Moree Lions Club held their Youth of the Year dinner on Thursday, October 19.

This year due to various reasons, there was only one person who entered this year’s competition – year 12 student Patrick Montgomery.

Sponsored by the National Australia Bank, the Lions Youth of the Year competition is designed to encourage, foster and develop leadership in conjunction with other citizenship qualities in young people aged 15 to 19 about to enter the fields of employment or higher education.

The national program, which has been running since 1964, encourages students interested in leadership to to take an active and constructive role in the community.

During the dinner in Moree, Patrick was interviewed by the three judges – National Australia Bank manager Linda Gallagher, Moree East Public School teacher Courtney Cork and Moree Chamber of Commerce president and local poet Murray Hartin.

He then presented his prepared speech, on a topic of his own choice – My Moree, which got the audience thinking about the potential and future of Moree.

The contest component finished with two impromptu questions – “If you had one day to do absolutely anything, what would it be?” and “What is your favourite funnies possession?”.

His effort was highly recognised by the judges.

As the selected canadiate, Patrick will now represent Moree as he progresses to the zone/regional level of competition in March 2018.