Stage Masters brings a competitive speaker experience to Tampa on October 10, 2026, featuring 20 speakers, celebrity judges, students, and cash prizes.

TAMPA, FL / ACCESS Newswire / September 12, 2026 / A Competitive Speaker Stage Comes to Tampa

5th Avenue Media has announced that Stage Masters, its national speaker competition and community platform, will take place in Tampa, Florida, on October 10, 2026. The event will feature 20 expert speakers delivering professionally produced talks that will be evaluated by celebrity judges, a live audience, and a student judging panel. Prize awards across the competition will total $10,000.

The Tampa event will bring together entrepreneurs, business owners, speakers, sponsors, and students for a live program centered on professional communication, competition, and local student access. Original Shark Tank investor Kevin Harrington and Olympic gold medalist Justin Gatlin are scheduled to serve on the celebrity judging panel, joining the audience and student panel in evaluating the participating speakers.

Stage Masters is structured as a competition rather than a traditional speaker showcase. Speakers are evaluated on the clarity, delivery, and impact of their presentations, with live scoring and multiple judging perspectives incorporated into the format. Cash awards will be presented to selected participants based on competition results.

Students Receive a Seat at the Table

A central component of the Tampa event is a student program created in partnership with Junior Achievement of Tampa Bay. 5th Avenue Media said it plans to build and coach more than 500 LinkedIn profiles for local high school juniors and seniors at no cost, with a focus on entrepreneurship, personal development, and professional presence.

Participating students will be invited to attend the event free of charge and will have opportunities to interact with speakers, judges, sponsors, and other event participants. Twelve students will also serve on a judging panel with authority over a separate $2,500 Best Next Generation prize. According to the company, the student panel is designed to give young people a formal role in the competition rather than limiting their involvement to observing the event.

“There are kids in every city who are ambitious and driven and completely locked out of rooms like this. Not because they lack talent, but because nobody ever handed them a door. So we build their LinkedIn profiles, we put them in the room, and we introduce them to every speaker and sponsor there. That’s the entire reason we bring the event to a city,” said Chad Durfee, founder of 5th Avenue Media.

Three Panels Shape the Outcome

Stage Masters uses three scoring groups: a celebrity judging panel, the live audience, and the student panel. According to 5th Avenue Media, the format was developed to create a broader evaluation of each speaker’s presentation while giving different groups a role in the competition.

The student panel’s independent prize provides participating students with a distinct voice in recognizing a speaker whose presentation they believe carries particular relevance for the next generation.

“Twelve of those students sit on a panel with a $2,500 prize that no one else controls. They’re not there to watch. They’re there to decide,” Durfee said.

The company describes Stage Masters as a traveling speaker competition designed to combine professional production, community participation, business networking, and student access. Each program is organized around live presentations and structured judging while incorporating initiatives intended to connect local students with entrepreneurs and other professionals.

Why a Media Firm Built Its Own Stage

5th Avenue Media operates as a positioning and authority building company with divisions focused on podcasts, books, speaking, and live events. Its broader method, called Authority Stacking, is based on developing a podcast, book, signature talk, and press record from a unified positioning framework rather than treating each as an unrelated marketing asset.

Durfee said the firm created Stage Masters because speaker visibility frequently depends on access to platforms operated by outside organizations. By producing its own event series, 5th Avenue Media can create speaking opportunities while incorporating students, sponsors, judges, entrepreneurs, and local communities into the program.

“Most speaker showcases are a folding table and a polite audience. We built the opposite. Twenty speakers, three panels scoring them, and real money on the line. Pressure is what makes a talk worth remembering, for the speaker and for the room,” Durfee said.

From Professional Visibility to Community Access

The company’s authority building work includes podcast development, book publishing, signature talks, earned media, and monetization systems connected to those assets. 5th Avenue Media states that its six month Authority Stacking process is designed to help clients develop a coordinated public presence through multiple forms of media.

Stage Masters extends that positioning work into a public event setting by combining professional speaking, audience scoring, invited judges, and student participation. The Tampa program reflects the company’s stated view that access to professional platforms can play an important role in determining which experts and ideas receive broader public attention.

“Some of the most important voices in the world go unheard. The most deserving experts are usually the quietest ones, heads down, doing the work, assuming the work will speak for itself. It doesn’t. We exist to turn the light toward them,” Durfee said.

A Traveling Series With Local Roots

The Tampa event is planned as part of a broader Stage Masters rollout. In each host city, 5th Avenue Media intends to connect the speaker competition with a local student program that can include LinkedIn profile development, professional presence coaching, public speaking exposure, and interaction with business leaders participating in the event.

The company has positioned the local student component as a core part of the Stage Masters format. Sponsors, judges, speakers, and students participate within the same event structure, allowing the speaker competition and community initiative to operate as connected parts of the program.

The October 10 event is expected to bring more than 200 entrepreneurs and business professionals together with the 20 competing speakers, participating students, judges, and sponsors. Through the Tampa program, Stage Masters will combine its competitive speaking format with the student development initiative as 5th Avenue Media continues expanding the event concept into additional markets.

About 5th Avenue Media

5th Avenue Media is a media, publishing, podcast, and live events company founded by Chad Durfee. The company specializes in authority positioning for experts, entrepreneurs, executives, and public figures through a sequenced method known as Authority Stacking. Its divisions include Top Ranked Podcasts, Best Selling Books, and Stage Masters. The firm develops podcasts, books, signature talks, press assets, and monetization systems through a unified positioning architecture. Durfee is the author of Built to Be Known and host of The Chad Durfee Show. The company focuses on helping qualified experts establish a coordinated public presence across media and speaking platforms. More information is available through the 5th Avenue Media website, and inquiries may be sent directly to chad@5thavenuemedia.com.

Contact Info

Name: Chad Durfee
Email: Send Email
Organization: 5th Avenue Media
Website: https://www.5thavenuemedia.com/

SOURCE: 5th Avenue Media

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