Improved Speaker

To Anne Olsen must go the prize for the most improved speaker. Her delivery was vastly improved on last year, though she still has quite a few faults to correct. Unfortunately ill health this year prevented her from doing full Justice to herself and it was only three days before the contest that her speech was complete. Her treatment of Nehru was sympathetic and sincere She linked her subject with world problems in a way that gave her speech more meaning than many other speeches of the evening, and this is an aspect of her speech which could well be studied with profit by future Plunket Medal aspirants. I noticed the same approach in some of the other speeches but found it most pronounced in this one. She has a slight Speech impediment which might be overcome with training, but it has the unfortunate effect of blurring some of her words. She held her audience well, but her conclusion I considered a trifle abrupt. She will improve a great deal in the next year or two and with more time to prepare. I believe she has an excellent chance of winning the medal in the future.