Reception for the 2024 Winners of the English-Speaking Union’s Writing and Speaking Competitions

English-Speaking Union President, Emeritus Professor Dr Caroline Hatcher, Vice President, Ms Kerry Davies, and of course Former President, Emeritus Professor Roland Sussex OAM; Vice-President of Scribblers, Mrs Inger Kelly; 2024 Writing and Speaking Competition winners and award recipients; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any First Nations people here this evening.

I warmly welcome you all to Fernberg tonight to celebrate the success of the 2024 winners of the English-Speaking Union’s Secondary School Public Speaking Competition and the Roly Sussex Short Story Competition.

With competitors drawn from secondary schools in three regions across our State, the Public Speaking Competition is now the most extensive event of its kind in Queensland. It is a major undertaking not only for the entrants and their families but also for their schools, the teachers who support them, and the ESU members, volunteers and supporters who work almost non-stop for six months to coordinate the three levels of competition, organise workshops, and adjudicate heats and finals.

It's a task that could easily qualify as the thirteenth labour of Hercules – but if organising the Public Speaking Competition is not enough after slaying the hydra and cleaning the Augean stables, Hercules could just add the Union’s other flagship event, the Roly Sussex Short Story Competition, which is open to all Australian citizens, wherever they live.

Both competitions are marvellous initiatives, and, on behalf of all Queenslanders, I thank everyone concerned for their sustained passion and commitment to celebrating the English language in this way.

Last year, a decade after the very first ‘Rolys’ were presented by my predecessor, The Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, a record number of 143 short stories was entered in the competition – 73 in the Open Division and 70 in the Secondary School Division.

With such a fantastic response, the two judging panels were kept very busy once entries closed in September, and I commend and thank them for their impartiality and consistency, and for the sheer hard work that they dedicated to the task.

The large number and high quality of entries in the ‘Rolys’ was echoed in the Public Speaking Competition, and I look forward to shortly presenting 2024 prizewinners across both competitions with your awards, and hearing about your experiences.

This reception every year gives me the opportunity as patron of the English-Speaking Union Queensland to acknowledge all that its Board, partner organisations, members, supporters and volunteers do to champion the language which has become the most eclectic, flexible and widely used on earth.

As Roly Sussex once memorably said in one of his radio broadcasts, English attracts and retains any passing fragment of language – like fly-paper!

I’ll leave you with that wonderful image, and once again extend my congratulations to each of the awardees, and my thanks to all of you for joining us this evening to celebrate their success.