At state level, competitors present speeches that are well structured and researched. They are rehearsed to perfection and delivered in such a manner that the audience is held captive.
Since winning the North-West Final of Voice of Youth in May, Isabel has been fine tuning her six-minute prepared speech, ‘Ready to Restart’. This speech was given a sci-fi tone and focused on COVID-19 as being the antagonist, the havoc it wreaked on Earth, our responses and desire to win the war so we can be ready to restart.
Once the prepared speech section concluded for the eight junior competitors the next challenge was handed to them: a short notice speech. Competitors had fifteen minutes to prepare a three-minute speech. They had to choose one topic from the following list:
- Bringing people together
- Winter
- Outside my comfort zone
Isabel selected the topic, ‘Outside my comfort zone’ and spoke about her transition from a small public primary school to high school where everything initially seemed foreign and overwhelming.
Chairman, adjudicators, audience, this competition is about having opportunities to meet other students from different schools across the state. It is about seeing them climb and conquer the confidence wall and making it to the other side.
Mrs Tess McDonagh
Debating Coach
