This year the Lions of California are proud to sponsor the 83rd annual Student Speakers Contest.
Our challenging topic for the 2020 contest is:
“Homelessness in California: What is the solution?”
The Student Speakers Foundation was organized in 1960. Its father is Don Snyder, District Governor in Southern California, 1958-59. He asked Past International President Fred Smith and then International Director Dwight Stanford to join him as the organizers and first directors of the Foundation. Don did all the work getting IRS and California taxing authorities approval. He is now a lifetime, honorary Director of the Foundation, as is Dwight Stanford.
The Foundation’s first cash came from the profits of the Lions Goods Store at the next California Lions State Convention. District Governor Al Mendel of Apple Valley, 1961-62, ran the store and suggested the gift. The first few years of the Foundation were a bit thorny. It was hard for the organization to collect money when it had very little prestige. Gradually the situation changed and the Foundation began to supplement the prizes which heretofore had been paid for entirely out of the California Lions State budget. Foundation funds come entirely from voluntary donations and income from the accumulated assets.
Contest Dates (Updated since Covid-19 Regulations):
- Club Contest by Monday, February 24, 2020
- Zone Contest by Monday, June 15, 2020
- Region Contest by Monday,June 29, 2020
- District Contest by Monday, July 13, 2020
- Area Contest by Monday, July 27, 2020
- State Final Contest on TBA 2020