King's Year 11 student Te Atarau Cassidy was overall winner of the Pei Te Hurinui Jones section at the Otago and Southland Maori speech competition in Invercargill last week.

King's High School's only competitor and the winner of last year's Junior section Te Atarau Cassidy did it again this year in the Senior section by the smallest of margins. 

In the prepared speech, a rote learned speech in te reo Māori that lasted 11 minutes, he placed 2nd to the speaker from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti, Maia Rakete-Gray, a He Waka Kōtuia member. 

In the tene, the impromptu speech, Te Atarau placed 1st, one ahead of Maia. In the event of a draw such as this, the weighting for the tene supersedes the prepared speech, meaning the trophy for the overall winner of the Pei Te Hurinui Jones section will remain at the Cassidy household where it has been since it's inception 7 years ago.

The Māori speech competition took place in Invercargill on the 16th and 17th of June. 

To view the speeches follow the link: https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/.../manu-korero-live-stream-2022/

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/oratory-skills-put-test