The Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition is an annual competition in impromptu public speaking between representatives of each of the Great Public Schools (GPS) and Combined Associated Schools (CAS) in New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1935, in honour of Lawrence Campbell, a famous teacher of elocution in various schools in Sydney, in the early twentieth century. Between 2006 and 2013, in all but one year (2009), the competition was won by a student in year 11. At the 2015 World University Debating Championships in Malaysia, three of the eight speakers in the Grand Final (representing Sydney, Oxford, and Harvard) were former Lawrence Campbell winners – a testament to the quality of the Lawrence Campbell competition.

Format The Lawrence Campbell Oratory is widely regarded as the most prestigious, and difficult of the New South Wales Public Speaking Competitions. Each school is represented by one speaker. Each speaker is required to give a speech of eight minutes length of one of three topics given to him 15 minutes beforehand. In this competition, the emphasis is on oratory, the art of speech, and so the manner of delivery counts at least equally with the subject matter. The emphasis is on giving a speech that combines humour with pathos, dramatic elements with more conversational moments, serious commentary with light-hearted asides, quotations drawn from a variety of sources, but all around a common thread based on the chosen topic, and showing the style of the candidate. Accordingly, the style of speech is very different from many other public speaking competitions in which candidates research and prepare speeches of their own in advance, often on questions of current affairs or public policy. With only fifteen minutes to prepare and without the aid of books or references, the content of the speech will test the candidates' general knowledge and ingenuity.

Participating schools CrestSchoolLocationEnrollmentFoundedDenominationDay/BoardingSchool ColorsNumber of winsBarker CollegeHornsby27001890AnglicanDay & BoardingRed & Blue3Cranbrook SchoolBellevue Hill16001918AnglicanDay & BoardingRed, White & Blue2Knox Grammar SchoolWahroonga32001924Uniting ChurchDay & BoardingBlack & Blue3Newington CollegeStanmore20001863Uniting ChurchDay & BoardingBlack & White5St Aloysius' CollegeMilsons Point13001879Catholic(Jesuit)DayBlue & Gold6St Ignatius' CollegeRiverview15001880Catholic(Jesuit)Day & BoardingBlue & White23St Joseph's CollegeHunters Hill10001881Catholic(Marist Brothers) Day & BoardingCerise & Blue7Sydney Boys High SchoolMoore Park12001883N/ADayChocolate Brown &Sky Blue8Sydney Church of England Grammar SchoolNorth Sydney16001889AnglicanDay & BoardingNavy Blue & White7Sydney Grammar SchoolDarlinghurst19001854Non-denominationalDayBlack & Gold16The Armidale SchoolArmidale6001894AnglicanDay & BoardingNavy Blue & Straw0The King's SchoolParramatta21401831AnglicanDay & BoardingWhite & Sky Blue2The Scots CollegeBellevue Hill21001893PresbyterianDay & BoardingGold & Blue4Trinity Grammar SchoolSummer Hill22001913AnglicanDay & BoardingGreen, White & Grey4Waverley CollegeWaverley15001903CatholicDayRoyal Blue & Gold0

Each school is represented by one speaker. Saint Ignatius’ College has the most distinguished history, with twenty-two winning candidates in the competition's history. Waverley College and The Armidale School have never fielded a winning candidate.

Topics Because of the emphasis on oratory, the topics usually admit of wide latitude for the candidates to be creative. Often, quotations from literature, public figures, and popular culture are chosen as topics, along with proverbs or even single words. Past topics include: Assume a virtue if you have it not One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name I must follow them, for I am their leader He thinks too much – such men are dangerous Because it was there The devil can recite scripture for his purpose The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars I am Fate's lieutenant; I act under orders Couch Jumping Right as the world goes is only in issue between equals in power while the strong do as they will and the weak suffer as they must Chaos Often Breeds Life When Order Breeds Habit Look at my works, you mighty, and despair Two cheers for Democracy Blood will have Blood

Notable past winners The Lawrence Campbell oratory competition has many distinguished previous winners, particularly in the areas of law, politics, and the arts. Famous past winners include:

Nick Enright (Riverview, playwright) Charles Firth (Sydney Grammar, comedian and television personality from The Chaser team) Murray Gleeson (St. Joseph's, Chief Justice of Australia) Nick Greiner (Riverview, Premier of NSW) John Hamilton (Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW) Clifton Hoeben (Riverview, judge of the Supreme Court of NSW) Wayne Hudson (Newington, professor and visiting fellow at ANU) Mungo MacCallum (Cranbrook, journalist and member of the Wentworth squatocracy) Andrew O'Keefe (Riverview, comedian and television presenter) Adam Spencer (St. Aloysius', ABC Television and radio presenter) Malcolm Turnbull (Sydney Grammar, Prime Minister of Australia) Lloyd Waddy (monarchist, Judge of the Family Court) Anthony Whealy (Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW) Patrick Bateman (Sydney Grammar, Rhodes Scholar and Hakluyt partner) Bo Seo (Korean-Australian journalist)

The only people to have won the competition on two occasions are:

RW Bowie (Sydney Grammar – 1939, 1940) Murray Gleeson (St Joseph's – 1953, 1955) Anthony Jones (Scots – 1999, 2000) Jeremy Raper (Sydney Grammar – 2001, 2002) Joseph Ware (Barker College – 2008, 2009)

Controversies There have been many controversies in the history of the competition. These usually arise out of allegations of plagiarism and the use of prepared material in the speech.

Often, the candidate is given the benefit of any doubt, if only because candidates train intensively for the competition and must necessarily think of themes, quotations, and one-liners that may emerge in the speech the candidate later gives at the competition. However, the wholesale repetition of prepared material is strongly discouraged, and with enough proof, a winner may be stripped of the title if wholesale preparation is shown.

