Swedish trip for speech writer Tara

A Sligo studnet has won a national speech writing competition.

Tara McLaughlin, a student from Sligo Grammar School and Edel Colgan from St Leo’s College Carlow have been announced as winners of the national ActionAid Speech Writing Competition 2020.

The competition is in its 6 th year and invites students from across the country to submit speeches discussing issues around international development, climate change and gender inequality.

The competition, which is traditionally held in the Royal Academy in Dublin, was held online this year with over 90 people tuning in from across the world to support the talented young people.

Out of 75 entrants from across the country, 10 were chosen to deliver their speech in front of a panel of well-known expert judges.

The aim of the Speech Writing competition is to promote engagement and increase awareness of international aid among the Irish public. This year’s competition focused on the topical issue of ‘Women’s Rights in a Changing Climate”.

The students discussed how climate change will only be solved through the inclusion and empowerment of women.

The two winning students stood out for their originality, depth of research and critical thinking and scooped first prize - a visit to ActionAid Sweden, accompanied by their teachers. There they will learn more about ActionAid’s work addressing climate change and inequalities across the globe Tara’s classmate and fellow student from the Grammar School, Genevieve Cox, also made the top ten finalists in Ireland, only to narrowly miss out on the day.