The English-Speaking Union Founder’s Award Gala
Honoring Dr. E. Quinn Peeper
ESU National Chairman
His Britannic Majesty’s Honorary Consul to Louisiana

Saturday, March 15, 2025
Winter Park Racquet Club
Winter Park, Florida

Kris Millgate is an Emmy-Award winning multimedia journalist, bold storyteller, and certified Idaho Master Naturalist. She is a producer, writer, editor, and author of three books on her adventures. Kris will describe her amazing outdoor experiences from wildfires and water wars to tracking grizzlies and tagging trout. With a quarter-century of multimedia storytelling experience, she traverses the country in search of dynamic outdoor stories. She will talk about her transition from a TV news anchor to an outdoor naturalist and environmentalist through beautiful pictures and short film clips.

Mark Twain (1835-1919) was an American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who gained international fame for his travel narratives and for his adventure stories of boyhood, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He is considered one of America’s best and most beloved writers. Susan K. Harris is a Mark Twain scholar as well as a scholar of American women’s writings. She has published four books on the author. Susan’s talk will focus on Twain’s innovative language, his double-edged humor, his political courage, and his struggle to find certainty in an uncertain world. She will explore the debate over teaching Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—how its offensive language works, and why it matters.

Mark your calendars! From Saturday, April 26 to Monday, April 28, 2025, NSC Branch Champions from across the country will gather in New York City for an unforgettable weekend of inspiration, learning, and performance.
The weekend will culminate with the Final Competition at Juilliard’s Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center.

Step into the enchantment of the holiday season with an exclusive invitation from the Earl and Countess of Derby to spend a luxurious weekend at historic Knowsley Hall, a magnificent estate nestled in the English countryside.