There has been criticism that the competition is exclusive to high school boys and that girls cannot enter.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-20/lawrence-campbell-oratory-dame-enid-lyons-oratory-competition/105293122

Previous winners and runners-up Year Winner School Runner-up School Third place School 1935 RF Hughes St Ignatius' College 1936 DF Cummings St. Ignatius' College 1937 J D E Bedford Shore 1938 WB Pritchard Shore 1939 RW Bowie Sydney Grammar 1940 RW Bowie Sydney Grammar 1941 FA Jensen Sydney Grammar 1942 Not held (Death of Lawrence Campbell) 1943 AC Gould St Ignatius' College 1944 P Clyne Sydney Boys High 1945 AE Melville Shore 1946 HH Jamieson Shore 1947 AM Gallagher W Glen-Doepel St Joseph's Sydney Boys High aeq 1948 B Beveridge Sydney Boys High 1949 AD Robb AD Dingle Sydney Boys High Knox aeq 1950 GJ Woodburne Sydney Boys High 1951 DH Lance Sydney Grammar 1952 JM Bennett Shore 1953 A. Murray GleesonSt Joseph's 1954 M Halstead St Aloysius' 1955 A. Murray GleesonSt Joseph's 1956 JP Hamilton Sydney Boys High 1957 LD Waddy King's 1958 Mungo MacCallumCranbrook 1959 AG Whealy St Ignatius' College 1960 BP Jones St Ignatius' College 1961 C. Wayne Hudson Newington 1962 Gerard C WindsorSt Ignatius' College 1963 Nick F GreinerSt Ignatius' College 1964 Clifton R HoebenSt Ignatius' College 1965 CG McDonald St. Ignatius' College 1966 Nick P EnrightSt Ignatius' College 1967 JS Eyers St Ignatius' College 1968 PA Boyle St Ignatius' College 1969 WJ Kavanagh St Ignatius' College 1970 L Olson Sydney Grammar 1971 JD Scahill St Ignatius' College 1972 Malcolm B Turnbull Sydney Grammar 1973 P Green Newington 1974 AC Byrnes St Ignatius' College 1975 JJ McInerny St Ignatius' College 1976 RR Harper Sydney Grammar 1977 S Marks St Joseph's 1978 DI McMahon Shore 1979 Max Bonnell Trinity 1980 CG Mangan St Joseph's 1981 CM Kelly Sydney Grammar 1982 Bruce Meagher St Ignatius' College 1983 Mark Swivel Sydney Boys High 1984 J Rice St Aloysius' 1985 S Nixon Sydney Grammar 1986 Adam Spencer St Aloysius' 1987 A McKenna St Aloysius' 1988 Andrew O'KeefeSt Ignatius' College 1989 B FranklinCranbrook 1990 JN Greiner St Ignatius' College 1991 Max Wood Trinity 1992 Angus Fitzsimons Knox 1993 Charles Firth Sydney Grammar 1994 Mark Walsh St Ignatius' College 1995 David Yeo Sydney Grammar 1996 Peter Phillips Newington 1997 Gareth Tilley Sydney Boys High 1998 Jeremy Bell Trinity James Brown Knox 1999 Anthony Jones Scots 2000 Anthony Jones Scots 2001 Jeremy Raper Sydney Grammar 2002 Jeremy Raper Sydney Grammar 2003 Not awarded Winner voluntarily agreed to give up award after a similar speech had been given at a previous competition 2nd and 3rd place also queried and so not awarded 2004 Mark Longhurst Newington Kip WilliamsCranbrook 2005 Patrick Bateman Sydney Grammar Hayden Guthrie Barker College 2006 Vikram Joshi Sydney Grammar Nathaniel Ware Barker College 2007 Edward Miller Newington Vikram Joshi Sydney Grammar 2008 Joseph Ware Barker College William Harris Scots Sam Molloy Sydney Grammar 2009 Joseph Ware Barker College Conor Bateman King's Daniel Farinha St Aloysius' 2010 James Monaghan Sydney Grammar Daniel Farinha St Aloysius' Jack Price Barker College 2011 Bo Seo Barker College Michael Rees Newington James Monaghan Sydney Grammar 2012 Ed Minack Shore Bo Seo Barker College Harry Maher St Joseph's College 2013 Robbie Ferguson Knox Ed Minack Shore Manish Poologasundram Trinity 2014 Tushaar Garg Sydney Boys High Robbie Ferguson Knox Joshua Wooller Scots 2015 Alex Connolly Trinity Jake Jerogin Knox Sam Wolfe Sydney Grammar2016James Elhindi St Aloysius'William Solomon Barker CollegeZachary AugustScots 2017 Joe Bonic Scots Daniel Yim Sydney Grammar Charlie Hoffman St Ignatius' College2018Jack IssaSt Joseph's CollegeSebastian BrahamSt Ignatius' CollegeJustin Lai Sydney Boys High2019Sebastian BrahamSt Ignatius' CollegeAman Mohamed Sydney Boys HighJinyoung KimKing's2020Finn McCredieShoreJivan Naganathan Sydney Boys HighJack Davies Jude Egerton-WarburtonSt Aloysius' St Ignatius' College2021Bernard LundSt Joseph's CollegeAidan WooSydney GrammarJivan Naganathan Sydney Boys High2022Marcus NguyenScotsMatthew DaviesSt Aloysius'William RyanSt Joseph's College2023Ethan ZhuKing'sEric Scholten Sydney Boys HighDaniel CarterNewington2024Isaac FordSt Ignatius' CollegeHugo SharkeySydney GrammarMurphy XiKing's2025Callum O’LoughlinSt Aloysius'James PeateWaverleyMurphy XiKing's2026Thanh Tran Sydney GrammarRyan Allen Sydney Boys HighHarry Tong Knox

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