Writers Awards runner-up says participation is "rewarding and entertaining"
9 Sep 2009 David Vredevoogd, runner-up of the 2009 Young Writers Award is enthusiastic about the BBC Awards and recommends everyone to take part. He has written about his experiences of the contest itself, as well as his the Arvon writing course he attended as part of his prize.
BBC Awards on Dutch TV
13 Aug 2009 Dutch cable TV station Het Gesprek has broadcast a recording 
of the 2009 BBC Awards Final and an interview with winner Roos van Ees.
Important dates for 2010 Awards
18 Jun 2009 In order to help you plan, here are the most important dates of the 2010 BBC Awards.
| Mailing sent to schools and topics announced | Late Oct 09 |
| Closing date for registration for both competitions | 31 Jan 10 |
| Closing date Writing entries | 31 Jan 10 |
| Preliminary rounds Speaking south mid/north |
|
| Semi-finals Speaking | 20 Mar 10 |
| National Final | 10 Apr 10 |
| International Final (London) | 17-21 May 10 |
ESU Finalist receives award from Dutch animal rights party
7 June 2009 After her successful runners-up speech at the ESU International Final in London, Roos van Ees received an award from the Dutch "Partij voor de Dieren" (Party for the Animals) in recognition of the theme of her speech, urging people to eat less meat.
Party leader Marianne Thieme wrote about Roos' award on her Blog.
Read more
Winner of the 2009 BBC Public Speaking Awards runner-up in the International Public Speaking Competition
24 May 2009 Roos van Ees and Hannah Louise van Otterloo, the winner and runner-up of the BBC Public Speaking Awards 2009, were two of the 73 contestants from 44 countries from all over the world in the International Public Speaking Competition organised by the English-Speaking Union in London.
The theme of this year’s competition was ‘Regeneration and Renewal’. Roos’ speech was entitled ‘The Solution lies on our plate’. Hannah Louise's was ‘Rewire the Brain for Change’.
After having taken part in the preliminary rounds Roos was selected as one of the eight finalists that went through to the Grand Final, which was hosted by HSBC (the largest bank in the world) in their headquarters at Canary Wharf in London.
Other finalists came from Mongolia, Poland, Lithuania, Norway, New Zealand, Malaysia and Mauritius.
The judges selected Sebastian Ng Kuet Leong of Mauritius as winner and
Roos van Ees as runner-up. The prize for the best non-native speaker went to the representative of Malaysia and the audience prize to the New Zealand participant.
The Director-General of the English-Speaking Union mentioned in her introductory speech that over 40.000 students between 16 and 20 participated in the preliminary rounds held in 44 countries. The best speakers came to London. The competition was the last day of a four-day programme that included a visit to the Houses of Parliament, a trip to the theatre, workshops on debating and a mock Parliamentary Debate.
The organisation of the BBC Young Writers and Public Speaking Awards in the Netherlands is extremely proud that Roos van Ees has been declared the runner-up in a competition in which so many young people took part worldwide.
Our congratulations go to Roos, her teacher and all who assisted her in her preparations.
Photos
Read Roos' speech
Read Hannah's speech
Read Hannah's report of her trip to London
Proud father blogs about his daughter's success
1 Apr 2009 Dick van der Plas, proud father of the Young Writers' Audience Award winner Maaike van der Plas, has written about his daughter's success on his blog.
BBC Awards 2009 Winners
30 Mar 2009 After gaining top places in the exciting preliminary rounds and semi-finals of the Public Speaking Awards on 28 March our eight finalists competed for the first and second prize in the National Final. The National Final was held in the
Auditorium of the University of Amsterdam.
Roos van Ees of the Montessori Lyceum, The Hague was the winner and
Hannah Louise van Otterloo of the Rijnlands Lyceum, Wassenaar was runner-up.
The audience award was also awarded to Roos van Ees.
Both winners will take part in the International Public Speaking Competition of the English-Speaking Union in London from 18 to 22 May.
For the Young Writers Awards, eight essays were shortlisted. From these, the jury selected Victor van Werkhooven, a student at the Christelijk Gymnasium Utrecht as winner and David Vredevoogd of the Cals College, Nieuwegein as runner-up. Both will follow a residential summer course at one of the Arvon (the Foundation for Creative Writing) centres in Great Britain.
The audience award in this category went to Maaike van der Plas of the Rijnlands Lyceum, Oegstgeest.
