The event – held for the 22nd time – is a public speaking competition for young people in secondary education.

Teams from Caedmon School, Fyling Hall School and Whitby Community College as well as Bydales School, Marske and Freebrough College, Brotton took part at the Saxonville Hotel in Whitby.

The winners of the intermediate competition for years seven, eight and nine were from Fyling Hall and they called themselves the Bright Lights.

They comprised chairman Matthew Bennion, Sarah Taylor and Kate Lavery and their subject was “It is dangerous to ignore the effects of cyber-bullying”.

The runners-up from Caedmon – chairman Rosie Havelock, Florence Mercer and Jamie Cook – called themselves the Wombling Eco’s and chose to speak on “Travel is worth the consequence of global warming”.

The winners of the senior competition for year 10 and beyond were from Fyling Hall and called themselves the Frequent Fliers (Alex Corner, Nick Beaumont and Callum Gibson.)

They also chose to tackle the same topic as above.

The senior runners-up from Whitby Community College, William Brown, Devon Howard and Bethan Exelby, spoke on “The Human Rights Act too often defends the rights of the wrong people”.

The Chris Perry best speaker award, a silver cup donated to Rotary by Bill and Pat Perry awarded annually to the outstanding speaker on the night, went to Nick Beaumont. The adjudicators were John Burton, from Wellingborough and Rev Edmund Wheat of Sneaton Castle, Whitby.

The prizes were presented by Whitby mayor Steve Smith.