The annual ‘Qatar Talks’ 2023 was held on Friday at Raddison Blu Hotel which witnessed the emergence of another set of champion speakers of Qatar.
Gulf Times was the media sponsor of the contest.
In the Adult’s Inspirational speech segment, Rukhsana Khan claimed the champion title as she wove her articulate speech around the theme of accepting 'us as we are'. Her speech title was ‘Fruitless’ and she emphasised to 'quit comparing and be the best you'. The second place went to Fawad Kasu, for his speech “Newton’s Law to Life” who spoke about Newton’s 3 laws and shared his school day’s stories and talked about how all three laws applied in his life. The third place was won by Roshan Sukheja for the speech “Be an Ahmed, be a Fatima” who inspired everyone by sharing her real-life incident and how that incident changed her life.
The adult’s Humorous category winner was Balakrishna Karande who delivered a funny treatise on his matrimonial hunt “Marriages are made in Heaven”. He gave a humorous turn to his marriage day which even the audience could visualise and relate to. The second place winner was Sheikh Malik with the speech “Chinna Veedu” and shared a humorous account of how his life changed as the size of his house changed. Third place went to Sebastian Mascarenhas, for his speech titled “60 the new 40s” who shared a few incidents in his life and how his wife reacted to that.
The Youth speech contests this year brought students with innumerable talents. In the humorous speech contest, Achwin Ravi Kumar from Birla Public School was the champion speaker with a funny take on “Being messed up”. The second place went to Aadarsh Nair from Gems American Academy with the title “I love School” while Rumana Fathima Rizly from Bright Future International School won the third place with a catchy speech ‘What women want.”
In the Youth Inspirational speech contest, the champion’s trophy was claimed by Rania Ahmed Sheikh, from MES Indian School, with the speech title “Swing”. She swung the audience with her inspirational speech as she noted that failure is just another opportunity to pursue dreams. Divneet Kaur Sarin from Doha British School won the second with speech titled “A race we can win” as she talked about climate change and Qatar’s contribution to making the world more sustainable. The 3rd place went to Soraiya Omer from The Next Generation School, for her speech titled “Paving the way for a sustainable Tomorrow”. She talked about the environmental crisis and emphasised making sustainability a lifestyle.
The contests were launched in 2004, by the founder convener M I Farid. The Qatar Talks erstwhile known as ICC ONE Communication Championships has inspired more than 2,000 Qatar residents to explore their public speaking skills and has been received with much gusto throughout Qatar.