W. P. SANDFORD AWARD

Sandford served as President in 1930 and 1931. He was a Professor of English and Rhetoric at University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana.  Sandford published numerous scholarly articles in a variety of journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Speech, throughout the 1930s and 1940s.  The Sandford award is in recognition of exceptional service to the Association over an extended period of years and significant contributions to the field of speech and theatre.

2023 W.P. Sandford Award Winner

Lisa Stout, Washington Community High School

Lisa earned her BA in English Education, with a double minor in Speech and Drama, at Western Illinois University in 1995. In 2008, she earned an MA in English from Bradley University. After student teaching at Canton High School, she began her teaching career teaching speech and English at Limestone Community High School in the fall of 1996. There, she also coached the speech team, first as an assistant, later as head coach. After three years, in the fall of 1999, she began teaching Speech and Drama at Pekin Community High School. It was at PCHS that she really began to grow as a speech coach, under the tutelage of Eric Ewan, serving as one of his assistants. At PCHS, she also directed the fall and spring plays and served as theatre manager. One thing Lisa is incredibly proud of is bringing musicals back to PCHS, which happened later in her tenure at the school.

In the fall of 2008, Lisa moved to Washington Community High School, and she has been there ever since. At WCHS, Lisa has taught several English, speech, and drama classes, as well as dual credit composition and dual credit theatre. Lisa also built up the WCHS speech team from a tiny team with just a handful of students to a larger, more competitive team that regularly has IHSA state qualifiers, state finalists, and a State Champion in 2019. At WCHS, Lisa took over the theatre program in 2012 and currently directs the fall musical and spring play. She is also the Drama Club sponsor.

Throughout the years, Lisa has mentored many student teachers as well as assistant speech coaches and student directors. She has also served on countless boards and committees, including the IHSA Speech State Committee as well as the Speech Advisory Committee. In her rare free time, she has served as an adjunct faculty member at Bradley University, teaching English 101 and Communication 103. She has been a member of ICTA for the majority of her career. She has served on the ICTA Board of Directors twice, first as treasurer, and more recently, she was part of the ICTA Executive Board presidential rotation, serving as convention planner in 2018. She is currently an ICTA Past President. 

Lisa lives in Goodfield with her husband, Jim, whom she met backstage at Peoria Players Theatre in the late 1990s. She enjoys cooking, reading, traveling, and trivia. She recently appeared on-stage in Titanic the Musical, directed by her dear friend Eric Ewan, at Corn Stock Theatre in Peoria, her first on-stage appearance since 2012. She loves her chosen career, and considers it a joy and a privilege to be a teacher, a coach, a director, a colleague, a mentor, a friend, and finally, Mama Stout to her kids.

Watch Lisa's acceptance speech here: https://youtu.be/odEnHVTsdds