Ottawa, June 17, 2022 — CANADIAN PARENTS FOR FRENCH is pleased to announce the national finalists of the 2022 French public speaking contest, Concours d’art oratoire. The annual, well-known competition, coordinated by CPF for more than 20 years, represents an opportunity for French second language high school students to showcase their French public speaking skills in one of five categories: Core French, Extended French, Late and Early French Immersion and Francophone.
As of last year, Concours d’art oratoire has moved to a virtual competition in which the top three winning students from their provincial or territorial competitions qualify to submit their original video speech to compete at the national level among top students from across Canada.
A total of 51 videos from students in seven provinces and territories met the national competition criteria. The students delivered outstanding speeches on a wide variety of topics including women’s rights, food insecurity, the Internet, eating disorders and other issues related to politics, culture and science.
CPF acknowledges the participation of a jury of 18 expert judges from 9 partner organizations, including, among others, the Embassy of France in Canada, l’Alliance française Ottawa, the City of Ottawa, the Translation Bureau, the Association of Colleges and Universities of the Canadian Francophonie, TFO and Experiences Canada, who evaluated the video submissions to reach the selection of 15 winning speeches from among some of Canada’s brightest bilingual students.
“We are always impressed with the quality and commitment of Concours d’art oratoire participants and this year was no exception. The video submissions are a great example of how we can innovate and create something new and meaningful in changing times. We congratulate each student for the work they did to prepare and follow through on this opportunity to learn a valuable life skill. Public speaking can be a powerful tool to use for purposes such as motivation, influence, persuasion, or simply entertainment. The skills these students demonstrated are remarkable and will certainly serve them well in the future, whatever career paths they may choose. Congratulations to all as you can proudly brag to be among Canada’s top FSL public speakers,” said Nicole Thibault, CPF National Executive Director.
The 15 winners receive a cash prize and are eligible for a scholarship from CPF’s partner post-secondary institutions: University of Ottawa (ON), Université Saint-Boniface (MB), Université de Moncton (NB), Université Sainte-Anne (NS) and Campus Saint-Jean – University of Alberta (AB).
New this year, the Centre de la francophonie des Amériques has offered a $500 cash prize to one participant, randomly selected from among all participants, to recognize students’ efforts to learn and use French.
All 51 participants will receive a certificate along with a gift bag.
To watch the winners’ videos, visit: https://cpf.ca/en/concours-dart-oratoire-2022/.
The 15 winners of the 2022 CPF National Concours d’art oratoire are:
Level 1 – Core French
First place: Steven Luo (Ontario)
Second place: Karine Adly (Ontario)
Third place: Rhea Gupta (Manitoba)
Level 2 – Core Extended/Enriched/Advanced French
First place: Victoria Mnatsakanyan (Ontario)
Second place: Anna Nevoit (Manitoba)
Third place: Charlie McNeil (Saskatchewan)
Level 3 – Late French Immersion
First place: Ashbani Kaur (Ontario)
Second place: Manvi Ghai (Saskatchewan)
Third place: Asem Khattab (Nova Scotia)
Level 4 – Early French Immersion
First place: Ozayr Raazi (Saskatchewan)
Second place: Amira Ahmad (British Columbia)
Third place: Rohan Mariash (Manitoba)
Level 5 – Francophone
First place: Darlène Tebeu (Manitoba)
Second place: Léonie Lado (Ontario)
Third place: Chloe Zhu (British Columbia)
The winner of the Centre de la francophonie des Amériques $500 randomly selected gift prize is: Jasmin Dean (Alberta).
###
Canadian Parents for French is a nationwide, research-informed, volunteer organization that represents 34,000 members across Canada and champions the opportunity to learn and use French for all those who call Canada home.
For more information, please contact:
Marcos Salaiza, National Manager, Communications and Government Relations
Tel: 613.235.1481 x222 Email: msalaiza@cpf.ca
