The Whidbey Sounders Toastmasters Club held its biannual speech contest on Tuesday, Aug. 25 at San Remos restaurant.

This was the third contest the club has held since the founding of the club in 2010 and it was the best competition to date, according to a club press release.

There were three contestants in the humorous speech contest and four contestants in the table topics contest.

“Our club is very proud to recognize James Jolly as the double winner. James won first place in the humorous speech contest and then followed that up by taking first place in the table topics contest,” said Reid Schwartz, public relations, in a press release.

Jolly will move on to compete at the Toastmasters Area 12 speech contest on Sept. 22 where he will face challengers from Toastmasters clubs from Anacortes, Mount Vernon and Burlington.

Jolly retired after 30 years in the Navy and is employed with Skagit Valley College as a program coordinator as well as serving as VP Education of the Whidbey Sounders.

Toastmasters meets at San Remos on the second, fourth and fifth Tuesdays of each month from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The public is welcome.

“Every meeting is fun and interesting, you see the three prepared speeches given at each meeting are about a topic of the speakers choice and most often something they are passionate about. Most people would rather die than get up in front of a group and speak. We work together to become better and more comfortable public speakers and leaders in our community,” Schwartz said.

For more information, visit www.whidbeysounders.org.