Junior speechmakers make judges’ jobs difficult

The three place winners. From left, Nikita Palmer, Tia Tipene and Henry Anderson.

Judges in the Pahīatua Lions annual junior speechmakers competition had a hard task ahead of them to find the three place winners.

Nine schools were represented in the competition, which took place earlier this month, in front of a packed hall.

Speeches were well-rehearsed, competently written and expertly presented, says a spokesperson for the Lions club.

Each speaker was given three minutes to present from a range of topics including; why we should play team sports, the usefulness of dung beetles, common myths, heroes and a special dad.

“Students used humour and interesting facts to ensure that all the speeches were well-received by the audience,” the spokesperson says.

Finalists were Henry Anderson - St Anthony’s, Zara Benoit - Makuri, Tasmin Henrickson - Pongaroa, Naomi Mabey - Ballance, Zephyr Moody - Alfredton, Saydee Ngametua-Smith - Kumeroa, Nikita Palmer - Woodville, Lucy Schnell - Mangatainoka and Tia Tipene - Pahīatua.

Judges Hans Welling, Matt Cheer and Carol Pound had an extremely difficult task deciding winners, who in the end were only separated by the smallest of margins. The judges felt all the students were all worthy representatives of their schools.

The winner of the shield for 2023 was Tia Tipene from Pahīatua School with a very confident speech on Knowing who you are.

Second was Henry Anderson from St Anthony’s School with a speech on Artificial Intelligence. He put forward the case for how useful it can be and not to be scared of it.

In third place from Woodville School was Nikita Palmer who also gave a speech on Artificial Intelligence explaining how much we use it already. Young people do not seem to be worried about new technologies but prefer to see how useful they are.

This is the 36th year of the competition and the standards remain as high as ever. It was also pleasing that some students gave their mihi in te reo Maori, to begin their speeches, showing confidence in two languages. The teachers must be congratulated on assisting students to develop skills in public speaking. Being confident to deliver your message clearly, and in an interesting way is very important in adulthood.