The English-Speaking Union National Public Speaking Championship
Theme: "Unity, to be real, must stand the severest strain without breaking"- Mahatma Gandhi
by Itır Beğen
The English-Speaking Union National Championship took place on March 12th, 2025, featuring prepared speech heats as part of the competition. Participants competed for a place in the final round following a structured evaluation process. Jacqueline Einer, Director of Sabancı University School of Languages, served as the Head of the Judging Panel, and Kassandra Robertson and Kenneth Mark Fine served as adjudicators.
The theme for the prepared speech round was Mahatma Gandhi’s quote on unity. Each heat included approximately 4 speakers and each speaker delivered a 5-minute speech. After each session, the adjudicators reviewed their individual scores, discussed their assessments, and agreed on the participants moving forward to the final round.
The Final Round: In the final round, participants were given a set of topics and had two minutes to prepare an impromptu speech. After the impromptu round, participants presented their prepared speeches once again for a final evaluation.
The results were as follows:
1st Place: Yağmur Avcıoğlu – ENKA Schools
2nd Place: Ceylin Günaydın – ODTÜ GV Özel Mersin Okulları
3rd Place: Duru Yonar – Çevre College
The first-place winner, Yağmur Avcıoğlu, will represent Turkiye in the English-Speaking Union International Public Speaking Competition in May 2025 in London, the U.K.
