Prestigious public speaking competition gives schoolgirls an opportunity to be heard

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A new public speaking competition is giving high school girls an opportunity, that for the past 90 years has been available only to boys. The Dame Enid Lyons Oratory Competition is open to all private and public girls' high schools in NSW.   There are hopes the new competition will encourage diverse voices and greater numbers of public-school students to take part.

Transcript

00:00For the past 90 years, a prestigious impromptu speaking event, the Lawrence Campbell Oratory

00:07Competition has been exclusive to 15 schools in NSW, primarily boys and private schools.

00:15Now there's an equivalent for girls, the Dame Enid Lyons Oratory Competition, which

00:19held its first ever finals on Wednesday evening at the Sydney Opera House.

00:24Ahead of the big day, Governor-General Sam Mostyn hosted the 10 finalists for morning

00:29tea at Admiralty House, where she spoke about the importance of encouraging young women

00:34to speak up.

00:35It's important for a generation that wants to be heard, whose ideas really matter, prosecuting

00:41those ideas, sharing them on stages in front of audiences, having the confidence and the

00:46skills to do that really makes a big difference and this group of finalists are exceptional.

00:51This new competition plans to become an annual event, platforming impromptu speakers from

00:56girls' high schools, both public and private, across the state.

01:00An opportunity that this cohort of finalists are positive about.

01:03This is one of my first competitions, so to have this as my introductory experience, I

01:08just think represents the opportunities that so many younger girls will get.

01:12I'm really happy that this competition was open to public school girls and it's really

01:16about equal opportunity and equal involvement.

01:19It's really a space where girls' voices are championed.

01:23And it also provides a platform where we can showcase public speaking and it's worth two

01:27other girls.

01:28In front of an audience of about 400 people, Year 12 student Celia Watson took home the win,

01:34saying the final outcome was unexpected.

01:36I mean it's great that we have a platform now because there's ways to get involved in

01:41public speaking that's not just through this competition, there are other competitions,

01:44but it's really great to have one that's for girls and one that's so unique in the way

01:48that it's impromptu.

01:49Organisers of the competition hope to see more schools, particularly public schools,

01:54put up more students for the impromptu speaking competition, platforming young and diverse voices

01:59from girls' schools across the state.

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