The audience award winners received entertainment vouchers, donated by the Netherlands-England Society (GNE).
Flight-tickets for winners and runners-up of both competitions are donated by bmi
All finalists were presented with a copy of Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, kindly donated by Pearson Education Benelux.
TV coverage of BBC Awards
28 Mar 2009 Dutch TV station Het Gesprek (reaching 6.2 million homes with analogue connections) will broadcast a 45 minute compilation of the Finals of the Dutch BBC-GNE Awards in Amsterdam. On the preceding days, trailers made from intros of the 15 finalists will be shown repeatedly. The date of broadcast is yet to be determined.
Press coverage of BBC Awards
18 Mar 2009 This week, the Amersfoortse Courant published an interview with one of this year's Public Speaking Awards finalists. Martijn Stolze talks about his chances of success.
Invitation to National Final
6 Mar 2009 The National Final of the BBC Young Writers and Public Speaking Awards 2009 will take place at 1.30 pm on 28 March 2009 in Amsterdam, Auditorium of the University of Amsterdam, Singel 411 (corner Spui). Once again, the final will be presented by Aldith Hunkar, freelance journalist and trainer.
You may already have had a foretaste of the public speaking competition in one of the regional preliminary rounds. You may therefore be interested in watching the lively performances of the best speakers as well as in taking in the sparkling prose of the best young writers during the exciting National Final.
If you should wish to attend this great event either as a staunch supporter of one of the competitors or simply as a member of the audience, do not hesitate to apply for a ticket for we would love to see the auditorium filled to capacity. To apply for your free ticket, send us your name and address using our Contact form.
Invitation to Master Classes
6 Mar 2009 Coinciding with the National Final on March 28th in Amsterdam, the BBC Awards is organising two Master Classes, intended to help all participants in this years BBC Awards further develop their English language speaking and writing skills.
Cambridge Day in Amsterdam
3 Mar 2009 On April 22nd the Cambridge University Press is organizing the Cambridge Day in Amsterdam.
They would be delighted to welcome you to this all-day free event.
The organisation of the BBC Awards will be present with an information stand.
Ingrid de Beer, member of the Awards Working Committee, senior English language trainer at the James Boswell Institute – Utrecht University will present a workshop ‘Speaking with Confidence’.
Further details can be downloaded here
or found on the CUP website. You can register at the CUP website, or using the this response card.
New sponsor: AON
20 Feb 2009 The organising committee is delighted to announce that AON Nederland has
agreed to sponsor the 2009 Young Writers and Public Speaking Awards. AON
Nederland is a leading Risk management, employee benefits and insurance
advisor. Being part of an international group with its headquarters in the
U.S.A., AON Nederland recognises the importance of the English language in
today's international business world. The name AON is derived from the
Celtic language and means Unity.
Registration now closed
16 Feb 2009 After giving participants a little extra time to complete their entries, the registration for the 2009 Awards is now closed.
The organising committee is extremely pleased with the increase in participation, up 35% from last year.
Unilever sponsors Awards
24 Nov 2008 The organizing committee is extremely pleased to announce that Unilever Nederland Holdings B.V. has decided to sponsor the BBC Young Writers and Public Speaking Awards.
As an international Dutch/British concern, Unilever underlines the importance of these competitions for young people making their way in an ever more globally oriented society.
ESU Topic announced
19 Nov 2008 Apart from the five BBC Awards topics, entrants for the BBC Public Speaking Award may choose to speak on the international ESU topic, which this year is Regeneration and Renewal.
If participants choose this topic, then they will not need to prepare a new speech if they win the Dutch BBC Award and qualify for the international ESU competition in London.
The dates for the international ESU competition in London have been announced as 18-22 May 2009. The Dutch BBC Public Speaking Award winner and runner-up will travel to London to take part.
Young Writer enjoys his prizes
18 Nov 2008 In April 2008, Maarten Jansen won both the second prize and audience prize in the Young Writers Awards. As runner-up, he won a trip to one of the Arvon centres and he elected to attend a writing course at Moniack Mohr in August. Read about his trip here. Maarten also won a trip to London during the summer as audience prize winner. He has also written about this trip and you can read his report here.
Coverage of BBC Awards in VO-Raad newsletter
16 Nov 2008 One of our valued sponsors, VO-Raad, has dedicated a short article to the 2009 BBC Awards in its monthly newsletter.
Read the piece here.
