We were honoured to attend the Speakers Trust Sussex Speak out Challenge Final this month and were blown away by the young people we met.

The Speakers Trust 'Speak out Challenge' encourages Year 10 students to reflect on what brings them joy and get vital oracy training on how to talk confidently about their passions.

We are supporting Speakers Trust to expand their work into five new regions across the UK by training 180 teachers to deliver the ‘Speak out Challenge’ programme to over 10,000 young people.

Our podcast host, Lily Mott, spoke with some of the young people who made it to the final who shared the stories and issues behind their speeches for our new episode of Power of Passion (produced by Be the change. Media Network). They also reflect on what they learned about themselves through the process, how public speaking challenged their confidence, and what it means to them to speak about something that genuinely matters to them.

Our Trustee, Ruth Pryce was pleased to be a judge at the final and she reflects on the power of hearing young people share their experiences in their own words for this special episode of our podcast. Lily also spoke with Victoria Costello and James Davies from Speakers Trust about the importance of giving young people the skills, confidence and platform to be heard.

It was a privilege to be at the final. Speakers Trust are building a stronger society in which the voices of all young people are heard and we're honoured to support them to achieve impact in a sustainable and scalable way.

Listen to the full episode on Power of Passion here