Rostrum Voice of Youth
Rostrum contributes to the welfare and personal growth of Australian Youth through the conduct of the annual Rostrum Voice of Youth Student Development Program and Speaking Competition. Rostrum has organised this competition since 1975.
Competition Details
The following resources are provided for all competitors.
| Adjudication Sheet used by the judges |
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| Rules | How to prepare |
| Adjudication Guidelines | Tips for participants |
| Competitors must use their own, original content. Reference to other texts or direct quotation is allowed, but any speech must be substantially the work of the speaker. If plagiarism is suspected, a competitor may be automatically disqualified from the competition. |
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Competition dates vary from state to state - refer to the appropriate state page for more information.
| QLD | NSW | VIC | TAS | SA | NT | WA | ACT |
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Contact Your State Co-ordinator
The development program and competition is organised in each state by a state convenor. For information about the Program please please refer to the Rostrum Voice Of Youth Convenor in your State by clicking on your state link:
National Co-ordinator
The national co-ordinator for Voice of Youth is Nick Ewbank. Contact Nick for sponsorship enquiries or regarding general information about the program and competition. Students and schools should contact their state convenor.
Eligibility
The Rostrum Voice of Youth Development Program is open to Secondary School Students and is conducted in Senior and Junior divisions. Participants select a topic from a supplied list. Seniors speak for eight minutes and Juniors for six minutes. In the final rounds of the competition, contestants are required to give a three minute short-notice speech in addition to the prepared speech. Many schools conduct their own competitions to determine the students who will enter the Rostrum event.
Heats and Finals
Rostrum uses the name Zones for States so the competition is based on heats, zone finals and national final
The program and competition are based on heats, zone finals and national final. Rostrum uses the name “Zones” because not all follow State boundaries. For instance, parts of Southern NSW are linked with the ACT.
The competition begins at Heat level in city and provincial regions in all States and the Australian Capital Territory in March each year,and progresses to the National Final held late in July. Students compete for perpetual trophies which are held by the winners’ schools and personal trophies which are held by the winners.
Sponsors
The Development Program is funded by sponsors from Government and Business. Various sponsors support the program in each state and also the national final. In 2013 we are proud to again have Sebel as a sponsor. Sebel is Australia’s largest supplier of specialist school furniture with a network of dealers and offices in every state in Australia.
SEBEL is proud to support the Rostrum Voice of Youth on a nationwide basis. We believe that the annual RVOY provides a competitive platform for schools to enhance and maximise the talents of future leaders beyond the sports field.
Greg Welsh CEO Sebel
Organisation
Rostrum members organise the competition nation-wide and are active in the roles of adjudicators and timekeepers They also chair the various meetings at which heats and finals are conducted. Because of the high and increasing number of entries, Rostrum seeks and receives assistance from many other community organisations in the conduct of the competition in those regions in which Rostrum does not have sufficient representation.
Honour Roll
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