The Gutenberg press, and the newspaper. Radio. Television. The Internet. Social media. (And now the death of the newspaper?)

Communication is evolution—with one major exception:

An ancient social ceremony that involves one human being standing before many other human beings and telling his or her truth, as persuasively as possible.

For politicians and CEOs, for military brass and church leaders, for activists and fundraisers, there’s still no substitute for the power and importance of a good speech.

And no one knows better than you do—or better than we do—what it takes to make a great speech: Research, audience analysis, introspection, writing and thoughtful rewriting.

Whether the work is done mostly by the speaker or the speechwriter or by a perfect collaboration of each, the work must be done.

Presented by Vital Speeches of the Day, the prestigious monthly collection of speeches, the Cicero Speechwriting Awards recognize the work—the sweat and the blood and the magic—that goes into making the speeches that help leaders achieve prominence in all sectors of business, politics and society.

Download the free volume containing the 2010 winning speeches—and see how it’s done.