The original announcement of the Defend a doomed dictator speechwriting competition prompted so much activity on Twitter that it called for the creation of an additional award:
The Twitter Challenge: Since news of the competition was first posted, there have been a number of imaginative tweets of sound bites from such a speech. I've therefore decided to create a special class for 140 character Twitter entries (for which the 1st prize will be a signed copy of the shortest book I've ever written).
The quantity and quality of the entries have in turn prompted me to divide this part of the competition into two divisions, with prizes to both the winners as follows:
(1) Prize for prolific parody: Charles Crawford (@charlescrawford), whose entries included the following gems:
Mr Gaddafi. Tear down this umbrella!
We will kill on the roads and in the fields. We'd kill in the hedgerows if we had any We'll never surrender. Until we run away
Friends, Libyans, Countrymen - lend me your fastest private jet. I'm out of here!" PS "Oh and another plane for the gold pl"
To run, or not to run - that is the Q. Whether tis better to take arms against a sea of protestors, or do the Benito Dangle.
Don't ask what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do to loot your country. Then grab swag and dash to Chavez's
(2) Prize for brevity: Carl Quilliam (@carlquilliam)
Gadaffi: 'I'll get my coat'
Thanks and congratulations to Messrs Crawford and Quilliam, who will both be receiving a signed copy of Speech-making & Presentation Made Easy: Seven Essential Steps to Success, as soon as they've supplied me with their snail-mail addresses.
(Judgement of the full speeches by doomed dictators is still in progress, but you can inspect all the entries HERE).
1 comment:
Hurrah. Quantity whups quality every time.
Thanks a lot. I'm deeply touched.
I now need to write a speech for the glittering awards ceremony in which I thank all the 'little people' who made it all possible
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