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Evie Howard, judged “Speaker of the Year” in the College’s “Soap Box 2008-09” public speaking competition held recently, spoke of stress in modern life – and yet, even in competition mode, portrayed someone who seemed wholly unstressed and unfazed. Evie, displaying the gifts and skills of a polished speaker, readily engaged her audience.

 

Winning team in the competition was the duo of Jamie Elliott and Anna McGivern. The competition was for teams of three, but the third member of Jamie’s and Anna’s team dropped out at the last moment, leaving Anna to double up in the roles of Chair and Proposer of the Vote of Thanks. Clearly multi-tasking is second nature to her and her confidence, and that of Jamie, whose well-illustrated and informative talk spoke strongly in support of British folk customs, proved a winning combination.

 

Evie was well supported by Sean Wyer, relaxed and good-humoured in the chair, and by Elizabeth Alexander. Elizabeth gave herself – but no-one else – a moment’s anxiety as she was summing up, but regained her composure with a light touch to round off her vote of thanks in confident form.

 

A well-structured and well-researched speech on America’s new President, and the hopes and vision he offers to the world, was runner-up James Langford’s presentation, as the speaker for the team in which he was joined by Emily Sockett, a confident and poised Chair, and by Hannah Packwood whose vote of thanks showed an admirable ability to think on her feet.. James, Emily and Hannah opened the proceedings giving the competition a strong start, and certainly set a bench-mark which challenged their fellow contestants.

 

Competition organiser Mike Vockins said, “The standard of speaking was exceptionally high, all the speakers performing well, and speaking with clarity and confidence. It was a very impressive performance all-round, and all the speakers were certainly deserving of cordial congratulations.”

 

With the standard of speaking and performance being commendably high, only a “whisker” shaded the points between the individual speakers and between the competing teams.