Next month, a team of local students will be jetting off to the debating equivalent of football's World Cup.
This year's World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships will be held in Lithuania, with the six members of Hong Kong's team selected at last month's Hong Kong Public Speaking Championships.
Students from all over the city gathered at South Island School to compete in the championships' four sections. These were designed to test the students' grasp of English, and their confidence in using the language in front of the judges and audience.
The six team members chosen, in ranking order, were: Benjamin So (Queen's College), Heather Pickerell (German Swiss International School), Griffith Cheng (La Salle College), Tiffany Chung (South Island School), Geoffrey Liew (Sha Tin College) and Sachin Srivastava (German Swiss International School).
The competition follows the rules of the World Championships, and the first round was persuasive speaking. Competitors had to deliver a speech nine to 13 minutes in length, using only one cue card for reference.
A wide variety of topics were chosen, with Benjamin delivering an impassioned speech on the tragedy of child soldiers. Tiffany tackled another shocking issue, human trafficking, pulling heartstrings with her emotive language and powerful delivery.