Victoria’s students produced another strong display at this year’s Greek Public Speaking Festival, which continues to build on its reputation as a vehicle encouraging the learning of Greek at school level.
The awards ceremony for the 7th Greek Public Speaking Festival, organised by the Modern Greek Teachers’ Association of Victoria (MGTAV), was held at the Dandenong Greek Orthodox Church Community Centre and Function Hall on Tuesday 26 August.
Over 140 Students from numerous schools participated in this year’s edition, competing in the categories of poetry/literature recitation (reading selected poems and texts from Greek writers) and public speaking (wherein students presented prepared speeches on specific topics).
The awards ceremony began with MGTAV Vice President Natasha Spanos and Secretary Ourania Papageorgiou, who acted as masters of ceremony, welcoming all those present on behalf of the Association.
Maria Triantafyllou, Acting Coordinator of Educational Affairs Australia and New Zealand, and Stefanos Karamoschos, President of the Greek Orthodox Community of Dandenong, then extended their greetings.
Triantafyllou gave a special welcome to the students, emphasising how important creativity is through language.
Following that was the presentation of the various winners across the various age groups in the two categories.
The event concluded with a video presentation by Dr. Stavroula Nikoloudis, Lecturer and Coordinator of the Greek Studies Program at La Trobe University, who spoke about the Greek language courses offered in tertiary education and encouraged students to continue learning Greek.
The event attracted a large number of students accompanied by their families, creating a warm atmosphere.
The MGTAV extended its congratulations to all the students, schools and attendees in their press release on their participation and support of the event, as well as to Dandenong for hosting this year’s awards ceremony.
Among the attendees at the event was Father Antonios Krinas, priest of St Panteleimon Church, and Tony Tsourdalakis, President of Intercommunities and Parishes Council of Victoria – Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.
