Pierre Madlangbayan, a junior from Garden City High School, took First Place in the People’s Choice Award at the 2023 National Shakespeare competition. The People’s Choice Awards were announced by the English Speaking Union (ESU) Chairman, Dr. E. Quinn Peeper during the ESU National Shakespeare Competition Finals held at Lincoln Center in New York City, April 25, 2023.
Out of the 41 students who entered the National Shakespeare Competition’s People's Choice Award, Pierre received the most votes from her classmates, friends, and relatives, both in Garden City, Kansas, and the Philippines. This was for her performance of the character of Mark Antony from the play Julius Caesar and reciting a Shakespeare sonnet.
Pierre received 565 vote and was awarded $1,000 (generously provided by the ESU Cleveland Branch); Second Place winner Tucker Claremont, ESU Naples Branch, got 475 votes and received $500 from ESU National; and Third Place winner Victoria Salazar, ESU San Francisco Branch, got 365 votes and received $250 from National.
Ben Martin, President of the Kansas City Branch, sent congratulations to Pierre, “On behalf of all ESU Kansas City members and our board of directors, we are excited that you won First Place in the People’s Choice Award. Your friends and family have supported you all the way during the ESU National Shakespeare Competition. Congratulations!”
Madlangbayan won the Kansas City Branch of the English Speaking Union’s Shakespearean Monologue competition in February. 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.