RIBI Youth Speaks National Final 2016

 This competition aims to offer young people:

·      experience in speaking on a public platform as a member of a team

·      an incentive to formulate ideas on topical subjects

·      discipline in dealing with a topic in a limited time

·      the opportunity of learning and practising high standards of expression, presentation and appearance

·      impartial feedback and assessment of performance by experienced adjudicators

Who can take part?

This competition is open to teams of three students in full time education in two age groups:

Intermediate 11 to 13 years

Senior          14 to 17 years

With the age qualifying date of 31 August 2015, it should be noted that some junior entrants may be 11, intermediate entrants 14 and senior entrants 18 at the time of some or all stages of the competitions (e.g. a competitor who is 17 on 31 August but turns 18 on 1  September is allowed to enter).

Students should enter the competition organised by the local Rotary club through their school, college or other organisation.

Competitors, schools, colleges and other organisations can participate in a district that is outside of their boundary, but can only compete in one club or district. 

The Four Stages of the Competition

Local Heats  

Organised by local Rotary clubs between September and December. Age group winners of local heats are entered into a district competition. Local Rotary Clubs can be found using the club finder in the top right hand corner of the Rotary website rotarygbi.org.

District Competitions

These are organised by Rotary between January and mid-February. For high numbers of entrants, it may be necessary to hold preliminary rounds prior to a district final. Age group winners of district competitions are entered into a regional final.

Regional Finals 

These are organised by Rotary between mid-February and March. Age group winners of regional finals are entered into the national final.

National Final 

This is organised by Rotary District 1190.  This will be held on Saturday 7 May 2016 at Kirkham Grammar School, Ribby Road, Kirkham, Preston, PR4 2BH.

Dates for local heats, district finals and regional finals may have local variations. Interested parties should check dates with their local Rotary club.

Rotary does not fund expenses of the regional winners to attend the national final.

Competition Guidelines

Format 

Each team member takes on one of three roles: chairperson, speaker and vote of thanks. The team should be the same throughout the competition. In exceptional circumstances substitutions may be made, subject to the approval of the competition organiser.

Each team member is allocated a time in which to perform their role. The role of each team member is detailed in the procedure section below.

Judges 

Judges with appropriate skills appointed by Rotary will apply the judging criteria and provide feedback to all competitors and mentoring to winners. The judges will not discuss marks and their decision will be final.

A Rotarian will not be appointed as a judge for regional or national finals.

Judging Criteria 

Chairperson’s management of the meeting                                                                 25 points

Speaker’s ability to present and develop a topic and ability to answer the question   50 points

Quality and courtesy of the vote of thanks                                                                   25 points

Team work                                                                                                                    15 points

 Total 115 points

A judge’s score sheet which illustrates the points judges will be particularly looking at is provided at the end of this information pack.

The judges will deduct one point for each complete 15 seconds over the allocated time and one point for each complete 30 seconds under the allocated time. Points will not be deducted for time in answering the question.

Only in exceptional circumstances and at the sole discretion of the competition organiser, will correspondence or discussions be entered into following a competition.

Questioner 

The questioner, who shall not be one of the judges, will be appointed by the competition organiser. Speakers will be asked to respond to a question asked by the questioner

The questioner can be a Rotarian but not from a participating club.

Prizes    

At all stages of the competition competitors will receive a certificate of participation.

After the judges have determined the result of the competition one or more judges will comment on their observations before announcing the result.

At the national finals, the winning intermediate and senior teams will receive the Rotary Challenge Trophy which may be held for one year. Each member of the winning, second and third teams will receive an individual award.

How to enter

To enter a local heat, interested parties should contact their local Rotary club via the club finder in the top right hand corner of the website rotarygbi.org. In case of difficulty please contact the national organiser Brian Kirkup at youth-speaks@rotarygbi.org quoting the home address and the address of the school, college or other organisation.

Entrants need to complete the entry form at the end of this information pack and submit to the stage organiser at the time specified by the stage organiser.

Competition Procedure

Arrival 

Before each competition the competition organiser will conduct a draw to determine the order in which each team will make their presentation. The order will be notified to teams at the competition. If possible, teams will be given prior notice of the order. In unforeseen circumstances the organisers may have to adjust the order.

Arrangements

A master of ceremonies will invite each team in order of the draw, to come to the front or stage to make their presentation.

The team should be ushered into position by the chairperson who should sit down with the speaker on their right and the vote of thanks on their left.

A system of lights or coloured cards will be used to advise team members of time. Green will indicate start, amber will warn that the allocated time is coming to an end and red will indicate the end of allocated time.

