Press release: UNA NZ Speech Award Winner announced

Press Release

For release: Monday 9 November 2020

United Nations Association of New Zealand Speech Award winner announced

The United Nations Association of New Zealand has held the Secondary School Speech Award for over thirty years. Previous winners have included Dr Diva Dhaya, young New Zealander of the year, Paula Tesiora, now Commissioner for Disabilities and Chris Bishop MP, previous finalists include current Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern.

The Topic for 2020 was: “Are the reasons for establishing the United Nations in 1945 still relevant today?”

Usually, regional finals are held and regional winners are then brought to Wellington for a national competition where they also get to participate in UNA NZ’s national conference and receive a tour of parliament. This year due to COVID-19 the speech awards were held online. 

We were pleased by the number of entries received despite this and are inspired by the charisma, resilience and engagement of young people who continued to participate. They reflect a bright future for New Zealand and its engagement with multilateralism. The ideas shared by the students have provided us with fresh perspectives on the relevance of the United Nations and how it is viewed by young people today. 

With this in mind, we are pleased to announce that following the judging process a runner up and a winner of the United Nations Association of New Zealand Speech Award for 2020 have been selected.

The runner up for the United Nations Association of New Zealand Speech award for 2020 is Demira Singh from St Cuthbert’s College her speech can be viewed here. 

The winner of the United Nations Association of New Zealand Speech Award for 2020 is Desmond McBride from Fraser High School. Desmond’s winning speech can be viewed here. 

ENDS

For further information, please contact: UNA NZ National Office, [email protected]