Ōdate Kitaakita JHS Recitation and Speech Contest 2026

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Details
Date28 August, 2026
LocationŌdate, Chūō Kōminkan
No. of participants34
Speech winner
TitleChanging Myself Changed My World
GenderM
Grade3
School Kokusai Joho
ALT
JTE
Recitation winner
TitleA Moment of Peace
GenderM
Grade3
School Hokuyō
ALT
JTE
2025 2027

The 2026 Ōdate Kitaakita JHS Recitation & Speech Contest (第57回大館北秋田中学校英語暗唱弁論大会) was held on Friday 28th August at Chūō Kōminkan (大館市立中央公民館) in Ōdate in the Audio Visual Hall (視聴覚ホール; Shichōkaku Hōru) on the 2nd floor. This year was the 58th annual competition.

34 students took part in the competition, performing 8 speeches and 26 recitations.

Program

The contest was split between recitation and speech portions this year, with participants only having to attend the portion they were participating in. Students could also leave early before awards were presented with permission from their teacher to return to their school.

Recitation Portion
8:40 ~ Reception
9:00 ~ Opening Announcements
9:10 ~ 2nd Grade Recitations
10:20 ~ 1st Grade Recitations
11:20 ~ 3rd Grade Recitations
11:45 ~ Break (Judging)
12:00 ~ Award Presentation / Closing Announcements
12:10 ~ Recitation Participants Disperse
Speech Portion
13:00 ~ Reception
13:35 ~ Opening Announcements
13:45 ~ Speeches (1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade)
15:00 ~ Break (Judging)
15:20 ~ Award Presentation / Closing Announcements
15:30 Speech Participants Disperse / End

Judges

  • Mr. Masahide Kobayashi (小林 正英 先生) - Akita Hokuyō High School vice principal
  • Ms. Rieko Toshima (戸嶋 里枝子 先生) - 秋田県教育庁高校教育課英語教育推進チーム
  • Mr. Gabriel Tasma (ガブリエル・タスマ 先生) - Akita Hokuyō High School

Rules

  • Grading
    1. Point reductions for going over time
      • Speeches and recitations should be under 5 minutes in length.
      • If the time taken is between 5:01~5:10 the student will have 1 point deducted for each second they are over time. e.g. a student whose time is 5:04 will have 4 points deducted from their score.
      • If a student goes over 5:11 they will be disqualified.
    2. Evaluation rubric
      • Recitation: 2 areas of evaluation (English 60%, Delivery 40%)
      • Speech: 3 areas of evaluation (Content 50%, English 30%, Delivery 20%)
  • Presentations
    1. Students don't have to bow or announce title before speaking.
    2. Students may bring their script with them to the podium, but if they reference it, they will lose points. At the JHS Prefectural Speech Contest students are not allowed to bring scripts to the podium.
    3. If a student pauses or forgets part of their speech for more than 10 seconds, they will reminded by the judges. Points will be deducted in such case.
    4. Violation of the following rules may result in a deduction of points at the discretion of the judges:
      • Use of props which draw attention to themselves is prohibited.
      • Overacting or overperforming is prohibited.
      • Students must not stand beside of or in front of the podium at any point (though consideration will be given in cases in which it is unavoidable for physical or other reasons).
    5. Microphones will not be used in either recitation or speech portions.

Results

The top award is the Most excellent award. This award is given to 2 students, one for the speech and one for recitation. Other students who were impressive are given an Excellent award, and all other students who partake in the competition are awarded a Very good. All students received a certificate.

2nd Grade Recitations

# School Gender Recitation Award
1 Ōdate Higashi M Limelight Excellent
2 Kokusai Jōhō F The Mountain that Loved a Bird Excellent
3 Ōdate Minami F Try to Be the Only One
Paused while the judges had a discussion
4 Shimokawazoi M I'll Always Love You
5 Ōdate Minami F A Magic Box
6 Ōdate Higashi F A Glass of Milk Excellent
7 Takanosu Junior High School F The Big Dipper Excellent
8 Ōdate Dai Ichi F Coloring Out the Lines Excellent
9 Shimokawazoi M Zorba's Promise
10 Seishō M A Present for You
11 Aikawa M Can Anyone Hear Me?

1st Grade Recitations

# School Gender Recitation Award
1 Takanosu F A Mujina Excellent
2 Ōdate Dai Ichi F The Restaurant with Many Orders Excellent
3 Hinai F The Little Prince
4 Shimokawazoi F A Magic Box
5 Takanosu M The Three Dolls
6 Moriyoshi F Gon, the Fox Excellent
7 Ōdate Dai Ichi M Grandma Baba's Warming Ideas! Excellent
8 Kokusai Jōhō M Red Demon and Blue Demon Excellent
9 Hinai M What Color is Love?
10 Moriyoshi F The Restaurant with Many Orders
11 Ani Gakuen M Gon, the Fox

3rd Grade Recitations

# School Gender Recitation Award
1 Takanosu F A Mother's Lullaby Excellent
2 Ōdate Higashi F Malala Yousafzai: Education First Excellent
3 Hokuyō JHS M A Moment of Peace Most Excellent
4 Hinai F A Graduation Gift from Steve Jobs Excellent

Speeches

# School Grade Gender Speech Title Award
1 Ōdate Dai Ichi 2 M What is Meaningful Communication?
2 Ōdate Minami 2 F Staying the same, or taking a step forward
Paused while the judges had a discussion
3 Kokusai Jōhō 3 F Just do it! Excellent
4 Hinai 1 F We are one
5 Ōdate Dai Ichi 2 F Let's Dance!
6 Takanosu 3 F Becoming a bridge for society Excellent
7 Ōdate Dai Ichi 3 F New memories, New lessons, and New Zealand Excellent
8 Kokusai Jōhō 3 M Changing Myself Changed My World Most Excellent

ALTs

School E ME ALT Students
Kamikoani Owen Cunningham
Aaron Boswell
0
Takanosu 4 5
Moriyoshi 1 2
Ani Gakuen 1
Aikawa 1
Ōdate Dai Ichi 4 6
Hokuyō 1 1
Seishō 1
Shimokawazoi 3
Hinai 1 4
Ōdate Minami 3
Tashiro 0
Ōdate Higashi 3 3
Kokusai Jōhō 3 1 4
Total 16 2 ? 34

2026 Statistics

Area Schools Students Speeches Recitations 3rd grade 2nd grade 1st grade Male Female ME E VG
Kamikoani 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kitaakita 4 9 1 8 2 2 5 3 6 0 5 4
Odate 9 25 7 18 6 12 7 10 15 2 11 12
Total 14 34 8 26 8 14 12 13 21 2 16 16

ME = Most Excellent, E = Excellent, VG = Very Good (participation award)

See also

Years of the Ōdate Kitaakita JHS Recitation and Speech Contest
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
JHS Speech and Recitation Contests
V • T
Topics JHS Contests Top PageTohoku Six Prefectures JHS Recitation and SHS Speech ContestAll Japan Inter-Middle School English Oratorical Contest
Regional Contests Kazuno 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Odate Kitaakita 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Noshiro Yamamoto 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Oga Katagami Minami Akita 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Akita City 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Omagari Semboku 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Honjo Yuri 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Yuzawa Ogachi 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Yokote 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
JHS Prefectural Speech Contest 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029