| Aziz Idris |
MD ZAKWAN bin Dr Haji Airwan of St Margaret’s School, Seria talked his way to the hearts of the judges to emerge as champion of the 11th Oratory Competition organised by the Brunei English Language Teachers Association (BELTA) yesterday.
Managing Director of Insurans Islam TAIB Holding Sdn Bhd Haji Osman bin Haji Mohd Jair, as the guest of honour, handed over the prizes.
First-runner up was Ampuan Amirah Farahiyah binti Ampuan Haji Mohammad from St Angela’s School, Seria followed by Syasya Sahira binti Yusop from Sports School.
The champion walked home with the coveted Pehin Rahman Taib Trophy along with book prizes worth BND500 while the first runner up received book prizes worth BND400 and the second runner up received book prizes worth BND300.
All top winners also received book vouchers and certificate of participations.
Other finalists received book prizes worth BND100, competition trophies, book vouchers and certificate of participation.
The 11th Oratory Competition began on July 20 with the qualifying rounds and saw students from 20 secondary schools presented speeches on various topics and issues.
However, only eight schools managed to go into the finals.
A pre-competition workshop was held on July 31 during which the eight finalists were briefed on public speaking skills to prepare them for the final round.
During the final, each participant was given five minutes to speak. Judges gave points for the use of public speaking skills; stance, delivery, clarity and the construction of the speech.
In his welcoming remarks, the President of BELTA, Abdul Wafi Sia bin Abdullah Sia said that every year, each finalist were given one topic based on a theme and this year, the theme was to honour and commemorate the 72nd birthday of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam.
He hoped that all participants of the 11th BELTA Oratory Competition will “help enthuse confidence and develop their ability to research, reason and to express themselves through the articulation of constructive, positive views as well as hopefully inspiring ideas”.
The inaugural competition was held in 2007 and has since become one of the most anticipated English Language competitions among secondary schools in the country.
The 11th BELTA Oratory Competition 2018 is sponsored by Insurans Islam TAIB and fully supported by the Brunei Darussalam Teachers Academy (BDTA), Ministry of Education.