Every year, Stawell Lions Club, just like Lions clubs all over the world, organises a Youth of the Year competition.

Winning at this local level means that Josh now goes on to compete against other winners from Lions Zone 9, a zone that includes clubs such as Ararat, Lake Bolac, Skipton and Willaura.

If Josh were to progress right through, he would eventually compete at a State and National level.

The competition this year saw Josh compete against three other very good students, Casey Rickard, Kirsten Body and Jake Stainsby.

All four of these young people had an afternoon of gruelling interviews where such things as their general knowledge of local, national and international affairs was established.

Their involvement in community and school, their leadership skills and interpersonal skills were also taken into account. Later all students presented two impromptu speeches and a prepared speech.

The students were well supported by the staff of Stawell Secondary College and Ollie Bonollo, Sarah Tregoning and Millie Francis attended the Lions Club meeting along with the students.

Karen Howden-Clarnette and Peter Barham were tasked with the difficult job of judging the competitors.

The judging involved a solid afternoon of interviews and then an evening of public speaking events.

The highlight for members of the Lions Club was listening to the prepared speeches that each of the contestants presented.

Casey Rickard presented a very interesting talk on her experiences in a leadership course at Melbourne Uni, where unlike Stawell with its almost mono-cultural population, she experienced the multicultural richness of the city.

Jake Stainsby gave a well thought out speech on freedom of speech and some of its pitfalls, while Kirsten Body gave a passionate speech in defence of the rights of animals and the horrors of the fur industry.

Josh Pyke’s speech looked at the lack of educational opportunity that exists for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. All of the competitors presented their speeches very well and impressed the members of the Lions Club.

It was however Josh who scored the most points with the judges and he ultimately won both the public speaking and the overall award.