Taipei: American Caleb William Locke Foust has taken home first prize at the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall's annual Mandarin-speaking competition for foreign students in Taiwan. Foust, a former engineer working in Silicon Valley, won the NT$20,000 (US$616.02) top prize Tuesday night with his speech on "perseverance and abandonment," in which he talked about his ambition of becoming a diplomat, the Hall said in a news release.According to Focus Taiwan, Foust shared that he applied for a diplomatic post seven times in the United States but was unsuccessful. Despite these setbacks, he remains determined to achieve his dream. Foust, who has aspired to be a diplomat since he was 19, stated, "I will keep working until I become a diplomat." His journey with Mandarin began through a past relationship with a former girlfriend from Beijing, which sparked his interest in the language. After visiting Taiwan and being captivated by the culture and cuisine, Foust decided to pursue Mandarin studies in the country .In addition to Foust's achievement, Americans John David Kaltenbach and Camille Kathleen Byrne secured second and third places, earning NT$16,000 and NT$12,000 respectively. The fourth prize went to Peter Geert Albert Oortmann from the Netherlands, who received NT$8,000. Superior prizes were awarded to six other contestants from Indonesia, the U.S., Thailand, and Japan, each receiving NT$6,000.The participants selected from topics such as "Perseverance and abandonment," "How to make good use of social media," "My biggest worry in Taiwan," "My viewpoint on Taiwan's taboo," and "What age is the best in the life?" for their five-minute speeches delivered in Mandarin. Peng Ni-se, head of the jury and professor at Chung Yuan Christian University, praised the contestants for their excellent speeches, noting their impressive pronunciation and engaging delivery.Wang Lan-sheng, director-general of the Hall, emphasized that the contest aims to promote Dr. Sun Yat-sen's ideal of fraternity, enhance understanding of Taiwanese culture among foreign nationals, and encourage cultural exchange. Wang also mentioned the potential inclusion of a Taiwanese Hokkien category to increase the contest's linguistic diversity.This year, the competition attracted 60 contestants from 17 countries, all studying at 17 different universities in Taiwan.