A little over
nine months ago, District 201A Cabinet was dealing with the many and varied
items on a lengthy agenda, when quite unexpectedly, a dreamer awoke from his
slumbers, and in the midst of a weighty discussion suggested that the
District should organise a " Youth Quest " without any thought of raising
money. Such a crazy suggestion to a District Cabinet that had already
embarked upon a £12,000 Medical Research Fellowship Project certainly
called for some explanation, even though by the time the Meeting ended, no
member needed any convincing.
The scheme was
adopted, and even the wild dreamer did not visualise the end results.
Let's look at them..........
30
Clubs with High Schools in their areas wholeheartedly and voluntarily
supported the scheme.
Almost
200 finalists were selected from 3,000 students and were judged by 180
prominent non-Lion citizens ( Apart from school head teachers who made
the original selections ).
30
prestige banquets were held during a six month period, and were attended
by some 2,000 people.
500
single column inches (in full) of every valuable copy and photographs
about the project appeared in Brisbane Metropolitan Press, and 900
single column inches appeared in Country Press. In addition, the Quest
received continuous publicity per medium of Radio and television
Stations throughout the whole District, for the six months of the
projects operation.
The
ultimate Winner is right now in the United States of America,
undertaking a complete West to East and back tour, organised in
conjunction with American Lions Clubs in fifteen leading Cities and
Towns.
Yes, the "
Youth of the Year " Quest can truly be referred to as the success story of
District 201A. Never, to my personal knowledge, has any Lions project
received such tremendous publicity and acclaim.........from the Deputy
Premier of Queensland, from the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Civic and Education
leaders from all parts of the District. And not forgetting proud parents of
Queensland Finalists, who travelled up to 150 miles from places like Kyogle
and Kingaroy to attend the Grand Final Judging Banquet at Lennon's Brisbane.
The Project
Appealed
This was
indeed a Project that had real appeal for all sections of the community -
endorsed by the 320 people who attended the Final
Judging
Night, and who paid 2 guineas each to dine and drink 280 jugs of orange
cordial, and who drank in the speeches of the ten ultimate finalists. These
same people made their journeys home with hearts full of pride.....Proud not
only of the success of the Project, but also of the outstanding quality
shown by our young leaders of tomorrow.
The crowning
glory was the completely unsolicited, and unexpected Editorial letter of
praise that appeared on the front page of Queenslands leading daily
newspaper ( " The Courier Mail " ) the next day.
I am sure that
you must be impressed by the above.....not with my journalism, but with the
facts contained therein, but undoubtedly you are saying to yourselves " So
much for these comments by an over - enthusiastic District Governor ", "
What about the tremendous organisation and the great costs involved ", and "
How can we get sufficient Clubs to participate?".
In the hope
that next year at this time every District Governor will feel as proud as I
do at this moment, and that nine Clubs throughout the Multiple Districts in
Australia will be as elated as our own Toowoomba Club - who sponsored the
Winner, and that 330 Finalists would enjoy the experience enjoyed by our 30
Finalists, I will endeavour to set out the method of conducting the Quest
and try to convince all Club Members that this Project is for them.
Multiply 1,400
single column inches of valuable press space by nine, and you have 12,600
inches. Add to this nine times our Radio and
Television time secured and you have a Public Relations campaign the like of
which has never been achieved by any Service Organisation in Australia.
It may
surprise you to know that all of this can be achieved very simply. How? The
simple reply is that the Quest will capture the imagination of Club Members,
and every Publicity medium whose assistance you seek.
Method of
Operation
The
organisation of the Quest was basically carried out by a small committee at
District level, chaired by District Activities Chairman Syd McDonald, and
small committees at Club level.
A series of
circular letters outlined the uniform operation to be carried out by Clubs,
and apart from special letters to Clubs in answer to various queries,
nothing else was necessary at Club level. There was, however, considerable
organisation in connection with the Final Judging's.
Following
Cabinet decision, Circular No1 was dispatched setting out full details of
the Scheme and asking Clubs support. Details are as follows:
Object
of the scheme was to foster leadership qualities in youth competing
their senior or leaving standard years of high school. The youths
selected had to be under nineteen years of age on the date of the final
judging and had to be sitting for their Senior or Leaving Examinations
in that year.
