A speech laying out the value of not being a bystander to racism and discrimination has won a Logan Park High School pupil the Otago Race Unity Speech Competition.
Grant McNaughton (17) emphasised the importance of speaking out about the issues.
He will travel to Auckland next month to compete in the national final of the Race Unity Speech Competition.
It was a successful event for Logan Park High School, with year 11 pupil George Sabonadiere placing second and St Hilda's Collegiate School year 13 pupil Maddie Guthrie placing third.
Grant was delighted with the result, but admitted it was adding to what was shaping up to be a busy year.
Alongside his NCEA Level 3 studies this year, he is also an Otago debating representative and national science representative.
He has been selected to attend an international science forum in the United Kingdom in July, where he will spend three weeks at the London International Youth Science Forum.
Grant will also have the opportunity to discover the excitement of fundamental research at CERN, in Geneva - one of the world's largest and most respected centres for scientific research, with more than 2500 scientists researching fundamental physics.
Grant said he was looking forward to the chance to take a look behind the scenes of the world's largest particle physics laboratory.
Last year, he won a Treasury Scholarship at the Sir Paul Callaghan National Eureka Science Symposium, and was invited to Wellington to discuss with senior government officials ways of improving New Zealand's living standards.
