Alhamdulillah – this year’s Battle of the Speakers was very successful with high quality student presenters who adopted the personalities of famous people like Nelson Mandela, John F. Kennedy, Margaret Thatcher, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Imran Khan, Zaynab Farah, Gloria/Barbie, Greta Thunberg, David Goggin, Abraham Lincoln, Malcolm X, Mehdi Hasan, Julia Gillard, Dr Martin Luther King Jr., Muna el-Kurd, Angelina Jolie, Omar Suleiman and Donald Trump.
This year, an audition round was done before students were selected for the event. The level of interest and enthusiasm for this event was really great.
The assembled audience was treated to an array of speakers from Years 7 to 12 – both males and females – setting a high bar and providing inspiration and motivation to many aspiring students. Staff and students reported that they were amazed at the quality of student presenters and the way the event was organised by our English and Humanities Department.
The winners/runners up were as follows:
Year 7
- Winner: Mohaned Dao - John F Kennedy, Inaugural Address as the 35th President of the USA
- Runner Up: Iyaaz Khan - Donald Trump, Dept of Homeland Security 2017
Year 8
- Winner: Shafiqah A'Isha Baswedan - Dr Omar Suleiman, Reflections & Dua for Palestine
- Runner Up: Jannah Dacre - Margaret Thatcher, Britain Awake speech
Year 9
- Winner: Israa Baykara - Dr Martin Luther King Jr., ‘I have a dream’ speech
- Runner Up: Heba Alrubayi - Angelina Jolie, on Women’s Protection Act
Year 10
- Winner: Afra Shehzad - Zaynab Farah, on performance poetry
- Runner Up: Ammar Hamida - David Goggin, on change
Year 11/12
- Winner: Zahraa Ali - Gloria from the "Barbie" movie, on women empowerment
- Runner Up: Badis Sai - Malcolm X
Outstanding performances also came from the following students: Ayesha Iqbal, Zainab Moola, Namrah Siddiqui, Alvia Khan, Fatima Al Jassim, Amir Tinawi, Yasmin Al-Asali, Aisha Iqbal, Halimah Sheikh and Fatimah Muhammad.
We will, inShaAllah, come back for the third time next year, with even a bigger BATTLE of SPEAKERS CONTEST.