Pierre Madlangbayan, a senior from Garden City High School, took First Place in the English Speaking Union (ESU) People’s Choice Award and received $1,000 at the 2024 National Shakespeare competition for the second year in a row. The People’s Choice Awards were announced during the ESU National Shakespeare Competition Finals held at Lincoln Center in New York City, April 15, 2024.
Madlangbayan won the Kansas City Branch of the English Speaking Union’s Shakespearean Monologue competition in March with her monologue of Emilia from Othello. The English Speaking Union Kansas City chapter sent her to compete in New York City.
The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition is for high school students nationwide to read, analyze, perform and recite Shakespearean monologues and sonnets in three qualifying stages: school, English-Speaking Union Branch and national competition. The program begins in classrooms each fall, culminating in school-wide competitions in early winter in which students memorize and perform a monologue.