By Chaniru Senhas (Web Content Team)
2022: the year in which the slowly emerging Gavel Club of Trinity College Kandy debuted the first rendition of the All-Island Intra-School Prepared Speech Competition, ICEBREAKER.
Two years forward, the Gavel Club rose to fame once again, with the second rendition of this public speaking spectacle; ICEBREAKER ‘24, this time an Inter-School Competition. The College Gavel Club worked tirelessly over a period of 3 months to organize this grand event, which was to be held in 3 phases. Their main source of motivation? Their mission? To provide a platform for talented gavelliers Island-wide to perform and showcase their public speaking talents to a wider audience, whilst promoting friendly competition.
Registration for the competition opened on the 9th of August. Amazingly, ICEBREAKER’24 saw a total of over 130 signatures of talented youngsters from around the nation, across both the Junior and Senior Categories. Following the closure of registration, the preliminary round commenced on the 26th of August. For this round, contestants were required to submit a video of their speech, over the course of 2 weeks.
Later, a panel of judges led by the Chief Judge, T.M Saman Walisinghe from the DOWELS Toastmasters Club, worked effortlessly, carefully examining each speech to select the Semi-finalists of ICEBREAKER’24 out of a pool of many wonderful speeches, each unique in their character and style.
Contestants eagerly and patiently awaited the results of chosen semi finalists. Finally, on the 25th of September, their hunger to be on stage at this prestigious event was appeased. The Semi-finalists of both categories were officially announced. 16 contestants were selected from each category to represent their schools at the Semi-final round of ICEBREAKER’24, which was held online via Zoom on the 13th of October. Here, during 3 hours of intense competition, the panel of judges once again met with the crucial task of selecting 8 gavelliers who would advance to the finals from each category.
Finally, 8 lucky contestants, were given the opportunity to represent their schools at the Grand Finale of ICEBREAKER’24. This event, a major milestone for the Gavel Club of Trinity College, was held on the 20th of October at the College Main Hall. DTM Ravi Uduwela, an award winning public speaker and an alumnus of Trinity College, graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Once more, the judges, including the Chief Judge TM Saman, experienced hardship in selecting 3 winners from each category. The grand event came to a close as the following winners from each category were announced:
Junior Category
1st Place – GV Kevan Perera – Royal College Gavel Club
2nd Place – GV Nikini Thilakaratne – Musaeus College Gavel Club
3rd Place – GV Amasha Dissanayake – Hillwood College Gavel Club
Senior Category
1st Place – GV Hamdha Fazir
2nd Place – GV Chithuli De Silva – Musaeus College Gavel Club
3rd Place – GV Shahlah Mariam Shamil
The Trinity College community wishes to extend their gratitude towards the Committee of the College Gavel Club for their dedication and hard work in organizing ICEBREAKER’24. A huge thank you extends to the Teahcer-in-Charge of the Gavel Club, Mrs. Thilanka Niyangoda, without whom none of the achievements of the club would’ve been possible. This grand event marks a valuable milestone for the Gavel Club, and it is with great enthusiasm that they will await the third rendition of ICEBREAKER.
