Hawke's Bay student gears up for Race Unity Speech final

Karamu High School student Ondre Hapuku-Lambert took the top award at the National Semi-Finals of the Race Unity Speech Awards. Photo / Supplied

A Hawke's Bay student has taken a step closer to taking the top honour at the Race Unity Speech Awards after winning the national semi-finals.

Karamu High School student Ondre Hapuku-Lambert beat six of the top Year 12 and 13 students from around the country.

Race Unity Speech Awards Hawke's Bay co-ordinator Margot Macphail said it was a hard-won battle - the speeches were all thought-provoking, challenging, moving and rich with ideas of ways forward.

"There were well-crafted speeches, personal stories delivered as if we were sitting together sharing," she said.

"There were moments of passion, enthusiasm, strategy. There were poetic narratives, whakatauki delivered in song-like Te Reo."

Hapuku-Lambert, head boy of Karamu, won the first heat and during his speech called everyone to "accept, respect and embrace diversity" in reference to the range of peoples of varying religions, languages and cultures for whom Aotearoa is home.

"We are the ones that give racism life in Aotearoa, therefore, we are also the ones that hold the power to eradicate it in Aotearoa.

"Learning from past racial movements in NZ, I see there are three important things we need to eradicate racism in our motu [country]: education, courage and unity."

Owing to Covid-19, the speech awards this year are all managed online using Zoom and streamed live.

This created the new challenge of delivering a speech to a blank computer screen.

"There is no audience response, no indications of how you are doing, no people to connect with," Macphail said.

"It's like speaking to space."

The national finals take place on Sunday, when the top six young speakers will speak their minds on how to improve race relations.

Journalist and TV presenter Miriama Kamo is the MC for the event and, being a former speech competitor, she knows how the speakers are feeling.

"It's not easy to get up and share ideas on such a crucial topic – race unity in Aotearoa."