Notes may be used. However their use should not be too obvious - simply reading written content will be reflected in the marks. Notes can be written on paper, card, tablet or iPad. If electronic media is used for this purpose it must only be used as a reminder of the content of the speech and not as a prop or as a live means of presenting or sourcing information. Cards as prompts are better than A4 notes but ideally teams should deliver the presentation without either.

Items other than dress or the furniture provided are not permitted to be used as props. The use of props will be severely reflected in the judges’ marks. This includes power point.

Where venues would benefit from amplification, static microphones will be provided for team members to use. A sound test will be arranged prior to the start of the competition. If any team member fails to use the static microphones and their words are inaudible the judges will deduct marks.

The team members will perform their roles in the following order:

Chairperson

When the team is ready the chairperson will stand. From this point on the chairperson is in control of the team’s performance until the performance is closed after the vote of thanks. The chairperson should briefly link the team’s presentations. There is no time penalty involved in this part of the chairperson’s role.

The chairperson has two minutes to welcome the audience and to introduce the speaker. The introduction should include the relevance or expertise of the speaker to the subject of their speech.

An amber light will indicate there are thirty seconds left of the allocated two minutes.

Speaker       

The speaker has six minutes to speak on their chosen subject. The speaker may choose any subject, subject to the approval of the organisers. Considerable discretion should be used in choosing the subject. Sensitive subjects such as party politics, race or religion should be avoided. The subject may change between stages.  

An amber light will indicate there is one minute left of the allocated six minutes

Chairperson

When the speaker has finished the chairperson will invite the questioner to ask a question

Speaker       

Before answering the question the speaker may seek clarification of the question via the chairperson. The speaker, who is the subject expert, may not consult about the question with other team members.

The speaker then has about two minutes to answer the question.

An amber light will indicate two minutes are drawing to a close and after the amber light speakers should bring their response to a conclusion.

Speakers are advised to respond spontaneously, without prepared sections, to obtain high marks from the judges.

Chairperson

When the speaker has finished answering the question, the chairman will introduce the proposer of the vote of thanks.

Vote of Thanks

The vote of thanks has two minutes to propose the vote of thanks.

The vote of thanks should remark on both the content of the speech and the response to the question. The audience should then be invited to show its appreciation of the speaker.

An amber light will indicate there are thirty seconds left of the allocated two minutes.

The student giving the vote of thanks is advised to respond spontaneously to the response to the question, without prepared sections, to obtain high marks from the judges.

Chairperson

After the vote of thanks and applause the chairperson will close the proceedings.

Results         

After the judges have determined the result of the competition, one or more judges will comment on their observations before announcing the result.

Youth Competitions

The Rotary Youth Speaks competition is one of several competitions organised by Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland for young people. The others are Young Chef, Young Musician, Young Photographer, Young Writer, Youth Speaks the Young Citizens Awards and the Technology Tournament. To find out more about these competitions and other opportunities please contact your local Rotary club, which can be found at rotarygbi.org.  

Working with Children     

Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland has adopted this statement of policy for working with children, the vulnerable and those with disability.

The needs and rights of the child, the elderly, the vulnerable and those with disability take priority. It is the duty of every Rotarian to safeguard to the best of their ability, the welfare of and prevent the physical, sexual or emotional abuse and neglect of all children, the elderly, persons with disability or otherwise vulnerable persons with whom they come into contact during their Rotarian duties.

Entry Form Details

Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland (Rotary GB&I) reserve the right to retain contact details within the terms of the Data Protection Act to enable Rotary GB&I to contact and keep in touch with them as part of the Alumni of Rotary and as future potential members.

Entry Form 2015/16

Please read the information pack before completing this form clearly.  By signing this form you confirm you have read, understood and agreed to the contents of the information pack.  Please return this form to the competition organiser by the date specified.

The parent(s), guardian(s), or carer(s) have given permission where necessary:

  a. for the named person to take part in and be identified in the competition (Yes/No)

  b. any entrant over 18 at the date of this competition should sign this entry form

  c. for photographic/video records to be taken and used for Rotary International in Great

      Britain and Ireland (Rotary GB&I) publicity purposes in printed, electronic and on-line formats

     (Yes/No)

  d. In signing this form the parent/guardian/carer gives permission for contact by Rotary GB&I,

      District and Club Public Relations Officers for public relations purposes (Yes/No)                                

Not agreeing to c and d above does not preclude the individual from entering the competition

This form can be used for all stages of the competition. Tick box to indicate the stage for this entry