Mark Twain said there are only two types of speakers in the world; one, the nervous, and two, liars.

Although 35 students from Central primary schools were nervous, they bravely spoke from the heart in the first ever Dunstan Kāhui Ako speech competition held in Alexandra yesterday.

Dunstan Kāhui Ako across school lead Rachel O’Connell said the competition aimed to provide another experience for students to come together and compete against their peers, in an event that wasn’t sport.

“It takes a lot of practice and preparation to get up in front of everyone, they were heartfelt and expressive and did a great job,” Rachel said.

A wide range of topics from the Olympics, cooking, national pride, gender equality, to animal testing and the use of social media were covered.

Some students chose to include a pepeha (or mihi introduction) in te reo Māori.

The judging panel for the younger children (Year 6 and below) was speech and drama teacher Heather Harries, primary school teacher Judy Cambell, and Dave Ramsey, who has been involved with adjudicating for the Lions club and Junior Chamber International NZ (the Jaycees).

Relieved smiles for Year 1-3 speech competition entrants after taking their turn; pictured are (from left) Seb Dwyer (8), Zoe Cammell (8), Piper MacCormick (7), Claudia McNally (7), Lucy Lake (7), Adalyn Blakie (7), and Mitchell Brown (8). PHOTO: The Central App

Participating schools were Alexandra Primary School, St Gerard’s School, The Terrace School, Clyde School, Omakau School and Dunstan High School.

In the youngest group the prizes were first The Terrace School pupil Seb Dwyer, second Clyde School pupil Claudia McNally and third St Gerard’s School pupil Lucy Lake. PHOTO: The Central App

Watch a clip from Seb’s winning speech on the Olympics here. VIDEO: The Central App

The next age group (Year 4-6) was won by Alexandra Primary School 10-year-old Naziah Kavanagh who spoke about how she couldn’t live without te reo Māori. 

Watch Naziah’s passionate performance. VIDEO: The Central App

Second place was awarded to St Gerard’s pupil Ashna Joseph (10) who covered the importance of positivity. 

Clyde School’s Year 4 pupil Beau Mitchell placed third after his talk titled “Just imagine if…” focused on environmental issues.

Judge Heather Harries said the quality of the work was exceptional, calling the initiative fantastic and next level.

“It takes a lot to stand up here… what you've just done is courageous. Well done to you all and the mums and dads at home.

“It was tough [judging], everybody was amazing, everyone that stood up did themselves seriously, seriously proud.”

Pictured are Year 4-6 entrants (from left, front row) Walter Driesen (11), Isabelle Gwatkin (10), Emma Bartlett (9), Sophie McCurdie (10), Layla Wilson (9), Ashna Joseph (10), Naziah Kavanagh (10), Beau Mitchell (9) and Sophia Hinsen (11) and in the back row judges Judy Cambell, Dave Ramsey and Heather Harries.

St Gerard’s School pupil Walter Driesen urged everyone to spend more time in nature in his speech. PHOTO: The Central App

Speakers were marked out of 100 points on content (speech structure and merit of ideas), delivery (voice and general delivery), and overall effectiveness.

For the afternoon sessions, tamariki aged year seven to ten the three judges were David Whitney, Simon Lewis, Anne Conder.

Winners in Year 7-8, from first to third respectively were Alexandra Primary School’s Grace Foulds, Cohen Brown, of St Gerard’s School and Elise Breuk from The Terrace School.. 

Pictured are (from left) Year 7-8 winners Cohen Brown, Grace Foulds and Elise Breuk. PHOTO: Rachel O’Connell

Year 9-10 award winners were from Dunstan High School; students were (from left) second placed Lochy Hawkins, third Adeline Ball and winner Alice Bell . PHOTO: Rachel O’Connell

Winners from each of the four year groups were presented with prizes, and certificates and spot prizes were handed out too. 

Primary schools held their own competition initially, and then the top finalists made it through to yesterday’s final held at the Alexandra Bridge Club on Boundary Road. 

Rachel thanked the two judging panels for their help and Alexandra Paper Plus for sponsoring the prizes. 

Each year group had a time limit for their speeches, spoke for 1-2 minutes, year four to six and year seven and eight spoke for 2-4 minutes, and the final group year nine and ten spoke for up to five minutes.

Whānau and friends The Central App spoke to were impressed by the calibre of the speech writing, stage presence and confidence portrayed by those in the final. 

The Dunstan Kāhui Ako is a collaborative community of learners including 2000 pupils and approximately 155 educators from nine Early Childhood Centres, eight Primary Schools and one High School.