Hannah Dockerty (17) won the Dunedin section of the French speech competition recently, with a 6-minute talk on the Liberation of Le Quesnoy - an important World War 1 event which enhanced diplomatic relations between France and New Zealand.
Her speech was recorded for consideration, with the winners of the other regional competitions, for a trip to New Caledonia.
''New Caledonia would be great,'' she said, ''it would be really nice to be fully immersed in the French culture and language; to live it for a short time.''
Alliance Francaise de Dunedin president David Moir said an outstanding feature of the Dunedin Concours Oral was the continued success of pupils from James Hargest College, in Invercargill, which built on excellent 2013 results.
They gained first place in the year 13 regional concours, first and second in year 12, first in year 10 and second in year 11.
''This is a credit to the work of the pupils and their teacher, Christine Black,'' he said.
Speech results were. -Year 13: National, Hannah Dockerty (Otago Girls' High School) 1; regional, Richard Gayfer (James Hargest College) 1, Hannah Pearson (Columba College) 2, Holly Barclay (Columba) 3.
Year 12: Emily Moreton (James Hargest) 1, Alexandra Doyle-Franklin (James Hargest) 2, Jess Mason (Otago Girls') 3.
Year 11: Ava Straw (Logan Park High School) 1, Lesley den Toom (James Hargest) and Lili Sabonadiere (St Hilda's Collegiate School) equal 2. Year 10: Brandy Brown (James Hargest) 1, Kaila Jowsey (Otago Girls') 2, Ellena Khoo (Columba) 3.
Year 9: Ruby Franks (Otago Girls') 1, Yvie Finn-House (St Hilda's) 2, Celine Robertson (Queen's High School) 3.
