The First Ever BnT Toastmasters Club Awards

Speech Project: Advance Speech No. 4
from the Speeches for Special Occasion Manual
Speech Title: Cheeseburger!
Speaker: Gege Sugue

Good evening Toasties! Tonight is a special occasion not only because we are celebrating Christmas but because we will have the first ever Butter N Toast Toastmasters Club Awards Night. And it's about time, isn't it?

In the past years I've been a Toastmaster here in this club, I have been witness to so much talent, personal development, innovation, and genius. In the past six months that I have been President of the club, I have found myself dwelling on how this club has been true to its vision, mission, and values, how we have been providing a fun and motivational environment for continuous learning. And it's about time, the club and its members and officers are honored. So Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the first BnT Cheeseburger Award!

Why Cheeseburger? Well, because we're Butter n Toast. Okay, aside from that absurd reason, there is also this line or slogan popularized by a fast food chain. Most of you know this. It's a line that is uttered to somebody who has achieved something, won something, or has done something particularly well. Friends, what is this line?

Pa-cheeseburger ka naman is a way of congratulating somebody for a job well done.

And our first awardee has indeed done well in his job. He occupies a job that is not considered a critical post here at Toastmasters. It's not as critical as let's say, the President's job, or that of the Vice President for Education, who spearheads the efforts at achieving our DCP goals. It's a post that's easy to take for granted or even forget. But our awardee did not take his job for granted. He knew he had to contribute to building up the club. So he thought out of the box and looked at a promotional tool that we have but we have allowed to stagnate -- our blog site. He invested time, effort, creativity, and painstaking attention to detail to revamp the club and make it an effective tool to increase hits, and bring in potential members. But more than the numbers it makes, the site has provided a venue for our community to meet and interact beyond the usual twice a month meetings. The blog became a home for sharing ideas with each other and with the rest of the world. It has served to bond and build us. So, let me just say to our first awardee, "Well done!" To go down in history as the first ever BnT Cheeseburger awardee is Vice President for PR, Advance Communicator Bronze, Ed Ebreo! A warm round of applause, please. Join me in saying, "Ed, pa-cheeseburger ka naman!"

Our next award is called the Fresh Fries Award. No, I did not mispronounce that. I really meant fresh fries. Because this award goes to freshly minted Toastmasters; in other words, new members. It was tough to choose the best new member because I'm particularly proud of our new recruits. Most of them found us on the Internet. That means that they were not convinced or coerced by current members. They came here on their own volition believing that becoming a good communicator would help them in their personal and professional lives. The person I chose to be top among the club's fresh fries is somebody who impressed me with his drive. Driven in his career. And driven as a Toastmaster, delivering at least one speech a month. Excellent speeches at that. He also went beyond the comfort zones of MSE and showcased his talents in the recent Rookie speech contests. It gives me great pleasure to present the Fresh Fries Award to Toastmaster Ton Villanueva! Ton, pa-cheeseburger ka naman!

The third award of the evening is the Big Mac Award. This goes to the person who takes his job as a mentor seriously. He finds the time to coach, counsel, coerce his protege to deliver great speeches frequently. So inspiring is this mentor, that he was able to convince his protege to join a contest even as a newbie. Furthermore, he brought his mentoring skills outside BnT by sharing the love and skill of public speaking to other organizations. He spearheaded our Speechcraft project at Moldex. By now you know who I'm talking about. Competent Communicator, Division B Triathlon Champion, Boom San Agustin! Boom, pa-cheeseburger ka naman!

And finally, our last award for the evening. The Happy Meal Award. You know what a happy meal is. It's a complete meal package with an extra goodie, like a toy. Our next awardee goes the extra mile. She does her duties. And does other people's duties as well. Sometimes she takes on the role of VP for Membership as she promptly answers emailed queries from potential members. She also helps the other officers, for example, helping out in the production of the meeting programs. When there's an emergency situation, when there's something that needs to be done, I can count on her to pitch in the best she can. She makes my job as President easier. She makes me happy. So she deserves the Happy Meal Award. Join me in congratulating our Treasurer, Competent Communicator, Competent Leader Sheila dela Cruz. Sheila, pa-cheeseburger ka naman.

There you have it -- the first ever BnT Cheeseburger awardees. I truly wish to give out more awards to more people who deserve them, but I read recently that to award all is to award no one at all. So, I picked those who I thought went beyond expectation to deliver jobs well done. These 4 awardees exemplify our values. I hope that they inspire you to do more, be more, achieve more, and to make the most of Butter N Toast!