This is your second written speech assignment for the semester. You will be completing the provided Special Occasion Speech Worksheet, which is a Microsoft Word document.
This primary focus this week is drafting your special occasion speech. Although I use the word draft, you should consider this a completed version of your speech. Speeches are really in draft form until they are presented because the final product might not match the outline/draft exactly. This week we will take a deeper dive into the specific special occasion speeches you can choose to prepare and present in this module.
We started off reviewing the best practices for any special occasion speech.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
For this Speech, my goals were to make sure it fit within the time limit, while still maintaining an air of… interest. I do not want my listeners thinking I’m dragging anything on, but I still wanted to show my sincerity to this fictional setting. Did I meet that?
As for the Environment questions:
1. This speech is supposed to be mostly formal.
2. The audience is the panel that decides on the awards recipient as well as notable authors, publishers, and journalists. It’s a fictional setting due to the author I chose not actually having received the award, but the award itself and the author’s achievements are real. Therefore, my speech is supposed to be light-hearted, informative, and succinct at the same time.
3. This is one of the most prestigious awards for authors, specifically for fiction writers. It’s supposed to be formal and serious, but all serious events, in my opinion, that aren’t commemorating a death should have some light-heartedness to it to ease any tension and nerves in the room. It makes the audience feel more comfortable, and thereby more engaged.
Introduction
Welcome everybody! Thank you for joining us here today!
My name is Ryan Piazza, and I have been guest speaking at this prestigious award ceremony for the last 4 years, to some of your dismay! (Joke)
It is my honor to be presenting this year’s Nebula Award for best science fiction or fantasy published in the United States.
I would like to thank the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America nonprofit organization for making this all possible!
Body Paragraph #1: Award Information
As many of us attending all know, the Nebula award has been given annually since 1966, for works published in 1965 and onward. Together with the Nebula award, it is considered by most to be “the most important of the American science fiction awards”. It is one of the best known and most prestigious awards of its category.
Over the course of 55 years, the award has only had 193 authors ever nominated, with only an astounding 42 of the most amazing authors ever having won. Every nominated author has only the brightest futures ahead of them, and all noteworthy publishers pay specific attention to these awards for present and future talent to be showcased.
Besides minor requirements for subcategories within the Nebula awards, such as defining a novel versus a novella, there are only 2 requirements to be nominated, and one is even negotiable, showing the level of difficulty of competition is astronomical. To be eligible for Nebula Award consideration, a novel must have been published in English in the United States. Works published in English elsewhere in the world are also eligible, provided they are released on either a website or in an electronic edition.
Body Paragraph #2: Specifics of Recipient
This year’s recipient of the Nebula Award for Best Novel is a hard-working, diligent, and articulate author. Their ability to create movies for the mind through words on the page surpasses many that have come before and many that will come after. They have a friendly spirit, always wanting to help others and putting themselves last.
This author has written two complete series, both supreme hits. Their first series, released in 2008 initially as a trilogy all released in the same year as mass-market paperback volumes, has since exploded into over 4 million copies in 14 different languages. Their second series, initially also a trilogy, became a best selling 5-part series, with the final book reaching number 4 on the Combined Print & E-book list in 2019!
I’m personally so excited to be able to introduce such an amazing writer to you all today. I remember reading their first trilogy in high school and loving the series, and from there on following them through the second series’ journey. The vivid world the author has created in both series are astounding, heart-wrenching, and profound. They definitely deserve everything they’ve accomplished thus far.
Conclusion
Without further ado, it is my greatest pleasure to announce the winner of this year’s Nebula Award for Best Novel! Please give a hearty welcome and round of applause to Mr Brent Weeks!
Citation Page:
Nebula Awards. Science Fictions & Fantasy Writers of America, 2019. https://nebulas.sfwa.org/ . Accessed on 23Sep2020.
Best Sellers – Nov. 10, 2019 – The New York Times. The New York Times, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2019/11/10/. Retrieved 24Sep2020
