panegyric

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 10, 2011 is:

panegyric • \pan-uh-JEER-ik\  • noun
: a eulogistic oration or writing; also : formal or elaborate praise

Examples:
Written on the tenth anniversary of his mother’s death, the poet’s latest piece is a panegyric in her honor.

Football's over reliance on expert based statistics, mathematical probabilities and the highest panegyric going to non-players goes against my grain. -- From an article by Bill Dement in the Ruidoso News (New Mexico), January 13, 2011

Did you know?
On certain fixed dates throughout the year, the ancient Greeks would come together for religious meetings. Such gatherings could range from hometown affairs to great national assemblies, but large or small, the meeting was called a panēgyris. (That name comes from pan, meaning all, and agyris, meaning assembly.) At those assemblies, speakers provided the main entertainment, and they delivered glowing orations extolling the praises of present civic leaders and reliving the past glories of Greek cities. To the Greeks, those laudatory speeches were panēgyrikos, which means of or for a panēgyris. Latin speakers ultimately transformed panēgyrikos into the noun panegyricus, and English speakers adapted that Latin term to form panegyric.