Rostrum contributes to the welfare and personal growth of Australian Youth through the conduct of the annual Rostrum Voice of Youth Speaking Competition, which began in 1975.

Welcoming speech at Government House
Professor David de Kretzer
Welcome at Government House


2009 National Voice of Youth results

The competition is open to Secondary School Students and is conducted in Senior and Junior divisions. Contestants select a topic from a supplied list. Seniors speak for eight minutes and Juniors for six minutes. In the final rounds of the competition, contestants are required to give a three minute short-notice speech in addition to the prepared speech. Many schools conduct their own competitions to determine the students who will enter the Rostrum event.

The competition begins at Heat level in city and provincial regions in all States and the Australian Capital Territory (to which we refer as Zones), in March each year,and progresses to the National Final held late in July. Students compete for perpetual trophies which are held by the winners’ schools and personal trophies which are held by the winners.

The competition is funded by sponsors from Government and Business.  Various sponsors support the competition in each state with the national final being sponsored by Ansvar Insurance, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), and the Department of Family and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Rostrum members organise the competition nation-wide and are active in the roles of adjudicators and  timekeepers  They also chair the various meetings at which heats and finals are conducted.  Because of the high and increasing number of entries,   Rostrum seeks and receives assistance from many other community organisations in the conduct of the competition in those regions in which Rostrum does not have sufficient representation.

For further information, please refer to the Rostrum Voice Of Youth Convenor in your State by clicking on your state link:

• Queensland
• NSW
• Victoria
• Tasmania
• SA
• WA