The 30th Hitomi Cup English Speech Contest
📆Date: Saturday, November 14, 2026
📍Venue: Showa Women’s University, Aurora Hall, on the 6th floor of Building 8
Participant Qualifications:
The contest is open to all applicants, regardless of gender, who meet the following qualifications.
To enter, a participant must:
be a non-native speaker of English,
be a full-time student in post-secondary education (e.g. university, junior college, vocational school, graduate school)
not have spent more than 2 years in English-speaking countries in the last 10 years. This includes countries in which English is predominantly spoken as a first language, and / or in which English is designated an official language.
not have been a 1st place winner in any previous Hitomi Cup English Speech Contest.
Awards:
🥇Hitomi Cup (1st Prize): One winner receives an air ticket to Boston, USA, with guest accommodation for 5 nights at the Showa Boston Institute of Language and Culture. (Please note that the winner of the Boston trip must obtain travel insurance coverage to be used in the event of any sickness and/or injuries sustained during the travel.)
🥈President's Cup (2nd Prize): One winner receives an Apple iPad.
🥉3rd Prize: One winner receives an Amazon gift card worth 25,000 yen.
🏅5,000 yen book certificates will be awarded to all non-placing finalists.
Application Process
Your application will be complete only after completing the online form below and uploading the required files.
Please attach the following two files at the end of this form:
👉[The 30th Hitomi Cup English Speech Contest] Application Form
📄Speech Script (Unpublished / A4 size / Word format / Max 10MB)
File Name: 2026_Hitomi Cup_Script [YOUR SPEECH TITLE]
🔊Audio Recording (Within 5 minutes / MP3 format / Max 10MB)
File Name: 2026_Hitomi Cup_Recording [YOUR SPEECH TITLE]
Note: Audio file only. Video recordings are not accepted.
Speech Topics:
Speech topic choices are at the discretion of applicants. There is no designated topic or theme for the contest.
Speeches should not include any identifying information about the speaker's school or the speaker's name.
Application Deadline:
🚨Friday, October 16, 2026, at 17:00 (JST) [Strictly Enforced]🚨
Please submit well in advance, as heavy traffic may slow down the system close to the deadline.
After the preliminary screening is conducted, applicants will receive email notification of the results by Thursday, November 5.
Rules and Evaluation on the Final Contest Day:
Evaluation criteria: 15 points for delivery and 15 points for speech content.
The speech shall be no longer than 5 minutes. The contestant will lose 1 point for each extra 15 seconds.
No props, audio, or visual aids are permitted.
The contestants must memorize their speeches. Points will be deducted for looking at the script.
There is no Question and Answer (Q&A) session after the delivery.
Please Note:
After submitting the form, please make sure to check your inbox to confirm that you have received the automatic confirmation email.
A panel of SWU professors will serve as the judges in the preliminary rounds and choose about 15 contestants to proceed to the final contest. The judges in the final contest are invited from other colleges. For fair evaluation, in both the preliminary rounds and the final contest, the judges will not be told the names or the school affiliations of the contestants.
If you need to withdraw your application after submission, please contact the office immediately at the email address below.
Inquiries
If you have any questions regarding the contest, please contact us via email.
Please note that all inquiries must be made in English only.
📩Email Address: swuspeechcontest@swu.ac.jp