13th Annual Sherwood Park Tall Tales Contest

What is a Tall Tale you ask? Tall Tales are stories written from one’s imagination. The story can be funny or silly. They are filled with exaggerations, similes, metaphors, and lots of descriptive language. It is always told as if it were true, even though the listeners know that the story could never really happen.

Why hold a Tall Tales contest? Simple, they are a lot of fun! A Tall Tales contest is a delight to attend. Full of humour and implausible events, audience members can end up rolling in the aisles with laughter (Note the organizers are not responsible for any injury done as a result of the side splitting humour). They are also a great opportunity for our speakers to exercise their imagination and humour!

Who can compete? The contest will be open to any Toastmaster who is in good standing in a District 99 Club (which covers northern Alberta and Saskatchewan). That's it. No requirement to having completed a set number of speeches. No exclusions based on having judged or being a District Officer. All you need do is present a substantially original 3 to 5 minute Tall Tale speech. That’s just a little longer than a Table Topic. Any of us can do it! Complete information about the contest can be found on our website:

[http://SherwoodParkTallTales.com](http://sherwoodparktalltales.com/)

Having trouble getting started on your speech? The website contains a couple of articles from Toastmasters International on how to prepare a Tall Tales Speech, two videos on telling a Tall Tale, recordings of last two year’s contests, and 15 (yes, count them, 15) sample Tall Tale speeches. This along with the full contest rules and a sample judge's ballot so you can see what the judges are looking for.

The reward? Besides a $25 cash prize, the winner has the distinction of having told the biggest lie, I mean Tall Tale story, in the county, maybe even the District! To help you brag about your accomplishment, you will have a beautiful trophy to show off for one year.

To compete in the contest (and I know by now you all want to compete) go to the website, click on the CONTESTANTS link and fill out and submit the form to put your name forward as a contestant. Don’t wait too long to sign-up as I am capping the number of contestants (probably at 10 contestants). I will notify all registrants if they will be competing or not.

To be a part of the audience, just come out to our contest on Wednesday November 29th.