Public Speaking Competition

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OUR SAAY 2023 South Australian Aboriginal Youth Public Speaking Competition

The OUR SAAY Public Speaking Competition encourages Aboriginal children and young people to raise their voices on important topics and matters in Aboriginal affairs.

Conditions of entry

All participants must be Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and be enrolled in an educational facility within South Australia.

Age categories

The competition has 3 categories:

  • Primary (for students in years 3 to 6)
  • Middle (for students in years 7 to 9)
  • Senior (for students in years 10 to 13).

Competition guidelines

Participants are encouraged to read the competition guidelines before entering.

Download the competition guidelines

How to apply

Entries for 2023 have closed.

Speech topics

Young people participating in the OUR SAAY competition must address one of the key questions relevant to their age bracket to speak about during the preliminary heats.

Questions are developed by the OUR SAAY committee and will be sent once student entry has been received.

Questions for the preliminary heats are general in nature. Questions for the finals will be based around the Commissioner’s findings in her recently released Youth Voices Report 2021. These include:

  • family
  • culture
  • racism
  • language
  • sports
  • Black Lives Matter
  • money
  • pets
  • country
  • social media.

Finals

The finals event will be held during NAIDOC week on Wednesday 5 July 2023 at Tandanya.

Finalists who have been successful in the regional or remote areas will be able to access travel assistance for the participant and a parent/guardian to attend the event.

Finalists will receive their questions prior to the finals. These will be shaped around the Commissioner’s Youth Voices report and the theme of NAIDOC 2023.

Prizes

The successful winners will receive the following prizes:

Primary (years 3-6): Winners will each receive a trophy, certificate and laptop.

Middle (years 7-9): Winners will each receive a trophy, certificate and laptop.

Senior (years 10-13): Winners will each receive a trophy, certificate and laptop.

All entrants who made the finals will receive a certificate of participation and gift certificate.

Contact

Megan Thredgold
commissioneracyp@sa.gov.au
08 8226 3353