ELOQUENT Sidmouth school students excelled when they went head to head in a contest that tested their public speaking skills.

Sidmouth Herald: David Luxon and Jake Welsh were winners in the intermediate sectionDavid Luxon and Jake Welsh were winners in the intermediate section (Image: Archant)

A bumper crowd packed St John Hall to witness top presentations that left adjudicators struggling to select winners at The Rotary Club of Sidmouth’s annual Youth Speaks Competition last Thursday.

The junior section, for under 11s, saw five teams from Sidmouth Primary School battle it out speaking on a wide variety of subjects that included ‘Electricity – Our Greatest Achievement’, ‘Do we really have time for Facebook’, ‘Let’s lead the world and ban smoking’ and ‘I wish we didn’t need the RSPCA’.

The winning team of Finlay Johnson, Louis Stamp and Josh Roberts spoke on ‘How can we increase organ donation-Opt in or out?’

In the intermediate section, for 11 to 13-year-olds, two teams from Sidmouth College went head to head speaking on ‘Ban Reality TV Shows’ and ‘Stop On-Line Shopping’.

The latter, with Harvey Pearce, Jake Welsh, David Luxon and stand-in chairperson Izzy Wright, came out the winner.

The triumphant teams from each section will now progress to the district finals that take place at St Luke’s Science and Sports College, in Exeter, on Saturday, March 2.

Adjudicators last Thursday were Tanya Rees, Christine Hardy and Robin Firth.