THE Rotary Club of Grays Thurrock Youth Debate competition has once again taken place at Thurrock Council offices in Grays.

Nine teams from secondary schools from within the borough went head to head on a range of topics from 'Should the death penalty be legal', 'Zoos should be banned' and 'Should plastic be eradicated'.

This year the competition had changed slightly from the youth speaks competition run over previous years. The revised guidelines required a team of three students, one proposing the topic, the second opposing the topic and a chairperson to co-ordinate the team's delivery.

At the end of the evening the senior judge announced that the winners in the two classes came from Grays Convent School and they are pictured receiving their certificate from Rotary Club of Grays Thurrock's President Mrs Elaine Stephens and the Rotary District Youth Debate officer John Versey.

Rotarian Corin Whymark, the co-ordinator of the event said "this was a slightly different competition from previous year's, and I was delighted with the effort and high standards the students achieved.

Some students introduced a slightly different approach to the challenge set which took me by surprise, but it was very interesting as they presented their cases". The two winners will now progress to the next step in the competition which will be held in Chelmsford next year.

If readers would like to know more about this competition and others run by Rotary, visit www.graysthurrockrotary.org.uk/