Contest for Youth Environmental Speaker set

In the interest of preserving and protecting the planet, a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) is hosting a competition to discover a young vibrant speaker and public advocate for its environmental platform.

Recover Guyana is a NGO registered in March 2022 that is geared towards helping vulnerable communities and families with children, to build by providing a window of opportunities in the most sustainable manner. Its focus is to help balance economic, environmental, and social needs, allowing prosperity for current and future generations, especially in remote communities in Guyana.

In a release yesterday, the NGO, Recover Guyana announced its search for Guyana’s next top youth environment speaker which will be done in collaboration with the Ministry of Education’s Project SHOUT which is a national secondary school environmental speech competition.

The aim of the search, it was explained, is a result of the organisation’s recognition of the necessity of getting the younger generations involved in the ‘green discussion’.

Those students interested in participating are asked to contact their head teacher or their regional education office. The organisation’s website is at www.recoverguyana.org and its email address is recoverguyana@gmail.com. It can be contacted on 649 0709.

According to the release, “Encouraging preservation and fostering conservation through awareness and free speech has and will always be the backbone towards raising a generation of individuals who will work towards protecting the planet and reversing careless damage.

Recover Guyana has seen this need and through its work with corporate Guyana and other key stakeholders continues to foster changes in the mindsets and activities of persons across the country in being more mindful of the environment and the effects that they can have on it.”

The competition which is in its initial phases has been open to submissions from secondary schools all across Guyana where a representative from each school can pen an essay that details what sustainable changes they would make to their schools if money was not an issue. The deadline for submission is April 28 and when all submissions have been received, the top 35 will be selected and become eligible to participate at the live speech competition on June 05, World Environment Day, at the Georgetown Princess Ramada’s Roraima Conference Room.

It was further explained that the format of the competition allows for the 35 students to speak on topics selected beforehand and judged. From this group, the top 10 will be selected to move into the next segment which will be an impromptu speech competition held right after. It is from this group, that the judges will declare the top national youth environment speaker. Cash and prizes totalling some $2 million, will be awarded to the top 10 speakers, the most influential speech, the most environmentally impactful speech, and best speaker in the competition, along with prizes for the top 3 overall winners. The school represented by the winning student will also be awarded a cash grant for use towards spearheading sustainable changes and additions to the school. Additionally, participating students will benefit from environmental awareness and public speaking training sessions.

So far the following entities have given their support to the campaign: Camex Restaurants Inc, Ultra Care Medical Centre Inc, the High Commission of India to Guyana, Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel, Caribbean Motor Spares, Professional Print and Designs, Shermol Cleaners Services, GTT, Trophy Stall, GUYOIL, Glo-See Media and Production Network Inc, Guyana Premier Consultancy, Republic Bank Limited, and Anthony Indar Photography.

Recover is encouraging submissions and urging schools to do so as soon as possible as the search for the Top National Youth Environment Speaker gets underway, the release added.