For decades, the youth speech competition has offered students the opportunity to demonstrate their communicative talent. For the best, after the district and state competitions, they go to the national finals. At the Tyrolean state decision on Wednesday, young people showed that they want to have a say – and can.
Having the undivided attention of an audience, speaking about a topic that moves you and being successful – this dream came true for 52 young people on Wednesday at the state finals of the 71st youth speech competition. “Classic speech”, “spontaneous speech” and “mouthpiece” are the names of the three categories in which the young talents presented themselves to the jury and an interested expert audience. While in the “classic speech” the participants wrote a prepared text between six and eight in length minutes, in the “spontaneous speech” category they only have five minutes to prepare before they have to give a maximum four-minute lecture on a given topic. The “Spokesperson” category, in turn, enables individuals or groups of up to four young people to give a presentation in a creative way. Wave for the national winners in their categories. Second place receives 250 euros and third place receives 150 euros. And: All participants who qualify for the national final will receive 50 euros. The expert jury evaluates the performance (language, facial expressions and gestures), structure, content and originality. Topics that move young and old alike. The topics that the young people deal with are diverse: speeches on mental health, smartphone use and gender roles followed on topics such as the Middle East conflict, social media, love, religion and power. “A living democracy thrives on discourse. Young people who respectfully represent viewpoints and deal with current issues of this time are invaluable to our society,” praised Youth Regional Councilor Astrid Mair at the award ceremony. She expressed her congratulations and respect to the participants. She found it impressive to see the courage and commitment with which the speakers appeared in front of the jury and audience, and emphasized: “We look forward with joy and pride to a young generation that enriches our lives and allows us to look to the future with confidence .” Kl. Speech, 8th level: Valerie Achleitner (BRG Wörgl) – “Education in Change” Kl. Speech, PTS: Lana Aleid (PTS Telfs) – “Waiting Loop Austria” Kl. Speech, vocational schools: Anna-Sofie Juffinger ( TFBS Kufstein) – “Religion – a part of me” Class speech, secondary school: Sophie Gruber (BHAK Wörgl) – “A voice for change” Spontaneous speech: Felix Maurer (Telfs Technical High School) Mouthpiece: Hannah Feuerstein, Sandra Mittermayer and Sophie Wirth (BHAK Reutte) – “Power (abuse)” It will also be exciting for the winners of the state competition in the near future: The eight young people will represent Tyrol at the national final of the youth competition in Vienna at the end of May. “Krone” comment: Be heard once. Good I still remember how nervous I was when I took part in the youth speech competition. How important it was to me to present my topic well. After all, as a 15, 16, 17 year old, how often do you get the chance to have an audience of adults give you unconditional attention when you express your opinion in front of them?
source site-12