Benalla Lions Junior Public Speaking Competition judges Leading Senior Constable Chris Di Ciero and Benalla Mayor Bernie Hearn with Years 5/6 winner Hannah Paul and Years 3/4 winner Leo Barker.
The Benalla Lions Club held its annual Junior Public Speaking Competition final at the RSL rooms on Nunn St on Sunday, July 27.
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Local students qualified for the event after competing at school level.
Benalla Lions Junior Public Speaking chair Margaret Poels said the club visited Benalla P-12 College’s primary campuses as well as St Joseph’s Primary, before the school holidays, to judge their public speaking competitions.
The winning students at those competitions were then invited to take part in the final.
“Upwards of 50 people listened to six students present their speeches,” Mrs Poels said.
There were two categories in the competition:
The Years 3/4 winner was St Joseph’s Primary’s Leo Barker and runner-up was Charlotte Gambrell-Wenzke from Benalla P-12 College’s Avon St campus.
The Years 5/6 winner was St Joseph’s Primary’s Hannah Paul and runner-up was Bernice Ncube from Benalla P-12 College’s Waller St campus.
Judging the event were Benalla Mayor Bernie Hearn, Kelly Wallace, representing Bendigo Bank, and Leading Senior Constable Chris Di Ciero.
Benalla Lions Club Junior Speaking Competition judge Mayor Bernie Hearn, emcee Benalla Lions Club president Peter Brown, judges Kelly Wallace (Bendigo Bank) and Leading Senior Constable Chris Di Ciero, with students Bernice Ncube, Hannah Paul, Estelle Doig, Charlotte Gambrell-Wenzke, Leo Barker and Elsie Pollard.
“The aim of this Lions Club program is to give the students the opportunity to gain confidence to present a speech to an audience other than their peers,” Mrs Poels said.
“The Years 3/4 students speak for three minutes on a given topic, and the Years 5/6 students speak for four minutes on a different topic.
“When the Years 5/6 students have finished their speeches, they are taken to another room and given 10 minutes to compile a one-minute speech from an impromptu question, which they then present to the judges and audience.
“We have received many messages from teachers, parents and grandparents thanking the Lions Club for making this opportunity available to the young people in our community.”
Mrs Poels said the winners would take part in the regional final, to be held at the Corowa Lions clubrooms on Sunday, August 10.
“And this year will be the third year that there will also be a state final,” she said.
“So, we would like to wish all of our students good luck.”
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