ON Tuesday last week, with year ten pupils Sacha Buckley and Jennifer Haines, I represented Hurworth School at the Darlington Schools' Public Speaking Competition, at Darlington College of Technology.

Sacha introduced the team and the topic, I conducted the main speech and Jennie gave the vote of thanks at the end.

We were drawn last to perform, which meant that we had a long wait while the other five schools took their turn ahead of us.

We got very nervous before we went on stage and I felt petrified - as did the rest of the team, judging by the inaudible ramblings they were muttering.

But once we began, the nerves went and everything clicked into place as I remembered my speech and felt pleased with our performances.

When we had finished and retired to the refreshment room, I felt relieved, but also anxious. Were we going to win anything?

Had we done the school proud?

There was an agonising 30-minute wait while the judges deliberated, and we then returned to the main room for the announcement of the results.

I felt that Carmel were the biggest threat to our success, and when they were announced as runners-up, we could not help but feel that we were in with a good chance of winning, even though we all tried to remain level-headed.

When they announced our school as the overall winners, I felt ecstatic.

We went up and collected our trophy to great applause, and when we had returned to our seats, I couldn't help but feel that this was the proudest moment of my life.

But the best was yet to come for me, because the judges declared me the best main speaker.

The feelings I had when I received my prize were indescribable.

As a team, we had done the school proud, and I personally had reached the high standards I had set myself.