClubPitesti/videos/1717735168253511/).

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