One day before our National Conference events, on Thursday, April 28, we held the Classical Conversations® 2022 National Memory Master competition.
There, 16 student finalists from around the nation recited memory work from all three cycles of the Foundations program to their parents and a panel of judges for the chance to win a $10,000 cash prize.
After rounds of reciting specific memory work and after long deliberation by the judges, the winner was finally announced — Lincoln Moody!
Congratulations to Our National Memory Master Participants
Congratulations to Lincoln and the Moody family! Lincoln blew our judges away with his ability to recall information, recite the history timeline, and draw a detailed map of the world.
We’d also like to say a huge congratulations to our other 15 finalists and all the students who submitted video entries. Year after year, participants in Memory Master continue to demonstrate exceptional memorization skills and in-depth knowledge of the information learned in Foundations.
Tips for Families Pursuing National Memory Master
In the video above, Lincoln and his family share how he studied for the 2022 National Memory Master. They offer some great insights for parents and students wishing to participate in the 2023 competition:
Remind Your Student Why They Started
Lincoln’s parents, Chris and Wendy, mention in the video above that pursuing National Memory Master was entirely his idea. They recognized their role was simply to encourage Lincoln and to lay out a framework to help him achieve his goal.
While he wanted to pursue National Memory Master, there were still days when Lincoln lacked motivation. So, Chris and Wendy occasionally had to remind him of why he started on this journey so he would be inspired to persevere.
Practice Every Day
In the video, Lincoln says, “I drew the world every day, I went through all the memory work every day, I did the timeline every day. I did a lot of things every day.” As Lincoln and his family discovered, this simple strategy of practicing every day served him well in effectively memorizing the information from Foundations.
If your student is planning to participate in National Memory Master, either in 2023 or another year, go through some of the memory work each day. As your student learns consistently like this, their knowledge will begin to compound. Soon, with regular practice, your student may become a finalist in National Memory Master!
Come Up With Creative Ways to Study
To help him get a firm grasp on his memory work, Lincoln and his family wrote the memory work on pieces of paper and hung them up around the house. Lincoln would then follow this “memory route” and learn to associate the memory work with locations in his house. This would further cement the information in his mind.
If you’re helping your child learn memory work, try to come up with some creative ways that will reinforce the information and help them recall it more easily. You can follow the Moody family’s “memory route” approach or come up with your own method.
For more ideas on how to encourage your student to memorize Foundations material, review the memorization tips in our post “Becoming a Memory Master.”
Tell Your Child It’s Not All About the Prize
Throughout the learning process, Chris and Wendy reminded Lincoln that this competition isn’t about a prize or a certificate. Rather, his parents emphasized to Lincoln that they were proud of his effort no matter whether he won.
Indeed, for Lincoln and all the other contestants in National Memory Master, the information they learned and the skills they developed as they prepared for this competition will last them a lifetime.
Get an Early Start on the 2023 National Memory Master
If your student is hoping to compete in the 2023 National Memory Master next year, it’s never too early to get started!
