The Plain English Speaking Award entry form

Applications open Tuesday 28 January 2025.
Applications close Friday 7 March 2025.

The Plain English Speaking Award is open to NSW government and non-government secondary schools. Each school can enter a maximum of two contestants. Contestants must be either Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia. Contestants must be between 15 and 18 years of age (inclusive) on 1 January 2025. If you have any questions about the competition, please don't hesitate to call the Speaking Competitions Officer on (02) 8512 1172.

Speaker names

Note that it's fine to enter without having selected the students who will be representing your school as yet. Most schools will enter and then run a process to decide which speaker(s) they will put forward for the competition, so it's fine to leave the 'Name of speaker' fields blank. We'll use the entry to start planning where we need local finals and then once you've chosen your speakers you can email through the names.

Entry fees

  • Government school student: $30.00 per student
  • Non-government school student: $60.00 per student (including GST)

Government schools will automatically be debited for this amount once the local finals are completed (please advise your school’s finance department that this will occur). Non-government schools will be invoiced after the local finals are completed. Please note that fees are due on entry and cannot be refunded even where students might subsequently withdraw.

School details

School name
Governments schools should select the name of their school from this list. You can either start typing the name and then select your school or just scroll through the options. Non-government schools should select 'Other...' and then enter the name and suburb of their school in the next window when it appears. Call (02) 8512 1171 if you need any help entering and we'll do it for you.

Speakers

Number of students

Hosting a final

Finals can be held in school halls, libraries or double rooms and generally run from 10.00am until 3.00pm. We'll do almost all of the organising for the event and provide funds for relief and catering. Hosting a final provides an excellent opportunity for your students to observe advanced public speaking. Can we contact you about hosting a local final?

Principal permissions

By submitting this form, I acknowledge I have permission from the school principal, and that my school will be charged the appropriate entry fee for this submission. The Arts Unit Privacy Policy