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What is the Young Orator of the Year Competition?
Gresham College runs an annual oracy competition for state school students in Year 12 (England and Wales), S5 (Scotland) and Year 13 (Northern Ireland) to promote the art of communicating complex information in a clear, concise and compelling way. Students are asked to submit a five-minute, recorded presentation on a given topic.
Why Enter?
The competition:
- supports the development of oracy skills
- helps students with UCAS applications and job interviews
- inspires students to study an EPQ (Extended Project Qualification)
- promotes a deeper understanding of their chosen topic
- introduces students to the inspiring research of world-class academics
- provides an opportunity to enhance their presenting skills
Finalists are invited to attend a half-day, confidence-building and presentation skills workshop, before presenting in person at the grand final a few weeks later. Both workshop and final are held in London with travel costs covered by the College.
Everyone who is a finalist receives a small prize. There are three further awards for the best presentations:
- Gold: £1000 for the winner, and £500 to their school
- Silver: £700 to the winner, £300 to their school
- Bronze: £500 to the winner, £200 to their school
The 2025 Competition
Entrants to the 2025 Competition were asked to record a five-minute presentation, answering one of six questions:
- Pick an historical figure whose influence, story or achievements you feel have been either overvalued or undervalued. Argue why this should be redressed
- Aside from social media, what in your view is the most important positive – or negative – invention of the 21st century, and why?
- How much is too much wealth?
- Aside from English and Maths, which subject(s) should be compulsory at school and why?
- Which book should we all read and why? (can be fiction or non-fiction)
- How do you think the evolution of social media platforms has impacted (either negatively or positively) the way you communicate, build relationships, and express your identity?
The final took place in London in July. The overall winner of the Gold Award was Cassidy Chapman, of Bishop Challoner Catholic College, Birmingham, who argued for the inclusion of modern languages as a compulsory subject in schools.
Winner Cassidy Chapman
Previous Competitions
The theme for our first competition in 2023 was the environment and sustainability. Joint winners of the top Gold Award were: Yemisi Oguntimirin from Southend High School For Girls and Yassin Azeb from George Spencer Academy who spoke about the greatest positive change they expected to see in their lifetime, and who is responsible for getting us to net zero respectively. Read more
Last year we broadened the topics to include music, law, AI, science and more. The overall winner of the Gold Award was Nikhil Banerjee, of Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet who impressed the judges with an exploration of the ethics of genome editing to eradicate genetic diseases. Read more
More information:
- Competition Frequently Asked Questions
- Competition Terms & Conditions
- If you have any other questions, please email: schools@gresham.ac.uk
Top Tips for Presentations
Some more tips and video examples can be downloaded here