Six of Queenswood’s most accomplished public speakers competed for the coveted John Fry memorial trophy in the Clarissa Farr Theatre on Thursday 3 March.

We were extremely fortunate to be joined by David Burrowes MP (Enfield and Southgate), who acted as adjudicator, and Mrs Diana Fry, whose husband was the Chair of Governors at Queenswood from 1995-99.

Each competitor faced the daunting prospect of delivering a six-minute speech on a given subject, and answering two questions from the judges. The weighty topics ranged from the nuclear deterrent to ‘safe spaces’ in universities, via imposed democracy, gender equality, the #OscarsSoWhite debate and the genetic modification of embryos. All speakers researched their subject in forensic detail, and many chose to tackle their given topic from genuinely surprising angles.  

Everyone who attended agreed that the overall standard of performance was higher than ever. In particular, we were very impressed by the girls’ ability to think on their feet and to articulate well-crafted responses to the judges’ questions. Mr Burrowes offered plenty of praise, and some very helpful advice, to each of the competitors.

We would like to congratulate all the girls who took part – not just in the Final, but in the preliminary rounds also – and in particular we would like to commend the winner, Ellie Hadjisavvas (Year 10), the youngest winner in the eight-year history of this competition.

Ellie Hadjisavvas – John Fry Public Speaking Competition 2016 Winner