The Fountain Hills Toastmasters held its club-level competition Wednesday, Jan. 8, with members presenting their best stories and speeches in both the International and Table Topics categories.

Club officers, along with special guest Sunnys Hsieh, who serves as the Toastmasters Phoenix area director, extended their thanks and kudos to everyone who participated as speakers, judges, timers, ballot counters and audience members, with congratulations to the winners.

For Table Topics, each contestant was asked to speak with no advance preparation about “The Best Day of Your Life.”

For International Speech, each speaker wrote and rehearsed a longer presentation about individual topics of their own choosing.

Valerie Krugh managed to nab first place in both categories and will advance to represent Fountain Hills Toastmasters Club 6993 Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Phoenix Area Contest.

The winners included Table Topics Speech first place winner Valerie Krugh, second place winner Richelle Hopkins and third place winner Peter Gallagher.

The International Speech first place winner was Valerie Krugh (“Not Tonight”), second place winner Kristin Milashoski (“Dear Vicky”) and third place winner Kathy Koultourides (“Perspective”).

The Fountain Hills Toastmasters Club boasts a proud history of talented members who have won speech contests at various levels, according to a press release.

Through their participation in Toastmasters, members are able to improve their public speaking skills, build leadership skills, maximize their potential, enjoy unlimited personal growth and work on networking in a small and supportive environment.

They can also practice writing speeches and presenting in a group setting, gain a competitive advantage in the workplace and boost their self-confidence and self-awareness.

At the Fountain Hills Toastmasters Club, all of this is achieved through participation in fun and creative meetings that are held at the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce at 11 a.m. on the first and third Monday of each month and at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday.

Guests are always welcome to come listen, learn and see what Toastmasters is all about.

For more information, visit fountainhills.toastmastersclubs.org and follow Fountain Hills Toastmasters on Facebook and LinkedIn.