After reciting a stirring passage from a Zora Neale Hurston novel, Joyce I. Imahiyerobo '01 was awarded the first-place Boylston Prize for Public Speaking last night.

The Boylston Prize Speaking Contest, among the University's oldest competitions, is held annually to honor a student who delivers a memorized selection from English, Greek or Latin literature. Imahiyerobo performed a passage from Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Reciting a passage by Seneca in its original Latin, Ashley S. Evans '02 received second place. Three other students performed in the competition.

The Boylston contest was established in 1817 in honor of Nicholas Boylston, who endowed the Boylston professorship of rhetoric and oratory. The competition has been held annually since its conception.

The three judges who assessed last night's performance represented the three fields dependent on rhetoric--the clergy, the bar and academia--which John Quincy Adams, Class of 1787 and the University's first Boylston professor, celebrated in his course on rhetoric and oral delivery. Undergraduates in the 19th century took the course for three of their four years at Harvard.

Professor of English James Engell '73, who teaches English 34: "Elements of Rhetoric," served as administrator of the competition and spoke about the significance of the Boylston Prize.

"Harvard's emphasis on rhetoric was strong in the early 19th century...but by the late 19th century had waned," Engell said.

The last course offered in public speaking was offered in 1970, he said. The Boylston competition stands as one of the last testimonies to the art.

"Students want to have the skill [of public speaking] but are unaware of how to develop it," Engell said. "The venues at Harvard are not well-known."

Students who participated expressed similar sentiments about why they entered the competition.

"I came to Harvard with a strong interest in elocution, but there is not much opportunity to perform oral interpretation here," said Niki Villanueva Santo '00, one of the participants in the competition. "The Boylston contest is one of the last vestiges of that tradition at Harvard."

To others, including the first-place winner, public speaking is a living art and a living tradition.

"I offer public deliveries to evoke the spirit of the listeners," Imahiyerobo said.