Rostrum contributes to the welfare and personal growth of Australian Youth through the conduct of the annual Rostrum Voice of Youth  Speaking Competition,  which began in 1975. 

The competition is open to Secondary School Students and is conducted in  Senior and Junior divisions.    Contestants select a topic from a list which is provided. Seniors speak for eight minutes and Juniors for six minutes.   In the final rounds of the competition, contestants are required to give a three minute short-notice speech,  in addition to the prepared speech.   Many schools conduct their own competitions to determine the students who will enter the Rostrum event.  

The competition begins at Heat level in city and provincial regions in all States and the Australian Capital Territory (to which we refer as Zones),  in March each year,   and progresses to the National Final held late in July.   Students compete for perpetual trophies which are held by the winners’ schools and personal trophies which are held by the winners.

The competition is funded by sponsors from Government and Business.  Various sponsors support the competition in each state with the national final being sponsored by Ansvar Insurance, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO),
and the Department of Family and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Rostrum members organise the competition nation-wide and are active in the roles of adjudicators and  timekeepers,  and chair the various meetings at which heats and finals are conducted.  Because of the high and increasing number of entries,   Rostrum seeks and receives  assistance from many other community organisations in the conduct of the competition in those regions in which Rostrum does not have sufficient representation.

For further information, please refer to the Rostrum Voice Of Youth Convenor in your State by clicking on your state link:

• Queensland
• NSW
• Victoria
• Tasmania
• SA
• WA

Alternatively, contact the Voice of Youth National Co-ordinator via this link.

For information specifically about the National Final of the Voice of Youth 2008,

in Sydney, just click on the link and send the Event Convenor a message.