Young voices speaking for success at Speak with Confidence Awards

The City of South Perth's primary school students proved to be word perfect at this year's Speak with Confidence Awards, proudly hosted at t he City ' s Civic Council Cham bers on Wednesday 2 4 June .

Our talented speakers, made up of students from Years 5 and 6, proved that small talk can still have a big impact as they delivered a range of impressive speeches, with topics ranging from space travel to 'Granny's new phone'.

Involving 18 students from 9 local primary schools, the competition was whittled down to six finalists, before Blair Baumwol from Penrhos College was awarded first prize, with her beautifully delivered speech on being Perfectly Imperfect.

South Perth Primary School also shone, with students taking out both second and third place. Paul Hsiang had some words of advice for both audience and judges with his fittingly titled Speak with Confidence speech, while Lewis Liebenau won third place for his speech about Silent Letters.

Mayor Greg Milner, who was on hand to present the awards, said: "Public speaking can be daunting at any age so to watch these young speakers deliver speeches they've crafted on their own with such confidence and passion is nothing short of inspirational."

"Every student who took part should be really proud of themselves."

Now in its 30 th year, the competition is designed to champion creativity, confidence and clarity, with students selecting their own subjects, writing and constructing their own speeches, and then presenting them to a panel of independent Toastmasters International judges.

All finalists received book vouchers to recognise their outstanding efforts and talent.

The City would like to thank all of the participating schools, competitors, and the generous Toastmaster volunteers who we rely on to make this annual event possible.