A TEAM of students from Birkenhead Sixth Form College has won the Wirral heat of a prestigious public speaking competition.

They faced students from students across the borough, as part of the 'Youth Speaks' contest.

Organised by the Rotary Club of Birkenhead, it also featured contestants from Birkenhead School, Wirral Grammar School and Woodchurch High School.

Birkenhead Sixth Form College, scooped the top prize in the senior competition, with students Brandon Chesworth, Katie Wells and Oliver Hilton focusing their presentation on the current and controversial subject of 'Post-truth Politics', touching on the topic of fake news.

They will now compete in the District Round of the Rotary Club’s contest in March, against teams from North Wales, Liverpool, Southport and west Cheshire.

This will be followed by the North West Regional Round and the Grand Final held in Telford in May.

Brandon Chesworth, key speaker for the winning team, said: "We were last up, so we were listening to the other teams and got pretty nervous because of the quality of their delivery – there were some really good performances.

"Winning has not sunk in yet really!

"I couldn't have asked for a better team though.

"With my teammates and teacher, Jane, I couldn't have been in better hands."

Head of the judging panel for Rotary Club of Birkenhead, Glyn Môn Hughes, said: "It was a tough competition with only a few marks between the teams but Birkenhead Sixth Form College's main speaker, Brandon, was very lively and they all knew the subject well, varying the pace of delivery and including facts, which they backed up with verification.

"The topic was controversial and extremely interesting."

Jane Cavanagh, Sixth form college politics teacher and organiser of the College's debate club, said: "I thought that both of our teams did brilliantly.

"It was a very tough field this year and I'm extremely proud of them all. Brandon was exceptional, especially in answering questions from the Rotarians.

"All of our speakers also managed to show their own individual personality rather than reading from a script."