Laura Snyder and Linda Carlson won the International and Table Topics speech contests at Toastmasters Club of the Sandhills Tuesday, April 7. They will go on to compete in the area speech contests Tuesday, April 21, to be held at Sandhills Community College at 7 p.m. in Van Dusen Hall.

Snyder, a resident of Whispering Pines, who also won the club's humorous speech competition last year, took the international honors with a speech titled "An Adventurous Life." She also took first runner-up in the Table Topics competition, which involves speaking for one to two minutes on an unrehearsed topic. A nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, Snyder is the author of several books.

Carlson won the Table Topics competition with an impromptu speech in response to the question, "The Grim Reaper has just called and you have one week to live. What would you do?" Her husband, Garry, also competed in the International Speech contest, and took first runner-up for his speech titled "The Big One That Didn't Get Away."

If Snyder is unable to be present for the area competition, Carlson will represent Toastmasters Club of the Sandhills in her place. The Carlsons make their home in Carthage.

Toastmasters Club of the Sandhills meets the first three Tuesday evenings of every month at 7 p.m. in 102 Van Dusen Hall at Sandhills Community College.

Visitors are always welcome to participate in the weekly public speaking education experience.