YOUNGSTERS battled to make themselves heard at Hurlingham and Chelsea School as they fought it out for a coveted debating prize.

Six schools in Hammersmith and Fulham started out in the Jack Petchy 'Speaks Out' Challenge with 337 students wittled down to 14 finalists.

Run by the Speakers Trust charity, and taking place in 550 schools across London and Essex, the event encourages teenagers to tackle difficult issues and improve their public speaking skills and all entrants were trained in the art of communication before the competition.

The borough finalists took on each other at the school, in Peterborough Road, last Wednesday (1/12), battling for a place in the Gala Grand Final at Queen Elizabeth Hall, in Southbank, on July 8 next year.

Judges included director of BBC's The One Show Tom Keeling and Steve Ballinger, senior press officer for Amnesty International with borough mayor Adronie Alford handing out the prizes.

They decided that Jessica Moss-Gallant, 14, of Sacred Heart High School, was the winner with her speech on the impact of Coalition cuts on education entitled 'Our Big Society' who won a place in the final and an iPod touch.

Jessica said: "The whole experience has been fantastic from the training day to tonight. It was a fantastic help and support was there all the way through."

Runner-up was Dario Javanovic, 15, of Phoenix High School, in Shepherd's Bush, with his subject 'It's Not Fair' talking about the wage gap between celebrities and professionals like doctors and nurses.

Jessica Lopes, of Hurlingham and Chelsea School came third with her speech challenging people not to judge each other entitled 'We are not a Book'.

Mr Keeling said: "I love all the different ways that different speakers tackle similar subjects and, in some cases, having a firm grasp of issues that I don't understand."

Mr Ballinger said: "There was an incredibly high standard across the board. Some politicians and presenters of the future were in the hall."

Jessica will join 20,000 kids set to battle it out for £25,000 worth of prizes in the final. Visit www.speakoutchallenge.com for more information.