New sponsors for BBC Awards
24 Oct 2008 The organising committee of the BBC Awards is extremely pleased that the University of Amsterdam and 
Amsterdam University College have decided to support the Awards. This support shows the mutual interest of these parties to closely cooperate in thiseducational project.
The National Final 2009 will be hosted by the University of Amsterdam in the Auditorium at het Spui.
Amsterdam University College, opening its doors in September 2009, will be present with an information stand.
2008 Winner writes about her prize trip to an Arvon writing course
24 Oct 2008 Young Writers Award winner of 2008, Kristel Schoonderwoerd travelled to Shropshire last summer for a week long writing course at the Arvon Foundation. Read her report here.
Support from the British Embassy and Dutch Ministry of Education
24
Oct 2008 The organisers of the BBC Awards 2009 are indebted to their partners and sponsors and also place great value on the support of the British Embassy in the Netherlands, which underlines the importance of the BBC Awards.
Read the letter from the Ambassador, who will be acting as chair of the jury at the National Final.
The Dutch Ministry of Education and several other organisations linked to the educational field have also added their support.
Read the letter from the Ministry to all English teachers as well as the statements given by the British Council, the European Platform for Education and the Association of English Language Teachers in the Netherlands (VLLT).
Winner and runner-up of the Netherlands BBC Awards give excellent presentations during the International Public Speaking Competition of the English-Speaking Union in London
17 May 2008 Our winner Stijn Depla
and the runner-up Akhila Jambagi were among a group of 58 participants
from 35 countries from every continent who took part in a varied
and interesting week organised by the ESU.
After workshops, debates, a visit to the House of Commons, a theatrical
performance, a musical and a VIP tour through the BBC TV Centre,
on Friday their week culminated in the competitions in which the
participants competed for the honour of being selected as best speakers
of the year.
The preliminary round in which the Dutch participants had been placed
comprised 15 candidates from the Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong,
India, the United States, England, China and Pakistan.
Both Stijn and Akhila delivered their presentations convincingly;
clearly they had taken to heart the advice they'd received at the
National Finals. They answered the often critical questions from
the public with verve and assurance.
The standard of almost all the speakers was very high.
Unfortunately the jury did not select our candidates for the Grand
Finale.
They did, however, select Stijn for an honourable mention.
In the Grand Finale which was held in the American Embassy in London,
the 8 finalists represented Romania, Thailand, Poland, Bulgaria,
Argentina, Lebanon, China and the Philippines.
Gian Karlo Dapul of the Philippines was the winner, Kanyanat Piticharoen
of Thailand was number 2, Dobri Dobrev of Bulgaria was the best
non-native speaker and Martin Racimo of Argentina received the public
prize.
Stijn and Akhila enjoyed their week, the many contacts which they
made and the experience gained among contemporaries, many of whom
had totally different cultural and political backgrounds.
> Read Akhila Jambagi's report of her London trip
Two Public Speaking Award 2008 participants' experiences
17 May 2008 Two participants from
the Rijnlands Lyceum in Oegstgeest write about their experiences
in the preliminary rounds and semi final of the Public Speaking
Awards 2008:
| Matthijs Maas | > Read report |
| Akhila Jambagi | > Read report |
Successful final BBC Awards 2008
14 Apr 2008 Last Saturday 12 April, the final of the BBC Young Writers and Public Speaking Awards 2008 was held in Utrecht, under charimanship of H.E. Lyn Parker, the British ambassador to the Netherlands.
Winner of the Public Speaking Awards was Stijn Depla from
the Christelijk Gymnasium in Utrecht. Stijn convinced the judges
and audience in five minutes that genetic modification is a blessing
for humanity. Second place was for Akhila Jambagi of the
Rijnlands Lyceum in Oegstgeest. Stijn and Akhila will travel to
London for a week in May to compete in the international competition
of the English-Speaking Union. The Audience Award for the BBC Public
Speaking Awards also went to Stijn Depla.
Summaries of the essays shortlisted for the BBC Young Writers Awards 2008 were read during the final. First place was for Kristel Schoonderwoerd of the Revius Lyceum in Doorn. Runner up was Maarten Jansen from Huizermaat in Huizen N.H. Maarten's creativity was also rewarded with the Audience Award for the BBC Young Writers Awards. Numbers 1 and 2 of the Young Writers Awards will get the opportunity to attend a Summer Course at one of the Arvon centres in Great Britain.
