KARACHI, Feb 28: Mishka Murad of Lyceum School on Thursday evening won the annual public speaking competition.

The day-long contest on ‘Ecology and Economy’ was held in a local hotel, organized by the English Speaking Union of Pakistan (ESUP) in collaboration with the British Council.

As many 64 students representing 34 schools took part in the competition.

Mishka Murad, who secured the first position, got a cash prize of Rs4,000, a return ticket to London and a trophy.

Sheeza Sarfraz of the Mama Parsi School got second position with a cash prize of Rs2000, a return ticket to London and a trophy.

Mishka and Sheeza will represent Pakistan in the international contest to be held in London.

Salman Khan of Aga Khan University was declared third. He got a cash prize of Rs1,000 and a trophy.

The others who were among the top 10 and also got cash prizes of Rs 1,000 each were: Ali Asghar Mois, Mehwish Ejaz, Emad Siddiqui, Saira Adil, Moonish Hussain Hashmi, Asad Raza and Mohammad Ausaf Javed.

Charlie Walker, director of the British Council, managing director of the Oxford University Press, Ameena Saiyid, and the executive director of the Pakistan-American Cultural Centre, Anwar Mooraj, performed as judges.

Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights Shahida Jamil, who was the chief guest, distributed prizes to the winners and certificates to the participants.

In her speech, she congratulated the winners and said she hoped the first and second position holders, who will take part in the international speaking contest to be held later this year in London, would win that contest also.

The president of the ESUP, Byram Avari, praised the standard of the speeches delivered at the competition, which, he said, was very keenly contested.—APP