Budding speakers as young as 11 displayed their talents to an impressed audience and judging panel in the first round of the Rotary Youth Speaks Competition hosted by the Rotary Club of Wellington at Kingsmead School. The schools competing included Court Fields School, Wellington, Kingsmead School, Wiveliscombe, and Wellington School, Wellington.

Teams comprising three students give speeches about their chosen subject within strict time limits and answer questions from the audience. The national competition is designed to develop the public speaking and debating skills of young people aged 11 to 17.

After an entertaining evening of debate, Kingsmead emerged victorious in the Intermediate category after they made their case for, “Have Climate Protests Gone Too Far”. Kingsmead also claimed the winning shield for the Senior category, impressing judges with a debate about “We Should Reintroduce National Service”.

Gemma H from Court Fields School was awarded the Arthur Marrow Cup as overall Best Speaker. She presented an outstanding performance as Proposer for her team where they debated the topic ‘Social Media – Should We Be Concerned For Our Youth?”

The competition aims to provide the chance for young people to work as members of a team, gaining experience of researching and speaking on a public platform about a topic or issue they care about. This also gives them the opportunity of learning and practising high standards of expression, presentation and appearance.

Mike Parsons, President of the Rotary Club of Wellington, said: “It is inspiring to see so many talented young speakers excelling in a competitive environment. After a challenging couple of years for everyone, it really is encouraging that competitions like this are still running successfully and proving Rotary can be a real force in improving the futures of young people. Young people are so passionate about the issues and topics they care about, and that shone through with their presentations.”

After the competition, a member of the winning team said: “I really enjoyed the opportunity to take part in Youth Speaks, and I feel I’ve really developed my public speaking skills and confidence.”

Kingsmead School, the winners of the Senior and Intermediate categories, will now go on to the Second Stage of the competition at Cheddar in March.