The finals were held at Aurora College, in Invercargill, last week .
Alice spoke for four minutes about New Zealand's first female gold medallist, Yvette Williams.
"She was the first New Zealand woman to get a gold medal in the long jump.
She was from Dunedin, she had two no jumps and then on the third jump she got the world record," Alice said.
Alice's fascination with Williams was sparked during the Olympics last year, when she watched a documentary about her.
Alice put in a lot of hard work to reach the grand finals of the speech competition.
She was one of two people selected from her school to attend the round of competition that included Longford Intermediate, Menzies College and St Peter's College.
From that round, she was one of two people selected for the area finals, and from there she was one of three contestants selected to perform her speech at the grand finals.
"All of them [contestants] were really good, so I was a bit nervous about getting a place," Alice said.
Thomas Slee, of Blackmount School, won the year 7&8 section; second place went to Maria Burnett, of St John's Girls' School.
Mary Gaudion is a year 10 St Peter's College pupil doing work experience at The Ensign.
- Tuangane Mutangi and Mary Gaudionst
