Scarborough Youth Leader Wins North America's Largest Inspirational Speaking Competition- Toronto Times

TORONTO, JULY 23, 2026 – Adrian Leckie, M.Ed., a Scarborough youth leader, has won Speaker Slam®, North America’s largest inspirational speaking competition, taking first place among ten speakers at its Identity themed event at Lula Lounge on July 21.

Adrian has built his life around helping young people be seen and heard. He leads the Imani Black Academic Mentorship Program at the University of Toronto Scarborough, connecting Black youth across seven Scarborough schools to mentorship and pathways to higher education, and has spent more than a decade creating spaces where young men of color can be honest about what they carry. In 2022, he was honored with a community award for his role in a life-saving intervention on the TTC. He returned to the Speaker Slam stage after placing second at its Belonging competition with a speech about being stopped by police at 16.

His winning speech, “No Capes Required,” practiced what he teaches. In five minutes, Adrian told a room full of strangers about the silence he carried from childhood, from his parents’ divorce, and the years it took to find the voice for the hardest conversation of his life, with his own father. It’s the vulnerability he spends his days telling young men is a strength, and he modelled it during BIPOC Mental Health Month, when the men in racialized communities who are struggling are often the ones who look the most fine.

“You playing small, that’s your kryptonite. But you standing in your truth, that’s your superpower,” Leckie told the audience.

Adrian says the struggle in men rarely looks like falling apart. It looks like overworking, silence, and joking through pain, and his work is about reaching them before a crisis instead of after one.

“This was out of my comfort zone when it comes to the type of speeches I do. It was a tough one. It was a really emotional one as well,” Leckie said after the win. “I’m very honored to have shared space with all of you.”

Adrian takes home a $2,000 cash prize and a package valued at up to $10,000, along with a place at the Grand Slam, the year-end inspirational speaking finals on November 21, where the top speakers from each 2026 competition will compete for the title of Inspirational Speaker of the Year and a prize package valued at up to $50,000, including a book deal.

Identity brought together ten speakers who each delivered a five-minute speech about the moments that shaped their sense of self, judged by four industry leaders across message clarity, storytelling, transformative impact, presence, entertainment, and presentation.

Event Details — Grand Slam: Inspirational Speaking Finals