Amplify Program

Amplify is an initiative that offers you an opportunity to gain the skills, coaching, and platform you need to share your knowledge and perspectives with a public audience. It’s a forum where you can take what you’re learning in an academic setting and use it to develop a public voice through public writing, public speaking, and other creative mediums. Through events, workshops, and one-on-one coaching and feedback, you’ll develop work that you’re proud to share with the world. The program culminates with a chance to submit your work to the Amplify Competition.

Fall 2025

Each fall, the Wurtele Center for Leadership offers workshops and events as part of the Amplify Program that encourage students to develop a public voice as a form of powerful leadership.

Alie Ward

Amplify Competition

The Amplify Competition is an opportunity for Smith College students to share their knowledge, stories, and perspectives in a public forum. The competition is designed to honor students for their efforts towards amplifying their voices to bring about positive change around issues that matter to them. 

The competition is open to all currently enrolled Smith undergraduate students, and entries can be drawn from assignments completed for a course taken for credit, or could be a piece developed outside of a student’s coursework.

Learn About the Competition

Prizes

Students may participate in three Amplify Competition categories: Public Speaking, Public Writing, and a Wild Card category (for the 2026 competition, the Wild Card theme is Field Guides). All submissions will be published on a consolidated Amplify website, which will be accessible only within the Smith College community. Submissions will be entered to compete for prizes in each of the three categories plus a “People’s Choice” Award in each category. Prize winners will be announced in early February at the Awards Ceremony portion of Amplify Day.

Public Speaking
Three prizes of $500

Public Writing
Three prizes of $500

Wild Card: Zines
Three prizes of $500

People’s Choice
$200 prize to one entry in each category