LONDON: A young Pakistani television presenter and communications and public relations expert has won a singular honour by representing her country for the first time on the panel of judges of highly prestigious annual public speaking competition organised by English Speaking Union.Sidra Iqbal is the first Pakistani to be represented at the panel of judges as an alumni in the 30 years history of the competition since it first took place in 1981.She was a part of a three-member panel at the two-day event held at the week end. ESU, an international forum of English speakers is currently chaired by Baron Hunt of Wirral , shadow minister for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reforms.Sidra is a past winner of the competition in 1999 and received her certificate from Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip in a ceremony held at the Buckingham Palace.Eighty two participants from all over the world representing forty five countries participated in the event this year. In the public speaking competition Ahmed Nawaz represented Pakistan and managed to reach up to semi finals.Sharing her overwhelming sense of pride for representing Pakistan on such a prestigious forum Sidra , said that this platform has a potential of setting a momentum of the lives of participants. As her participation and winning of the event opened new vistas and opportunities for her to get involved and lead various projects for mentoring , leadership and entrepreneurship counselling for youth within Pakistan and abroad.The participants of the competition were divided into eight groups forthe initial rounds and were judged by different panels of judges. Pakistani contestant Ahmed Nawaz spoke on Conservation on Natural Resources for Future Generation and was able to reach semi finals.
Ahmed Nawaz earned great applause for his arguments, confident and friendly style, and use of some very interesting examples from every day life.In his speech Ahmed said that man takes earth for granted because he thinks that earth was solely made for his benefits and abuse nature while regarding it as a commodity arguing that instead it should be regarded as a community to be treated with love and respect.The final was won by Jeon Wook Kang of South Korea . The year 2011 is the 30th anniversary of the ESU International Public Speaking Competition .It started in 1981 between Australia and England and Wales and has now expanded to over 45 countries.The contestants are all students who reach international competition after qualifying the competitions at the national level. Maximum two students can participate from each country. – APP
