Something to shout about at Youth Speak

Some 20 pupils from 10 participating schools competed against each other in the competition’s junior and senior sections at the Council offices.

Environmental Youth Speak is an annual public speaking competition open to pupils throughout Northern Ireland. It encourages environmental awareness amongst young people, giving them the opportunity to research and debate current environmental issues.

Bronte PS pupil James Boyd, who impressed the judges with his speech about ‘My rubbish – is it a waste or a resource?’, won the junior section of the competition. Christine Graham from Banbridge Academy won the senior section with her winning speech on the subject of ‘Back to the future! Learning from the past to reduce waste’.

Both scored top marks in the competition and proved to be most proficient public speakers in their section. They will now go on to represent the district at regional level and compete with the winners from seven other council areas involved in the Southern Waste Management Partnership (SWAMP).

Responsible for organising the local round of the competition, Council Environmental Education Officer, Tracy Fitzpatrick, said: “This is the sixth year that we have run the competition and I am delighted with the enthusiasm of the pupils who competed and the quality of their presentations. Every pupil did themselves and their school proud. The standard was exceptionally high, making the job of choosing the two overall winners very difficult.

“Each pupil who took part in the competition showed a real talent for public speaking and demonstrated a very good understanding of environmental issues. This competition offers great educational value. It teaches young people about how to express themselves on a particular subject, and educates them about the importance of protecting the environment.”

The regional round of the competition will take place later this month at Magherafelt District Council offices. The overall competition winner for Northern Ireland will be announced on the same day following the announcement of regional winners.