Daphne Taras wants to put a stop to filler words.

I went to my office, and I sent out an email to all faculty, all staff, all donors, and I said, 'I can't take it anymore.' - Daphne Tara, Edwards School of Business

While walking the halls of the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan, Taras heard a litany of "wasted words" such as "like" and "you know."

"I don't know that there's anybody that hasn't felt like lunging at people next to them in the coffee shop," she said. "I went to my office, and I sent out an email to all faculty, all staff, all donors, and I said, 'I can't take it anymore.'"

That's when Taras, the dean of the school, came up with the idea for the Golden Tongue Award. The award is given to first year business students who can give a presentation for more than five minutes without using filler words or relying on a written script.

"It makes for more effective presentations," she said. "What I'm finding is, it's extraordinarily difficult to do it for the first month or two."

Taras and other donors managed to raise $7,000 for a pool of funds that could be given out as cash prizes later on. The award gives $50 to individuals, and $200 to groups.

This year's successful students spent a lot of time practicing for the awards.

"Every time someone used one of these filler words, we would put a tick next to their name," said Golden Tongue winner Paul Zhu. "At the end of our preparation, whoever had the most ticks had to buy everyone coffee."

After Zhu started paying attention to the words, he noticed them everywhere.

"It started clicking with me, especially when people are presenting on a stage," he said. "I started to look at them differently once they started using 'ums' and 'likes.'"

Twenty students won the Golden Tongue Award in its inaugural year.