Call for Newry’s young women to have their say | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

Call for Newry’s young women to have their say

Female students from Newry are being called upon to enter the 2013 Youth Award Public Speaking Competition, an initiative aimed at developing the skill of public speaking among young women.

This year’s competition, organised by Soroptimist International, allows students to present on a range of topical subjects as diverse as the plastic bag levy, an opt in or opt out system for organ donation and political lobbying.

The competition, launched this week in Belfast, is open to local female students in years 12 and 13 and will culminate in a national final in February at Glenlola Collegiate in Bangor.

Darina Armstrong, Chief Executive of Progressive Building Society said, “The Youth Award Public Speaking Competition is a fantastic initiative for helping to develop the confidence and public speaking skills of the next generation of female business leaders.

“The diverse range of topics in this year’s competition, including to tweet or not to tweet and political lobbying will provide students with a great platform to express their opinions and I’m looking forward to hearing many of them speak over the coming weeks.

“This is the eighth year that Progressive has been involved with the competition and this year’s programme is set to be our biggest and best yet. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone involved with the 2013 campaign the very best of luck.”

Pupils who enter the competition will speak on a range of topics as they try to win an array of prizes, including the prestigious Youth Salver, a £250 bursary for educational purposes, a weekend at the Breaffy House Hotel in Co Mayo and a prize fund for their school.

Regional President Miriam Hamilton from Soroptimist International added, “The aim of the competition is to help develop the confidence and skills of young women in Newry by giving them the opportunity to have their voices heard.

“We believe the Public Speaking Competition provides participants with the chance to develop their public speaking skills and learn new communication techniques.”

The competition is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Ireland, and was won last year by Jessica Galway from Glenlola Collegiate in Bangor. The 2013 event, which is expected to draw many entries from schools all over Northern Ireland, will cover a wide variety of topics including:

· To tweet or not to tweet – is modern communication too intrusive in our lives?

· Education is the most important weapon to change our world – Nelson Mandela

· Will a 5p tax on plastic bags save the environment?

· Opt in or opt out – which way for organ donation?

· The world would eat IF…

· Obesity – is it in the genes?

· Does lobbying make an impact on our political leaders?

Information on the competition can be found at www.sigbi.org/northern-ireland/public-speaking-competition.

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Posted by on Sep 17 2013. Filed under Community, What's On. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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