Top speaker off to national speech finals

Paige Muggeridge talked her way to victory at the VA speech competition at Palmerston North RSA yesterday, where 13 students presented six-minute speeches on New Zealanders at war.

Girls were the winners on the day, taking the top four places.

Miss Muggeridge, a year 13 student at New Plymouth Girls' High School, spoke of the experiences of Vietnam War veterans, both in Asia and their return to New Zealand.

She took away $1000 prize money, an engraved RSA plaque, and youth membership to the RSA.

Her school also received $1000 and a military history book.

Miss Muggeridge will go on to compete in the national finals in Wellington on April 1, and the national winner will go to Gallipoli on the New Zealand delegation for Anzac commemorations.

- © Fairfax NZ News