Watch the competition on Youtube (video by Brayboy Creative Video)
The final round of George Washington University’s fifth annual Japanese Learning Inspired Vision and Engagement (J.LIVE) Talk, a presentation contest open to college-level learners of Japanese in the United States, was held on Sunday, November 10 at The George Washington University.
The nine finalists who competed on Sunday were selected on the basis of their first-round and second-round video statements and from amongst over fifty applicants from 11 states (CA, FL, IN, MD, MN, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, TX). They delivered their dynamic presentations to a full audience at the University Student Center Amphitheater. A panel of final round judges -- Mr. Takehiro Shimada of the Embassy of Japan, Mr. Hiroyuki Takai of Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, Dr. Robert Croker of Nanzan University, Ms. Noriko Tabata of TOP US, and Ms. Kiri Sandquist of Prudential Financial -- evaluated the speakers’ linguistic proficiency, confidence, ability to engage the audience, and the vision expressed in their presentations. The judges also had a chance to test each speaker’s interpersonal skills through a short question-and-answer session in Japanese. Audience members were also given the chance to question the presenters in Japanese, although these exchanges were not officially weighed by the judges.
