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The outstanding ability to express her feelings and ideas verbally has won Yvette Leung On-heng of Diocesan Girls' School the South China Morning Post  Student Linguist of the Year Award.

The seventh former, who has won many trophies in speech competitions, speaks fluent English, Putonghua, French and Japanese.

Last September, she represented Hong Kong  at the Roy Morgan Plain English Speaking Championship held in Melbourne, Australia, and came second,  the best result ever for the SAR.

The competition was open to secondary school students around the world.

'Last year I took the title at the inter-school speech festival and  won the ticket to the competition in Australia.

'It was a great honour to represent Hong Kong at the  internationally renowned competi tion. There was stiff competition and  I was lucky to finish second,' she said.

On-heng prepared a speech on cultural differences for the competition.  'After that I was asked to give  a speech on my opinion about the Sydney Olympics.  It was really tough as I was only given four minutes to draft my speech,' she said.

Winning speech and writing competitions is nothing new to On-heng.  She was named Best Debater at the Hong Kong Standard Debate Competitions 2000.

She also won the senior division of the Teachers' Day Essay Competition and the Lions Club Essay Competition on Drugs.

Earlier on, she had taken the Ann Crozier Trophy in Poetry. She is also a three-time winner  of the HKSMS Trophy in Prose-  sight Reading and a winner of the Jaffe Cup in Reading and Commentary.

'On-heng  showed great maturity and sophistication during our conversation with her. She is also deeply concerned  about social issues,' said  Professor Evangeline Shiu-pang Almberg of the Department of Translation of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, one of the judges.

'On-heng  is very articulate and has a real gift in learning languages. She has demonstrated a high proficiency in not only English, but also Putonghua and French.

'But what impressed me  most was her intellectual capacity and academic insight in scrutinising  social issues, and, above all, her great empathy with people who are less fortunate than she is in our society,'  Professor Almberg said.

Another judge, Helen Kung Chan Wai-ping, senior curriculum development officer (English) of the Education Department, said: 'On-heng  is intelligent and knowledgable and takes nothing for granted.'

On-heng will be awarded a Citibank scholarship of $20,000, two British Airways return tickets to Manila, a Pilgrims educational programme in Britain   courtesy  of Venture Language Training Limited, one year's Netvigator Broadband Internet Access service and free admission to a  Hong Kong Arts Centre course.

Albert Lee Kwing-lok, a fifth- former from Ying Wa College, was first runner-up.  He can speak fluent English, Putonghua and Japanese.

According to Professor Almberg, he has a great aptitude for learning different languages and is eager to gain knowledge in different fields.

He will be awarded a Citibank scholarship of $5,000 and one- year's Netvigator Netteens Internet Access service.



Language talent and insight put Leung On- heng in the spotlight