Huraira Ahmed, a Year 10 student from Frederick Bremer School, was crowned winner of the Regional Final of Jack Petchey’s Speak Out Challenge
A Waltham Forest student has won the London and Essex regional final of the UK’s largest youth public speaking event, where he could win £5,000.
Huraira Ahmed, a Year 10 student from Frederick Bremer School, was crowned winner of the Regional Final of the Jack Petchey’s “Speak Out Challenge” which took place at Heathcote School & Science College.
Over 30,000 Year 10 students (14-15 year olds) in over 500 state schools in London and Essex take part in the annual event, hosted by the UK’s leading public speaking and communication charity, Speakers Trust and funded and supported by the Jack Petchey Foundation.
Previous winners of the Grand Final the actors Jamie Flatters and Idris Sobande, entrepreneurs Tim Armoo and Mike Omoniyi, and writer Poppy Noor.
Huraira Ahmed was crowned regional champion, with a powerful speech titled “Tomorrow’s Always a Challenge”, with the aim to inspire resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity, encouraging individuals to overcome obstacles and strive for personal growth and success.
Their eloquence and passion caught the eyes and ears of the expert judges, including: Lewis Hooper, Ian Pope, Angeline Daly, Tracey Miller, Nadirah Hussain, Mary Osofisan.
Huraira now proceeds to the online semi-finals with 37 other regional champions, before the final 15 are selected for the grand final, taking place at the prestigious Cambridge Theatre on 7th of July.
At the grand final, Huraira will be competing for the chance to win £5,000 (a £2,000 bursary for himself and £3,000 for his school.)
During the training, students are given the skills and the confidence to develop and deliver a competition speech on a topic that is important to them. The aim of the training and competition is to amplify young voices.
Huraira said: “Everyone keep doing what you are doing as this is such a brilliant event & opportunity. Everyone I know really enjoys taking part and the confidence it builds is fantastic. Thank you JPF and Speakers Trust for all you do.”
Runner-up title went to Ayaan Iqbal, representing Walthamstow Academy, with a speech titled “Stars beyond your screen” and third place went to Adam Naqvi from South Chingford Foundation School, with a speech highlighting the power of food as a means to bring people together.
The speakers were congratulated by the former Mayor of Waltham Forest, Roy Berg who said: “Absolutely brilliant evening. This is the second event I have attended and I have thoroughly enjoyed them all. It is extremely important that we encourage & support the youth to find their voice and Speak Out. It is a wonderful way to develop such confidence and character as it very hard to do well which they all did tonight without exception. Thank you for inviting me to witness this wonderful opportunity. “
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