Joseph Amande receives his trophy from Dr R Seetharaman, CEO Doha Bank, in the presence of C K Krishnan, James John, Pavithra Philip and M I Farid.

The Grand Finale of the 12th ICC One Communication Championships 2015 was held recently at the Radisson Blu.
Organised by ICC One Toastmasters consistently for the past 12 years, the ICC One Communication Championships is a nationwide contest conducted to nurture public speaking talents. Contests are held in three categories – the ‘Schools & Gavels Club’ speech contest featuring contestants of age 12-18 years, the Humorous and International speech contests for participants of age 18 years and above. This year, over 100 participants competed in the preliminary rounds. Six finalists in each of the adult’s contests and nine in the junior’s contests showcased their speaking talents in the Grand Finale.
In the international Speech Contest category, Joseph Amande was crowned the Champion with his speech ‘Less is More’. He exhorted the audience to be minimalistic in life and focus on collecting experiences rather than material things. The 1st runner up was Deepak Shivankar with speech title ‘Your life is not for you’. He stressed on the need to acquire the best things in life because only prosperity can be shared, not poverty. The 2nd runner-up trophy went to Sameer Hassan Moosa with speech title ‘Tomorrow, I already know you will be brighter’.  He gave a touching account of how his father’s words had been a beacon of light in his life’s darkest moments and urged the audience to never ever lose hope. The Audience Popular Poll was won by Sameer Hassan Moosa. The other finalists were Sebastian Mascarenhas, Shanmugha Sundaram and Edgar Santos and the contest was chaired by Eman Mohamed Ismail.
The ‘Schools and Gavels Club’ contest had nine finalists this year. The Champion was Sumaya Adam Abdi from Shantiniketan Indian School, speaking on the topic ‘A moment can change everything’. She encouraged the audience to give importance to relationships because life can change in a split second. The 2nd place went to Mahnoor Shahid from Pakistan Education Centre, who spoke on ‘A rare smile’ and her message was that words of appreciation can make people smile. The third place winner was Reuben Suju Varghese from KEF Gavel Club with speech titled ‘The Race’. He said that in life, everyone runs the race but only the true champions go ahead and finish the race despite all odds. The audience popular pick was also Sumaya Adam Abdi. The other finalists were Aashiya Shaji, Fathima Jamal, Rohit Chari, Manahil Shawl, Salma Ahmed and Thea Paje and the contest was chaired by Suhanida Gani.
The Humorous Speech contest was conducted by contest chair Johnny Abou Zeid. The champion, Sebastian Mascarenhas, narrated hilarious stammering mishaps under the title ‘Free to Speak’. The second prize winner was Chandrasekhar Angadi. His speech ‘Love is painful’ comically described the battering he had to undergo during his courtship days. The third prize went to Sheik Kader, who humorously described his journey to Makkah in an old run down car under the topic ‘The thirsty radiator’. The Audience Popular Poll also was won by Sebastian Mascarenhas. The other contestants were Ashfaque Deshmukh, Singa Raju and Surendra Kumar.
The Master of Ceremonies for the event was Omar Fayyad and the Chief Judge was Gil Bangalan. The prizes were distributed by Chief Guest Dr R Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank, and dignitaries Krishnan C K, Head-Corporate & Commercial Banking at Doha Bank, and James Joseph, Assistant General Manager of Gulf Times.
The winners received trophies, gifts and cash awards. The audience enjoyed the complimentary Lucky Draw were 10 prizes were drawn.


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