2023 BARCELONA

CULTIVATING COURAGE

2023 saw the second public speaking competition from 4Voices take place at CaixaForum in Barcelona on 26 March 2023 with the theme ‘Cultivating Courage’.

We received scores of entries from schools, not just in Catalonia but across Spain, and eventually whittled it down to a final 13 from 4th ESO and 1st Bachillerato. These exceptional youngsters shared with us how they had not only faced their fears but had gone on to embrace them and many had taken action to overcome them. What was even more inspiring was watching their empowering journey as youngsters with very little experience of public speaking to being able to present in front of a packed out audience.

4Voices couldn’t be prouder of our 13 finalists and while we firmly believe that all of them were winners the competition does award prizes so congratulations to:

FIRST
Audrey Nagel (The British School of Barcelona)
Risk: the only path to success

SECOND
Jerome Ow Hidalgo (St Peter’s School)
Find the courage, mankind’s greatest tool towards self improvement

THIRD
Lucas Juez Zúñiga (Cambridge School)
The king and the pawn are carved from the same tree

 

Lucas Juez Zúñiga, Audrey Nagel, Jerome Ow Hidalgo

 

 

Visit our YouTube channel to watch full versions of all the speeches

I was blown away by their articulate, mature, passionate, creative, funny and engaging speeches, and by what they have learned from their own, painful and traumatic life experiences. It was impossible for me to stay dry-eyed! The wisdom in the lessons they had learned was incredible for people so young.

Sharlene Halbert, Spectator

As part of her first prize, 16-year-old Audrey chatted to 4Voices co-founder and broadcaster Carrie Frais about what she learnt from taking part in the competition, growing up in Toronto, moving to Sitges (Spain) at 12 and her love of engineering (and Taylor Swift), all told via The Soundtrack to My Life. Here’s a snippet:

 

Speaking in public is one of the most important acts of courage there is. Standing alone, vulnerable and exposed but driven to be there by a passion to share your opinion, raise your voice and be an instrument of change in yourself and others! Public speaking is fun, it is life changing and it is an act of courage available to everyone. At 4Voices we are proud to provide the opportunity for these inspiring young people to change the world!

Cormac Walsh, 4Voices

Interested in sponsorship or collaborations?

Please contact us at info@4-voices.com

Where to begin! My overall experience with 4Voices was truly priceless. My confidence in many aspects of my life has reached a point I didn’t know was possible, this experience has definitely changed my life. Thank you 4Voices and my inspirational competitors. Even if this is something that seems too scary for you I recommend 100% you won’t regret it!

Lauren Weedle
4Voices Barcelona 2023
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Wonderful speeches ranging from the painful to the poetic to the profound in a beautiful setting in Montjuïc. I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday morning. Congrats Cormac Walsh and the 4Voices team.

Josh Gabel
Co-founder, Qustodio
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I found it was a great, fun and informative experience. I got to learn about skills I knew I would use in the future, all while sharing this journey with other peers that soon became friends.

Iva Comar
4Voices Barcelona 2023
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It was such an amazing opportunity. Having a space to learn and grow as a young person is essential, and this journey has allowed me to become a more eloquent communicator, not only in public speaking. Truly a life changing experience.

Audrey Nagel
4Voices Barcelona 2023
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It was very mindopening and from my experience, it has helped me realise that my thoughts matter and that I am also not alone in my fights.

Carla Gómez Molina
4Voices Barcelona 2023
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I feel really honoured for having the opportunity to have all this public speaking experience at such a young age. I really enjoyed sharing something that was so authentic to me while inspiring people and making them have a laugh.

Lucas Juez Zúñiga
4Voices Barcelona 2023
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It was wonderful, from the very first session with Cormac and Gabriella I knew that this public speaking competition was going to greatly influence the way I thought and also the way I communicated information to others. My coach was also really helpful in highlighting aspects of my speech that were really good or could be changed for something better. The tips and tricks he gave me really improved my speech and self-confidence!

Albert Pampalona Lisnenko
4Voices Barcelona 2023
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I just wanted to congratulate you all and thank you for a brilliant even with such fantastic, inspiring speakers. Amazing!

Faye Cazzaniga
Teacher, Saint George's School
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Bravo 4Voices team!!! What an incredible day that I will remember for a very long time. I was absolutely blown away by the cultivated courage truly demonstrated, the quality of delivery, the depth of opinion, the excellence of preparation that these 13 students displayed. 4Voices is as much about listening as it is about presenting, and I was honored to be a part of it.

Julie Verdugo
Director of Sustainability & Social Impact, Urban Outfitters
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Thank you so much, it was really good and interesting work and experience! I enjoyed it. For me it was first experience like that. I hope that in the future I will have more competitions like this. I've met many people who I worked with and they all are wonderful people! Thank you!

Maria Seliukova
4Voices Barcelona 2023
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At the end, they said that we are all winners, no matter how cliché it sounds. I completely agree. I think all of us felt that the process, the moments before and when we were on stage were truly all that mattered. Writing a speech made us look within ourselves deeper than we would otherwise, and for that, for growing as a person, it all made it an undeniably valuable experience.

Emma Ishikawa
4Voices Barcelona 2023
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It was a great experience. I learned a lot about how to prepare and deliver a speech to a large audience and overall developed a clealer understanding of how public speaking works.

Jerome Ow Hidalgo
4Voices Barcelona 2023
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My sincere congratulations on this year's edition. It was fabulous, professional and very well organised. We are looking forward to a new edition next year!

Carme Escorcia
Teacher, St Peter's School
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