Sabeera Caffoor receiving her award for winning…

Relationships, love, deadly mice and Edward Cullen were some of the subjects spoken about at the All Island Best Speaker Contest 2011. Organised by the Colombo Toastmasters Club, the 22nd annual event was held on Wednesday at the BMICH in which the five young finalists put their public speaking skills to the test.

Starting off the event was Arfath Saleem (21), a 2nd year student at SLIIT, whose chosen topic was ‘The Wall’. Relating how he was discouraged from being different at a tender age and how it almost sabotaged his dream of becoming a rock star during his teenage years, he echoed Pink Floyd’s anthem, asking the audience to pursue their passion and not be just “another brick in the wall”. “It was a very challenging competition,” said Arfath, adding “It was my dream to participate since the first time I saw the competition, three years ago. This year, I finally found the courage.”

Next up was Niles Perera (23), a 3rd year undergrad at the University of Moratuwa. Speaking about ‘The Special One’, he went on to say that there are special people in our lives whom we should cherish. But that was after he shared his dream to be the manager of a popular football team. Niles who battled with stage fright while growing up says that being a member of the university’s gavel club dispelled his fear and has shown him that he’s in fact skilled in public speaking. “I wanted to take part because of the exposure I got from the gavel club and I wanted to see where I stood in public speaking and if I was up to the challenge.”

Minoli Wijethunga, (19) an international relations student, addressed a controversial topic of making hard decisions regarding your loved ones. From putting a pet dog to sleep to euthanasia of a parent, she believes ending their suffering is more compassionate than selfishly allowing them to live in overwhelming pain. “The competition was extremely good and through the orientation programme we got to meet a lot of new people,” she added.

Third time’s the charm said, Gadjen Suryakumar as he spoke about his faulty relationships. Retelling comical events in his life regarding his relationships with people, he finally found one after a disastrous beginning. Having found his lost muse when he took up the challenge at the All Island Best Speaker Competition this year, he says, “I wanted to challenge myself. During the competition I met so many people from my past and all the contestants spoke on powerful topics.”

Lastly it was the turn of Sabira Caffoor (25) who works at Commercial Bank in human resources, and is also the president of the Smedley Toastmaster Club. She spoke on the topic ‘Dying to Live’ and urged the audience to live life fully, making every moment count.

Once the prepared speeches were wrapped up the finalists were put to the real test of thinking on their feet. Given 20 minutes to prepare each finalist had to come up with an impromptu speech for the topic ‘In the nick of time’.

Sabira Caffoor emerged the overall winner and took home the Bartleet Challenge trophy this year. Speaking about her achievement she says, “Winning the competition was fantastic. I just wanted to make it into the preliminary round, I didn’t think I would be able to go for the semi’s because of work commitments.” Her term as president reaching an end this year, she explained why she wanted to take part. “I’m the president and would encourage others to participate I felt like a hypocrite.

So this year I signed up and actually won.” Runner-up, Arfath, was thrilled he was awarded second place and says he owes it to his trainer and mentor Dhananjaya Hettiarachchi. Minoli Wijethunga came in third place with her variation from a controversial topic to much lighter impromptu speech romanticising about Edward Cullen.

The competition, from the inception, has been sponsored by the Bartleet Group with the intention of improving public speaking and encouraging Sri Lankans to improve their English speaking skills.