JEDDAH — In an effort to provide an ideal platform for its club winners to compete with each other in a friendly environment, the Area 35 of Division K conducted its annual contest, which was held recently at Village Restaurant here. Toastmasters along with contest officials and contestants gathered in the morning of a Friday to witness speaking skills of its club winners who hail from different clubs under the Area 35. Area 35 Director Assain Illikkal welcomed the audience. In his address, Illikkal expressed his deep gratitude to all contest officials and role players. "In Toastmasters, contests are not an opportunity for competition but it's an opportunity for learning," said Illikkal. He also added "Without your continued support, this annual area contest cannot materialize." The colorful banner parade of different clubs that come under the umbrella of Area 35 added to the gaiety of the occasion. President and vice president of each club led the parade. DTM Glen Sibag was the master of ceremony. The limelight of the contest was the International speech contest in which Mohamed Riza of MYX Toastmasters club won the first prize. His speech was juxtaposed with surreal situations that garnered the acclaim and applause of the audience. While Ahmed Yousef Abba of MYX and Zahir Hussain of Jeddah Tamil Toastmasters Club won second and third prizes respectively. Seeni Ali led the show whereas DTM Abdulla Filimban was the chief Judge for this category. Humorous speech contest champion Hamza Haddar of GOS club delivered his speech, cobbled with humor and punctuated by pauses, generated intermittent laughter from the audience. Mohammed Safa of JTTM got second place and Mohammed Riza was adjudged as third place winner. Samia Aqeel Khan was the contest master while DTM Saifuddeen performed the role of chief judge. In the Table Topics segment, Najim Hasim whose loquacious nature enabled him to easily answer the question posed by the contest master bagging the first place while Hamza Haddar and Ahmed Yousef Abba got second and third places respectively. The contest held under the leadership of Dr. Kavitha OM and a panel of judges were supervised by chief judge Mohammed Hafsa. Zahir Hussain of Jeddah Tamil Toastmasters Club won the first place in the speech evaluation segment. Hamza Haddar and Mohammed Riza won second and third places respectively. The evaluation contest was conducted by Sameer Kunnan in which Ashraf Ponnani delivered a target speech paving the way for contestants to evaluate the speech before the audience. Ibrahim Maricar was the chief judge. The winners were given colorful trophies and role players were granted certificates of appreciation. The first and second place winners are qualified to compete in the next level of contest which will be held under the auspices of Division K of District 79 to be held on March 24 at Trident Hotel in Jeddah. The contest chair Bala Subramanian officially opened the meeting. Some senior Toastmasters members delivered motivational messages at the event. Area 35 comprises four Toastmasters clubs: MYX, Jeddah Tamil, Galaxy of Stars (GOS) and Al Farnia Toastmasters Club. Area 35 Director proposed a vote of thanks and members posed for a group photo heralding the end of the event.
