COMPETITION IN PUBLIC SPEAKING AND ORATORY SKILLS AT THE FACULTY OF LAW IN NOVI SAD

The ninth competition in public speaking and oratory skills, titled "SPEAK, SO THAT I MAY SEE YOU” (a famous quote by Socrates), was held on Tuesday, November 20, 2018, in the study hall of the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad.

In accordance with our long-standing tradition, besides the speeches of our students from the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad, the audience also had the opportunity to hear the speeches prepared by high school graduates coming from Novi Sad gymnasiums, namely: Gymnasium “Jovan Jovanović Zmaj", Gymnasium "Isidora Sekulić", The Gymnasium of Sremski Karlovci and Computer Gymnasium “Smart” from Novi Sad.

The high school graduates competed in the free topic category, while the university students spoke on the topic: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts – which is a famous quote by Winston Churchill.

The jury consisted of five members: Prof. Marko Carić Ph.D., Dean of the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad and President of the Jury, Prof. Mirko Kulić Ph.D., Rector of the University Business Academy in Novi Sad, Ms. Gordana Đurđević Dimić, one of the leading actresses of the Serbian National Theater, Prof. Biljana Đurović Ph.D., an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade and Prof. Milorad Bejatović Ph.D., a Full Professor at the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad. After the contestants presented their speeches, the Jury decided that of all high school graduates the prize should go to Aleksandar Malešević from the "Laza Kostić" Gymnasium. On the other hand, the title of the best public speaker with the best oratory skills among the competing university students was awarded to the final-year student of the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad - Marko Vujaković. The winner in the high school graduates category won a trip to Milan for two people, while the winner in the category of university students won a 30% discount on the tuition fee for the current year at the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad.

Prof. Marko Carić, as President of the Jury, greeted all contestants and emphasized that they were all exceptional, but that only very subtle differences decided the winner. In the spirit of the competition theme, University Rector, prof. Mirko Kulić, emphasized that because of failure we should not lose enthusiasm, but rather take it as a short break before our future success. Prof. Milan Počuča, Vice Dean for Science, Quality and Development at the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad, emphasized that the Faculty supports and promotes young lawyers and young people in general who tackle the challenges of the new age with exceptional knowledge and oratory skills. In the final stage of the competition, Prof. Biljana Đurović addressed the contestants and gave them very useful expert suggestions on how to further improve their oratory skills. The creator and organizer of the traditional competition in public speaking and oratory skills, Assistant Professor Marijana Mladenov Ph.D., pointed out that the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad has been nurturing and cultivating oratory skills for years, but that this kind of competition requires special preparations with a focus on the freedom of speech, oratory skills and the beauty of the Serbian language.

While waiting for the next year’s competition, when we will be marking a jubilee of the 10 years since this competition in public speaking and oratory skills started, we would like to advise our students and future high school graduates to continuously work on their own development. We strongly recommend that they adopt the famous mottos of one of the former Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Sir Winston Churchill, and one of the most influential philosophers, Socrates, and to prepare for the next year’s challenge called "Speak, so that I may see you".