District 28 has always celebrated new Distinguished Toastmasters (DTMs) and other special achievements at our conferences. Just like the prior year, we did not have an in-person conference in the 2020-2021 Toastmasters’ year due to the pandemic. However, we still wanted to celebrate our members.
On Saturday, September 18, a special awards ceremony was held for District 28 Toastmasters. It was a hybrid event with approximately 30 people present at the Embassy Suites in Livonia and several others present through a Zoom meeting. It began with our keynote speaker, Accredited Speaker, Past International Director, Ross Mackay, DTM. He opened the ceremony with a wonderful presentation “The Habit of Goal Achievement”. We were honored to have Ross speak as he entertained, enlightened, and inspired us with stories, suggestions, and salutations.
Afterwards, last year’s Program Quality Director, John Salalila, DTM, once again recognized and thanked the 2020-2021 speech contest participants. He offered special recognition to the first and second place area and division speech contest winners who were present in-person and online. Those Toastmasters who claimed the top three positions of the District 28 Table Topics and International Speech contests were acknowledged and received their district-level trophies.
It was a successful event made possible by everyone who lent a hand and attended in person or online through Zoom. There were so many people that stepped up to ensure the District 28 members and clubs could receive much deserved recognition. Thank you to everyone who assisted with this event.
Congratulations to all the award recipients for the 2020-2021 special achievements listed below.
LaShon Bowers, DTM, PDD, Immediate Past District Director
District 28 International Speech Contest Winners
- Sarah Harfield
- Lesline Sims
- Lisa Roach
District 28 Table Topics® Speech Contest Winners
- Mildred Matlock
- Karen Baird
- Christy Gustin
Distinguished Areas
- Area 17 – Chris Johnson
- Area 18 – Jerome Maben
- Area 23 – Dan Leung
- Area 33 – Eunice Mark
- Area 37 – Monica Morgan
Select Distinguished Area
- Area 36 – Shehu Usman
Individual Accolades
- Division Director of the Year – Marvin Pitts, DTM, Division D Director
- Area Director of the Year – Shehu Usman, Area 36 Director
- Toastmaster of the Year – Gloria Hamilton, DTM, PDG
- Conference Chair – Karen Smith, DTM
Purple Phoenix Awards – special recognition from IPDD LaShon Bowers, DTM
- James Brown, DTM
- Larry Castleberry, DTM
- Ian Chalmers, PM1
- Gayle Lawson, DTM
- Kim Purohit, DTM, PDD
- Teza Searcy, DTM
- Sherri Ann Wynter, DTM
Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) Recipients
- Paul Anderson
- Maria Belenkova-Buford
- Larry Castleberry
- Christopher Coyne
- Katrina Forster
- Staci Irvin
- Brain Laskey
- Artaymis Ma-at
- Mark Moeckel
- Bill Moylan
- Carl Savich
- Jackie Stockton
- Von White
- Nancy Zychowicz
Distinguished Clubs
- Cengage Learning
- Meritor Toastmasters
- Metro Masters Club
- Success Builders Toastmasters
Select Distinguished Clubs
- DETROIT ROCKS! Club
- Great Lakes Real Orators Club
- Toast It Right
President’s Distinguished Clubs
- Advanced Articulators Club (A+)
- Alliance Toastmasters
- Birmingham Club
- Bloomfield Toastmasters Club
- Fairlane Toastmasters
- Ford Toastmasters Club
- ICT Toast Excellence
- Innovative Orators
- iTalk Toastmasters
- Novi Toastmasters Club
- Oak Park Toastmasters Club
- Optimistic Orators Club
- Powertalkers Downtown Club
- Rochester Toastmasters Club
- Stellantis Toastmasters
- Washtenaw Toastmasters Club
- Westgate Club