Conditions and Regulations

• There are two themes for schools to choose. They are ‘Sparking Curiosity for Self-betterment’ and ‘Sparking Curiosity across Cultures’. Schools must select their topics based on one of the themes and songs. This topic may be the same or different for Rounds 1 and 2. The stimulus is presented in the form of a song. There is no need to use the lyrics in the speech. It is advised to view suitable music videos which may help the students gain a greater understanding of the mood of the song.
   

‘Sparking Curiosity for Self-betterment’
How Far I’ll Go (Auli’I Cravalho)
A Million Dreams (The Greatest Showman Cast)
Own choice selection (to be sent to the NET Section prior to the Finals for acceptance)

‘Sparking Curiosity across Cultures’
Life is a Highway (Rascal Flatts)
Colors of the Wind (Judy Kuhn)
Own choice selection (to be sent to the NET Section prior to the Finals for acceptance)

• Teams must show evidence of research for their speeches. Reference should be made to the reading that teams completed to support their ideas (e.g. fiction, non-fiction or informational texts which were read).
• Resources used for their research must be cited in the presentation (e.g. slides in PDF format).
• Teachers are expected to encourage their students to research the topic as thoroughly as possible by reading and viewing relevant materials.

• The deadline for submission of entry forms is 18 November 2026.
• The briefing session will provide teachers with competition details and regulations. Schools entering the competition should send at least one teacher to attend the briefing session.
• There will be a workshop on teaching public speaking. If you have attended previously, there is no need to attend again unless you wish to. Please refer to the EDB Training Calendar System (TCS) for online application.
• There will be public speaking workshops, co-organised by the EDB and RTHK, for teachers and students. Priority will be given to schools participating in the competition. Please refer to the email which will be sent to schools in early December 2026 for details.
• Schools may request school support from the NET Section. We will offer different types of support, including consultation sessions and school-based teacher training workshops whenever appropriate.

• Primary and secondary schools may enter up to two teams in the finals. 
• When schools enter two teams, it is possible that each team will compete on a different day.
• The team can be made up of students from any year level or a combination of year levels.
• A student can only be entered in one team/entry.

• All teams must be comprised of 2 - 4 students.
• The speech must be 3 – 4 minutes.
• Small props are allowed if they significantly contribute to the speech.
• Teams should ensure they have a balanced performance i.e. if students decide to sing or include a short role-play, this should not take a significant amount of time nor take away from the message being conveyed.
• Students should present their speech with some slides in PDF format to accompany what they are saying. This should be done in the context of the group speech. The slides should be static. Non-copyright images are allowed if they significantly contribute to the speech. 
• To nurture students as ethical IT users, the AI-generated elements used in the presentation should be declared in the slides by explicitly noting the AI tool and the model deployed, and the date that the content was created.
  
  Reference format: Company. (Year). AI Name. [AI image generation model].
  E.g. Google. (2026). Gemini. Nano Banana 2.
   
• A title slide should be included at the beginning of the deck stating the name of the school, Team A or Team B and the names of the participating students.
• Cue cards are allowed with minimal words but students are strongly advised to be familiar with the material.
• A bell will be rung once to signal the beginning of the students’ speech.
• Teams must have a teacher or student to control the IT equipment. This team member will not be awarded a certificate.