Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine Techno Page by Harendra Alwis

Winners all the way
The All Island Young Speakers’ Contest which concluded on January 25 at BMICH was a roaring success as seven young finalists made it to the stage with thought-provoking, insightful and sincere speeches, both prepared and impromptu.

They were awarded handsome prizes with the winner, Nushelle de Silva walking away with Rs.100,000. Her school, Ladies’ College, Colombo received an additional Rs.25,000.

17-year-old Sashikala Subramaniam of Holy Family Convent, the first runner-up of the contest walked away with the Rs.50,000 prize money. This aspiring women’s rights activist whose speech was on Abortion and its Legalisation, says, “I like talking on women’s rights and issues that are controversial,” adding that she finally attempts to resolve them by presenting her own opinion.

With ambitions of joining the United Nations in the future, she says she is vice-president at the upcoming Colombo Model United Nations and is also a vice-president at Colombo City Centre’s Voice for Peace. Sashikala is also deputy head prefect of her school and is into dancing and debating. As for her prize money, she says that she plans to give part of it to charity. “When I go abroad for a conference, most often it’s my parents who pay for tickets,” she says, adding that she hopes to lighten the load for them the next time.

The speakers were judged on a number of aspects including content and speech structure, speech value, voice, manner, language usage and effectiveness. The contest was organized by the Colombo Toastmasters’ Club, Lyceum International School and the Inner-Wheel Club of Colombo. The event was sponsored by Bookland, with electronic media sponsors being the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. The Sunday Times was the print media sponsors for the event.

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