Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition


The Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition is an annual competition in impromptu public speaking between representatives of each of the Great Public Schools and Combined Associated Schools in New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1935, in honour of Lawrence Campbell, a famous teacher of elocution in various schools in Sydney, in the early twentieth century. Between 2006 and 2013, in all but one year, the competition was won by a student in year 11. At the 2015 World University Debating Championships in Malaysia, three of the eight speakers in the Grand Final were former Lawrence Campbell winners – a testament to the quality of the Lawrence Campbell competition.

Format

The Lawrence Campbell Oratory is widely regarded as the most prestigious, and difficult of the New South Wales Public Speaking Competitions. Each school is represented by one speaker. Each speaker is required to give a speech of eight minutes length of one of three topics given to him or her 15 minutes beforehand. In this competition, the emphasis is on oratory, the art of speech, and so the manner of delivery counts at least equally with the subject matter. The emphasis is on giving a speech that combines humour with pathos, dramatic elements with more conversational moments, serious commentary with light-hearted asides, quotations drawn from a variety of sources, but all around a common thread based on the chosen topic, and showing the style of the candidate. Accordingly, the style of speech is very different from many other public speaking competitions in which candidates research and prepare speeches of their own in advance, often on questions of current affairs or public policy. With only fifteen minutes to prepare and without the aid of books or references, the content of the speech will test the candidates' general knowledge and ingenuity.

Participating schools

Each school is represented by one speaker. Saint Ignatius’ College has the most distinguished history, with twenty-two winning candidates in the competition's history. In recent years, Sydney Grammar, Newington College and Barker College have been the most successful schools. Waverley College and The Armidale School have never fielded a winning candidate.

Topics

Because of the emphasis on oratory, the topics usually admit of wide latitude for the candidates to be creative. Often, quotations from literature, public figures, and popular culture are chosen as topics, along with proverbs or even single words. Past topics include:
The Lawrence Campbell oratory competition has many distinguished previous winners, particularly in the areas of law, politics, and the arts. Famous past winners include:
The only people to have won the competition on two occasions are:
There have been many controversies in the history of the competition. These usually arise out of allegations of plagiarism and the use of prepared material in the speech.
Often, the candidate is given the benefit of any doubt, if only because candidates train intensively for the competition and must necessarily think of themes, quotations, and one-liners that may emerge in the speech the candidate later gives at the competition. However, the wholesale repetition of prepared material is strongly discouraged, and with enough proof, a winner may be stripped of the title if wholesale preparation is shown.

Previous winners and runners-up

YearWinnerSchoolRunner-upSchoolThird placeSchool-
1935RF HughesSt Ignatius' College-----
1936DF CummingsSt. Ignatius' College-----
1937J D E Bedford Shore-----
1938WB Pritchard Shore-----
1939RW Bowie Sydney Grammar-----
1940RW Bowie Sydney Grammar-----
1941FA Jensen Sydney Grammar-----
1942Not held-----
1943AC GouldSt Ignatius' College-----
1944P ClyneSydney Boys High-----
1945AE Melville Shore-----
1946HH Jamieson Shore-----
1947AM Gallagher
W Glen-Doepel		St Joseph's
Sydney Boys High aeq		-----
1948B BeveridgeSydney Boys High-----
1949AD Robb
AD Dingle		Sydney Boys High
Knox aeq		-----
1950GJ WoodburneSydney Boys High-----
1951DH Lance Sydney Grammar-----
1952JM Bennett Shore-----
1953A. Murray GleesonSt Joseph's-----
1954M Halstead St Aloysius'-----
1955A. Murray GleesonSt Joseph's-----
1956JP HamiltonSydney Boys High-----
1957LD WaddyKing's-----
1958Mungo MacCallumCranbrook-----
1959AG WhealySt Ignatius' College-----
1960BP JonesSt Ignatius' College-----
1961C. Wayne Hudson Newington-----
1962Gerard C WindsorSt Ignatius' College-----
1963Nick F GreinerSt Ignatius' College-----
1964Clifton R HoebenSt Ignatius' College-----
1965CG McDonaldSt. Ignatius' College-----
1966Nick P EnrightSt Ignatius' College-----
1967JS EyersSt Ignatius' College-----
1968PA BoyleSt Ignatius' College-----
1969WJ KavanaghSt Ignatius' College-----
1970L Olson Sydney Grammar-----
1971JD ScahillSt Ignatius' College-----
1972Malcolm B Turnbull Sydney Grammar-----
1973P Green Newington-----
1974AC ByrnesSt Ignatius' College-----
1975JJ McInernySt Ignatius' College-----
1976RR Harper Sydney Grammar-----
1977S MarksSt Joseph's-----
1978DI McMahon Shore-----
1979Max Bonnell Trinity-----
1980CG ManganSt Joseph's-----
1981CM Kelly Sydney Grammar-----
1982Bruce MeagherSt Ignatius' College-----
1983Mark SwivelSydney Boys High-----
1984J Rice St Aloysius'-----
1985S Nixon Sydney Grammar-----
1986Adam Spencer St Aloysius'-----
1987A McKenna St Aloysius'----
1988Andrew O'KeefeSt Ignatius' College-----
1989B FranklinCranbrook-----
1990JN GreinerSt Ignatius' College-----
1991Max Wood Trinity-----
1992Angus Fitzsimons Knox-----
1993Charles Firth Sydney Grammar-----
1994Mark WalshSt Ignatius' College-----
1995David Yeo Sydney Grammar-----
1996Peter Phillips Newington-----
1997Gareth TilleySydney Boys High-----
1998Jeremy Bell TrinityJames Brown Knox---
1999Anthony JonesScots-----
2000Anthony JonesScots-----
2001Jeremy Raper Sydney Grammar-----
2002Jeremy Raper Sydney Grammar-----
2003Not awardedWinner voluntarily agreed to give up award after a similar speech had been given at a previous competition2nd and 3rd place also queried and so not awarded---
2004Mark Longhurst NewingtonKip WilliamsCranbrook---
2005Patrick Bateman Sydney GrammarHayden Guthrie Barker College---
2006Vikram Joshi Sydney GrammarNathaniel Ware Barker College---
2007Edward Miller NewingtonVikram Joshi Sydney Grammar---
2008Joseph Ware Barker CollegeWilliam HarrisScotsSam Molloy Sydney Grammar-
2009Joseph Ware Barker CollegeConor BatemanKing'sDaniel Farinha St Aloysius'-
2010James Monaghan Sydney GrammarDaniel Farinha St Aloysius'Jack Price Barker College-
2011Bo Seo Barker CollegeMichael Rees NewingtonJames Monaghan Sydney Grammar-
2012Ed Minack ShoreBo Seo Barker CollegeHarry MaherSt Joseph's College-
2013Robbie Ferguson KnoxEd Minack ShoreManish Poologasundram Trinity-
2014Tushaar GargSydney Boys HighRobbie Ferguson KnoxJoshua WoollerScots
2015Alex Connolly TrinityJake Jerogin KnoxSam Wolfe Sydney Grammar-
2016James Elhindi St Aloysius'William Solomon Barker CollegeZachary AugustScots
2017Joe BonicScotsDaniel Yim Sydney GrammarCharlie HoffmanSt Ignatius' College-
2018Jack IssaSt Joseph's CollegeSebastian BrahamSt Ignatius' CollegeJustin LaiSydney Boys High-
2019Sebastian BrahamSt Ignatius' CollegeAman MohamedSydney Boys HighJinyoung KimKing's-