Rotary International held its annual speech contest last week, naming Anna Martinez as the winner. Participants received certificates and prize money toward their education. Pictured from left are Rotary of Oroville’s Tao Elson, Gagneet Kular, Paulina Martinez Pureco, Aiden Berg, Anna Martinez, Gridley Rotary’s Ravi Aujla and Rotary President Efren Del Rio. Photo by Seti Long

GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - The Gridley Rotary Club hosted its annual Rotary Speech Contest, featuring four student speakers from Live Oak.

The contest is open to public high school and home-school students in grades nine through 12 in the area. This year, only Live Oak students submitted entries.

To protect the integrity of the contest, speakers were not introduced by name until after they completed their speeches. Each participant was limited to eight minutes.

Students addressed the theme “Unite for Good” from different perspectives. Some focused on teamwork, while others drew from personal experiences and interests to connect with the topic. Specific details of the speeches were not disclosed to maintain fairness for future rounds of competition.

Judges evaluated each speaker on delivery, originality and content. Each category included subcategories such as sense of humor, engagement of interest and logical development.

Anna Martinez won first place with a speech reflecting on observations from her first job. Aiden Berg placed second, Gagneet Kular took third and Pauling Martinez Pureco finished fourth.

Martinez will advance to the Rotary International Speech Contest Area Semifinals at a later date.