Suffolk Young Speaker of the Year Awards 2026
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The Suffolk Young Speaker of the Year Awards is a stand out event to platform the incredible things that children and young people in our county have to say.
After the great success of the event last year, we are thrilled to announce this year will be bigger and better, with more opportunities for young people to enter, offering heats in both Lowestoft and Ipswich in March, with a grand final at the University of Suffolk in April.
The competition is open to children and young people from ages 7-18, and up to 25 for young people with SEND.
Heats will take place in Ipswich and Lowestoft:
Tuesday 24th March, 1-5pm, The Hope Centre, 10 St Margaret's Street, IPSWICH, IP4 2AT
Thursday 26th March, 1-5pm, Hotel Victoria, Kirkley Cliff Road, LOWESTOFT, NR33 0BZ
Choose the Heat you would like to participate in. Each Heat will involve registration and a briefing, and then participants will deliver their speeches to an audience of their peers in their chosen speaking category. After a break while the judges deliberate young speakers will receive awards in their Heats, and find out who will be invited to deliver again at the Young Speaker of the Year finals evening in April at the University of Suffolk **date coming soon**
Your speech
You should plan your speech to be 3 minutes long, and choose one of the categories below to speak about. You can see the judging criteria here, which will give you some ideas how to prepare.
My Passion, Hobby or Sport
The government has announced that a key pillar of the national youth strategy will be "things to do", spending £850m on arts, drama, sport and venues for young people. Speakers might talk about how they love to spend time and how they think the government should spend that money. The youngest speakers might talk about their favourite things.
How the World Works
Children and young people will speak about how they feel about what’s happening in the world right now. They will suggest their ideas about how we can create a peaceful, compassionate world where people move beyond conflict while staying true to their values and beliefs. More mature speakers might speak about perceptions of politics and themes like democracy. Younger speakers might talk about how we can make sure people get on together and show care and respect.
The Future
What do children hope the future holds for them? How do they feel about technology and AI, and how the world is changing? Young people will talk about their hopes and dreams for their life, career and communities.
Education
What do young people should learn in school, do they think that the education system is still fit for purpose? What’s most important to them, and what subjects do they love? Children will set out which topics should be more prominent - and which they think we should get rid of!
My City of Culture (Ipswich heats only)
As part of the bid for Ipswich to become the City of Culture in 2029, young people are asked to set out how they feel about their town - what makes them proud of where they live? What should Ipswich be known for by the rest of the UK, and why does it deserve to be a city of culture?
How to enter
Entry costs £12. Young people can enter via their school, college or youth group, or can enter independently.
Young people in full time education can only attend accompanied by an appropriate adult - this might be a member of staff from school or college, a parent, carer or a volunteer or staff member from your club, church or voluntary organisation. This adult should register the participant and organise payment by invoice.
Young people 18 or over, or those being entered by parents can pay online on Eventbrite. A link to pay this way is in the registration form.
Places are confirmed upon payment, and the registration fee is non-refundable.
Full information for attendees and accompanying adults including agenda, risk assessments and detailed guidance for speakers will be sent out after registration.
For further information, see our FAQs
Suffolk Young Speaker of the Year Amber Williamson Brown
Yuva Deepu from Cliff Lane Primary spoke passionately about peace
Freya Ollason with Ormiston judge Ray Wang won the Social Action Award
The Suffolk Young Speaker of the Year event is a platform for children and young people to share their view of the world through the art and power of spoken word.
At ASSET Education, our purpose in its short form is to "nurture humanity". We believe this means developing children and young people's agency, giving them opportunities to articulate their hopes, dreams and demands for their future. As members of Ipswich Social Mobility Alliance (ISMA) we made a commitment in the current ISMA action plan to create more opportunities for children and young people across Suffolk - not just those in ASSET schools - to be heard and develop their public speaking skills.
This event was designed and is run by our ASSET Alumni - young people who have left ASSET primary schools to go on to secondary school and continue to work with us on community based Youth Social Action.
Interested in sponsoring the Suffolk Young Speaker of the Year Award? Find out how to here.
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