Community & Business
19 March, 2021
Speaking success at Zone Final
AFTER battling it out in their Lions club finals four weeks ago, six students from across the Tablelands met at the Mareeba International Club for the Zone Final of Lions Youth of the Year (LYOTY).
By Ellie Fink
AFTER battling it out in their Lions club finals four weeks ago, six students from across the Tablelands met at the Mareeba International Club for the Zone Final of Lions Youth of the Year (LYOTY).
The LYOTY competition aims to select a young person to become the Lion’s Club Ambassador and travel overseas for Lions International.
Students Biku Adams Hume (Yungaburra Lions), Dailin Joshua (Mareeba Lions), Lauren Hyde (Yungaburra Lioness), Sahara Gobius (Malanda Lions), Rebecca Payne (Millaa Millaa Lions) and Micah Telford (Atherton Lions) went through a process to decide the winner.
Each student was required to participate in an interview with the judge’s Dr Ron Blake (Chairman), Peter Apel and Denise Lee Long earlier that morning.
This interview allowed the judges to get a broader understanding of the contestant’s personality and their attitudes in a ‘work interview’ environment.
That night, two impromptu questions were asked, and contestants had to improvise a two-minute speech answering the questions.
The questions were “I love living on the Tablelands because?” and “At what point does the march of technology make you uncomfortable?”
Finally, the five-minute prepared speeches were delivered, with Dailin Joshua taking out the Public Speaking Award for his speech on 'The triumph of the human spirit.'
Biku Adams Hume was declared the overall winner at the end of the night, with his speech on 'nuclear energy is the superior energy source.'.
Lauren Hyde was also recognised as the runner up winner for the Zone Final with her heart throbbing speech on ‘mental illness and the stigma associated with it- a letter for you’.
Biku will now be going onto the next round in Townsville to compete against other zone winners from across North Queensland on Saturday, March 27.
