Academy public speakers praised

The annual speaking competition, organised by the Ulster Women’s Unionist Council was hosted by Mrs Dobson and was held in the Senate Chamber at Parliament Buildings, Stormont.

Edgar Graham LLB BL was an Ulster Unionist member of the Northern Ireland Assembly who was murdered in 1983.

Commenting following the competition Mrs Dobson said: “Every year the standard of entrants to this prestigious competition gets better and better; this year was no exception. “We can all be extremely proud of the twenty one young students from schools across Northern Ireland who performed excellently, the winners including most promising speaker and those picked out to be highly commended.

“I would especially like to mention the local students who travelled from Banbridge Academy - Susanna Cartmill who spoke to us about homelessness in Northern Ireland and Kate Murphy who spoke on the reform of drug laws in the UK.

“Every year this competition looks to the past to honour Edgar Graham’s memory.”