Le Concours D'art Oratoire, a french speech competition, was held at Ecole Arthur Meighen School in Portage la Prairie

"It's presented by the Canadian Parents for French and we hold it annually for Grades 5-6 and 7-8," says Vicky Savoy french immersion teacher at EAMS. "The students compete and the gold winners get to compete at the provincial level at Université de Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg."

Grade 8 student Lilly Collier took the gold for the Grade 7 and 8 event for the first time. She's excited to take the top prize and be heading to Winnipeg.

Lily Collier poses with guest judge Vincent Drolet after being announced gold medallist. (Photo by Aaron Wilgosh)

"It's an annual thing and I'm kind of used to is because I've done it since Grade 5. There's a lot of work that goes into it because it's a lot of your mark and there's a lot of hype for it."

Grade 6 student Ranae Cabak won the gold in her second time competing.

Ranae Cabak poses with guest judge Jean Marc Nadeau, Portage's city manager. (Photo by Aaron Wilgosh)

"I'm really excited," says Cabak. "This is my second time participating and a lot went into it. I had to memorize my speech, study my cards, and keep repeating it over to myself until I had it down. I'm expecting the competition in Winnipeg to be big and exciting, I'm sure I'll be nervous but I'm going to try to take deep breaths and do the best I can."

Reegan Vanstone and Chanel Cabak, both Grade 8 students, took gold in the conversation category. Vanstone explains how she and her partner were able to get the gold.

Silver Medallists Hayley and Grace Adams (left) with gold medallists Chanel Cabak and Reegan Vanstone. (Photo by Aaron Wilgosh)

"We hung out a lot so we could get it done because we were a little bit behind but we worked really hard at it and it paid off."

"It's going to be different when we go to Winnipeg because it's the first year for the conversation category," says Cabak. "The rules may be a little different but it'll be really exciting."

The provincial event is May 6th in Winnipeg. Results can be found below.

Grades 5/6
Gold - Ranae Cabak
Silver - Christine Lucko
Bronze - Joss Hordeski

Grades 7/8
Gold - Lily Collier
Silver - Tanika Appah
Bronze - Jennifer Mills

Conversation 7/8
Gold - Reegan Vanstone and Chanel Cabak
Silver - Hayley and Grace Adams