Year 12 Condobolin High School student Jonah Grimshaw will take to the podium tomorrow at the Parliament of NSW to represent his hometown of Condo in the finals of the 2025 Regional Public Speaking Competition.

One of only six students to compete, Jonah says despite being a bit nervous, his mum said he should be right as he’s a good talker.

“I was lucky enough to take out the regional round of Public Speaking at Orange where I spoke for six minutes about how climate change and natural disasters had impacted my town and the people in and around it,” said Jonah.

“We were given six subjects to speak about, which were all pretty broad, and this allowed us to speak about anything. The one I chose personally was ‘My hope for NSW’ and I was the only one who selected that topic.

“At the finals on Friday I will be speaking about Drought and how it has affected farmers in our area and how we produce our crops and all our products and how it has affected the economy of Condobolin.

“This subject has impacted so many people and really needs to be spoken about.

Jonah pictured at NSW Parliament [Image supplied]

Jonah is aiming to attend Macquarie University next year to do a double degree of Astrophysics and Stage Pro.

“These are two very different things, but I want to focus on Astrophysics and because of the intensity of it I need something to offset that and I love music, so it seemed like a good idea.

“Looking at numbers and figures all day would be mind blowing so this will allow me a chance to get away from that,” laughed Jonah.

Following Jonah’s six-minute speech, all entrants are then given a list of six topics and a span of fifteen minutes to come up with an Impromptu speech, which is then delivered to the judges and audience.

“Usually, these speech topics are incredibly broad, so I could be speaking about anything as long as it is loosely related to the subject topic.

According to Jonah the principal of Condobolin High School is ecstatic.

Jonah Grimshaw pictured at Parliament House [Image supplied]

“Our principal is an English teacher and is really excited for me as it’s my first time at public speaking so I have been incredibly lucky.

“Mum says I have the gift of the gab, and I don’t stop talking so I should be right, the hardest part for me will be stopping,” laughed Jonah.

“Whatever happens it is all good. For a bush kid to get there in the first place and to be one of six in the state is pretty good so I am just happy for the experience,” said Jonah.

The finals get underway at 11am tomorrow, Friday 5 December.