We are thrilled to announce the results of our 1st Global Speech Competition, which took place in October 2020. One of our volunteer judges, Faatima Motala, shared her perspective on what drew her to our work and the highlights from the winning speeches:
“I had the honor of meeting Aunty Dian years ago through my mom, who is a good friend of hers. I was immediately taken by her, her cause, and her drive to provide the best of the best for the children under her care. Throughout the years, GiveLight’s work has only continued to impress me; the effort that everyone puts in to see its success is a beautiful thing to experience.
When Aunty Dian mentioned to me that she intended for Givelight to host an international speech competition, I knew it would be a wonderful opportunity for children all over the world to take part and show their talent! With regard to each individual speech, it was impressive to see the different levels of skills and understanding that each speaker showed.
I was especially moved by one student’s speech regarding the plight of the Uighur Muslims and why we too should be emotionally affected by their suffering. Most importantly, I observed that each and every student, particularly our winners, showed a desire to do something meaningful about the topic of their choice. They want to see change and to be the change. Each and every one of the entries we received was well thought out and moving! It has been an honor for the judges (myself included) to listen to the voices of each child that participated, and we hope and pray that we can continue to see success in our future competitions!”
-Faatima Motala
We send our heartfelt thanks to all who participated in the competition and to our dedicated team of interns: Ali Shaikh, Sana Amannullah, Summer Qureshi, Iman Brin, Zaynab Zaffar, Faaris Chaudry, and Haneefah Syed.
Congratulations to the top three winners who did such excellent work with both the context and delivery of their speeches. Here are the winners and their prizes:
1) First Place – Summer Qureshi, New Jersey. A gold medal and certificate of appreciation $200 prize and she donated $100 to Aceh home. Click to see her speech video – Click Here
2) Second Place -Zain Khan, Southern California A silver medal and certificate of appreciation $150 gift and she donated $ 75 to Bangladesh home. Click to see his speech video – Click Here
3) Third Place, Simra Mirza – Southern California A bronze medal and certificate of appreciation $100 prize, and she donated $50 to Morocco home. Click to see her speech video – Click Here
We wish them the best as they progress in their education. We know that they will do great things with their talents, God willing.
Special thanks to our partner The Dessert Moon Foundation for sponsoring the prizes. We are grateful to Averroes High School for helping us spread the word. Last but not least, a special thanks to the Institute of Knowledge (IOK) for getting their students to participate and for appointing Faatima Motala to be a judge representing their Debate Society.