Speech Competition Set For March 15 In Rogers

The annual Bailey & Oliver Law Firm speech competition will be held March 15.

The event will start at 8:30 a.m. at the law firm, 3606 Southern Hills Blvd. in Rogers. Students from Bentonville, Rogers High School and Heritage High School will compete, according to a news release.

Participants will speak on the topic "Should The United States Prison System Be Reformed? Why?"

The competition began with a preliminary round at each of the three schools Feb. 11-13. The top 15 students from the preliminary round will compete March 15. Those students include Jalen Bell, Nick Cude, Saswat Das, Dylan Deluca, Hannah Henderson, Masen Kuppler, Blakely Mayhall, Kristy McCarthy, Zach O'Connor, Erin Prestage, Sadaf Raza, Isaac Springwater, Nick Van Slooten, Ethan Webb and Wes Wiechman.

First place pays $300, second place gets $200 and third place receives $100. All of the students will receive a T-shirt and a DVD of the performance. Judges will include Rogers Mayor Greg Hines, Circuit Judge Brad Karren, Circuit Judge Tom Smith, Laura Huckabee, Susan Crowley, Tim Hutchinson, Denise Henderson and Joe Spivey.

The competition is open to the public.