Toastmasters International -

Thinking of running for District office? Planning to compete in an upcoming speech contest? A helpful clarification was recently made to speech contest eligibility rules that you’ll want to be aware of. The 2021-2022 Speech Contest Rulebook states that District officers or candidates for elected positions are ineligible to compete in any official Toastmasters speech contest. This means candidates are ineligible whether or not their campaigning has started.

The last thing you want is to represent your Area, Division, or District in a contest and find out you are ineligible because you’re a District officer candidate. Be sure to brush up on the Speech Contest Rulebook, where you’ll find detailed explanations of all contests and the rules for how they are conducted. The document is updated every year before the next contest cycle. The rule regarding District leader eligibility is found in “General Rules for all Toastmasters Speech Contests,” Section 2: Eligibility, C.6.