The Primary School Speech Contest is a Rotary Youth initiative for Grade 5 and 6 students.
The program is aimed at helping the development of public speaking skills in the upper primary school years.
Emerald Rotary staged this event on Tuesday 24 October, it is seventh year of what is now an annual fixture in the club’s calendar.
It was hosted this year by Emerald Primary School.
The audience consisted of Cardinia Shire Mayor Cr Tammy Radford, Rotary District 9810 Governor Ian Ballantyne, District Speech Contest Coordinator Marlene Sinclair, Emerald Rotary President Sangeeta Bajaj, club members and the student’s families.
Six local Primary Schools – Cockatoo, Emerald, Gembrook, Macclesfield, Menzies Creek and Selby were asked to hold public speaking heats within their schools to determine the two students who would represent their school at the event.
The chosen children spoke for three minutes on a topic from a predetermined list of 12 subjects and were judged by a panel consisting of members from Toastmasters. The children compete for three prizewinning places, each receiving a Certificate of Achievement and a book voucher. The student who comes first also received an engraved trophy for themselves and one for their school.
The standard of presentations was high and the competition was close. The winner was Maya from Cockatoo Primary School whose chosen subject was “Through the Microscope”.
Second place was taken by Siena also from Cockatoo Primary School with Wil from Gembrook Primary School coming a close third.
The awards were presented by Mayor Radford.
Both Maya and Siena will now go through to the Rotary District 9810 Speech Speaking final, which this year is being held by the Manningham Rotary Club on Wednesday 15 November.
