Speech AWARDS TOPIC 2024:
Te Taura Tangata
The Rope of Unity
Speak your mind on race relations in Aotearoa
| When The 2024 Speech Awards, for year 11 to 13 students, will take place between Thursday 21 and Thursday 28 March. |
2024
Awards
Tohu Raukura ā-Motu – NZ Police National Champion’s Award
For the overall winner of the 2024 Race Unity Speech Awards.
Prize: $2000 – $1000 for the speaker, $1000 for their school
Raukura: feather plume, treasure. Recognising leadership, talent & achievement ā-Motu: national
Jessica Tupai
★
Jessica Tupai ★
St Mary's College, Wellington
Tohu Eke Panuku – Human Rights Commission Award for Impact
For a speaker providing an effective practical suggestion for ending racism and improving race relations in Aotearoa.
Prize: $500
Eke panuku: to hit home, win, gain victory, successfully overcome, to succeed, achieve, can be related to working through issues to achieve the appropriate solution.
Leo Mwape
★
Leo Mwape ★
Palmerston North Boys' High School
Tohu Ahurea Rau – Multicultural NZ Award for Diversity
For a speaker who fosters empathy and understanding of the cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity of Aotearoa.
Prize: $500
Rau: hundreds or many. Ahurea: culture – carries connotations of coming together.
Caleb Jenkins
★
Caleb Jenkins ★
Selwyn College, Auckland
Tohu Whetumatarau – Ministry for Ethnic Communities Award for Vision
For a speaker who helps us envision Aotearoa’s future as a multicultural society founded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Prize: $500
Whetumatarau: many-pointed star – carries connotations of being aspirational for the future, doing or achieving great things.
Tanya Moeono
★
Tanya Moeono ★
Otago Girls' High School, Dunedin
Tohu Auahatanga – Speech NZ Award for Delivery
For a speaker whose creative and engaging delivery captures the audience’s attention.
Prize: $500
Auaha: Creativity, to shape, create, form, fashion, innovate
Jessica Tupai
★
Jessica Tupai ★
St Mary's College, Wellington
Tohu Māramatanga – Baha’i Community Award for Insight
For a speaker who provides deep insights into how we can bring about the oneness of humanity in Aotearoa.
Prize: $500
Māramatanga: enlightenment, insight, understanding, light, meaning, significance, brainwave
Jessica Tupai
★
Jessica Tupai ★
St Mary's College, Wellington
Tohu Aumangea – Hedi Moani Memorial Award for Advocacy
For a speaker who shows us how to stand up for our rights and the rights of others.
Prize: $500
Aumangea: advocate, campaigner, champion, promoter, proponent, upholder, supporter
Tanyn Wood
★
Tanyn Wood ★
St Peter's School, Cambridge
Tohu Manaakitanga – the Manukau Institute of Technology Award for Manaakitanga
For a speaker who demonstrates manaakitanga through ngakau (compassion) and aroha (empathy) in overcoming prejudice and building bonds of kotahitanga (unity).
Prize: $500
Manaakitanga: a broad Māori concept about the process of showing respect, generosity and caring for people.
Ansh Dhot
★
Ansh Dhot ★
Tauranga Girls' College
Tohu Manukura i te Reo – Māori Language Commission Award for te Reo Māori
For the speaker who uses te reo Māori most eloquently and effectively in their speech.
Prize: $500
Manukura: person held in high esteem, leader in council, leader.
Rewi Te Kani-Nankivell
★
Rewi Te Kani-Nankivell ★
Campion College, Gisborne
RACE UNITY
SPEECH AWARDS
The Race Unity Speech Awards were initiated by the New Zealand Bahá’í Community in 2001 in support of Race Relations Day (21 March).
The speech topic this year is Te Taura Tangata – The Rope of Unity. We are wonderfully diverse, yet there is only one race: the human race. This is not just a biological fact. The wellbeing and progress of all parts of humanity are inextricably linked, like the fingers of one hand. Conflict holds back the progress of our species; cooperation and reciprocity are the true basis of human civilisation. Mutual support and cooperation is needed, not just among different groups of people, but between the individual, the community, and the institutions of society. In this vision of the human race, everyone has their own role to play in the eradication of racial prejudice and injustice, and the establishment of true unity.
For 23 years the Race Unity Speech Awards have opened the way for students to share their vision for race unity, and for 23 years the youth of Aotearoa have taken up this challenge with eloquence and courage. So, what will you do to move the waka of humanity forward towards race unity?
RACE UNITY
HUI
Race Unity Hui are run in conjunction with the Speech Awards to give all young people an opportunity to be heard on race relations issues.
Race Unity Hui are spaces where young people advance the conversation about race relations in Aotearoa. This year we’re inviting all young people aged 15-30 to deepen their understanding of race issues and speak their mindson how we can become more just and unified as a society.
Information for teachers
We’ve developed a pack of resources to help teachers support students interested in the Race Unity Speech Awards and Hui. These resources can also be used for any class or group of students interested in exploring contemporary race relations issues.
The Speech Awards provide an opportunity for students to develop the key competencies outlined in the curriculum:
Thinking skills – learning to use creative, critical, and meta-cognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences and ideas.
Managing self – self-motivation, a “can-do” attitude, and with students seeing themselves as capable learners.
Relating to others – the ability to listen actively, recognise different points of view, negotiate, and share ideas.
Participating and contributing – developing the capacity to contribute appropriately as a group member, to make connections with others in the group.
The Race Unity Hui is also a great opportunity for students to learn about race relations issues. In past years a number of teachers have brought whole classes of students to the Hui, with great benefits for the students and the others attending the Hui.
Participation in the Speech Awards and Hui can be used as the basis for assessments and classroom activities in a range of subject areas, such as English, te reo Māori and Social Studies.
