Joanne Ng Sin-ting, a Form Six student from Heep Yunn School, will pit her public-speaking talent against the skills of some 60 young people from around the world in London next month.
Joanne, 17, booked her place after beating more than 900 local students in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong English Public Speaking Contest recently.
The SAR competition - now in its third year - was jointly organised by the Hongkong Federation of Youth Groups and the English-Speaking Union's Hong Kong committee, and was sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank.
It attracted a record 931 secondary school and university students aged between 16 and 20. Joanne clinched the championship after three rounds of tough competition spread over two months.
Ten students were selected for the final round, which was held on April 1 at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. They were required to make a five-minute speech on the theme, 'Mapping the global future'. The finalists were informed about the topic a week before the contest.
They also had to take part in a two-minute question and answer session. Two adjudicators asked each candidate a question related to the prepared speech and another one on an unrelated subject.