Participating
Clubs were allocated High Schools (both State and private) in their
area, and asked to call personally on the Head Master of the allocated
schools outlining the Scheme and asking each Head Master to set up a
Committee of three to select three youths to represent their school.
Judging
points that were used at all levels of judging are as follows:-
|
Appearance, poise and dress |
12 |
|
Personality |
17 |
|
Leadership |
24 |
|
Academic Ability |
18 |
|
Sporting Ability |
9 |
|
General Knowledge |
8 |
|
Subtotal |
88 |
Public Speaking |
12 |
|
Final Summation to be agreed by the |
|
|
Judging Panel |
10 |
|
Total |
110 |
Each
participating Club was asked to appoint a panel of five leading citizens,
all non-Lions, to act as the Club Judging Panel.
The nominees
were pre-judged on all points except Public Speaking and in order that the
Club received some benefit from the Quest. They were asked to organise a
prestige banquet at which the Final Judging would be made, after each youth
had delivered a five minute address on a speech of his own choice. These
Banquets were staged from July to November, to suit individual Club
arrangements.
Our District
Public Relations Chairman - Geoff Turner and his predecessor - Arthur Emmett
arranged with the Editor In Chief of the " Courier Mail ", Brisbane to give
exclusive press support to the Scheme. As a result, photographs of all Club
Winners appeared from time to time, together with suitable editorials.
Clubs were
asked to make similar Public Relation arrangements in their own areas, using
local media.
The thirty
Club Winners had to assemble in Brisbane on the 2nd of December (after all
School Examinations were completed) and were treated to a conducted tour of
the Snowy River Hydro scheme, Canberra, Katoomba and Sydney.
A Brisbane
Lion ( a School Teacher by profession ) was selected to chaperone the boys.
Whilst in
Sydney, arrangements were made through District Governor Harvey Brown, for
the King Cross Club to host the lads during their stay there. Thanks to
wonderful support from Kings Cross Lions this was satisfactorily attended
to.
Upon their
return from their trip ( bus and train ) all Country Finalists were billeted
with Brisbane Lions families whilst the Elimination Judging proceeded.
Five panels,
each of five judges were selected by the District Committee...., One panel
for each of our five Regions. At the conclusion of the Public Speaking
section of this Regional Judging, ten Grand Finalists ( two Representatives
of each Region ) were selected.
A Grand Final
Judging Panel of five was then appointed, comprising the following....
President of the Chamber of Commerce, Presidents of the Manufacturers and
Retailers Associations, Deputy Director of Education and President of the
Institute of management. These people pre - judged all sections, with the
exception of the Public Speaking, during the whole of one day and then
attended the Grand Final Judging Banquet at Brisbane's leading Hotel, to
make the ultimate selection after the Public Speaking section.
Arrangements
were made earlier through Lions International for the Ultimate Winner to
spend eight weeks in the United States of America with major stopovers at
Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. Private arrangements were made for
short stopovers on the coach route with Lions Clubs at other centres.
All
participating Clubs in District 201A were asked to contribute £ 60, and this
covered the costs of their Finalists visiting the Snowy Scheme, pocket money
for the Grand Finalist and an equal share of the return trip to the United
States of America, fares and accommodation in the United States.
Prizes to the
total value of £ 30 were also given to the first three place - getters at
Club level.... these prizes were provided by individual Clubs through
donations.
£ 300 worth of
prizes ( all donated ) were allotted to the first three place - getters in
the Grand Final, plus £ 100 spending money for the Ultimate Winner.
The Men's
Fashion Council of Australia donated a £ 100 Fashion Wardrobe to the
outright winner, and arranged for his appearance on Television during his
stay in New York.
Although this
was the first of the Quests, experience showed us that the following changes
were necessary during the conduct of the 1965 Project:-
A
change in the Points System
An
earlier start on initial planning.
The
introduction of an overall Sponsor, to save, or at least cut down costs
to individual clubs
An
all out effort to be made to attain concessions on Air Travel, both in
Australia and Overseas.
The
possible inclusion of a New Zealand Trip to the second Grand Finalist
and an Australian holiday for the third.
The
formation of Sub - Committees to control every aspect at District level,
e.g. Judging Committee, Tour Committee, Overseas Committee, etc.
This
combined with small co-ordinating committee of three could make the
organisation even more simple.
As I write
this, Peter Wicks, a wonderful representative of Australian Youth, will be
selling Australian Lionism in the United States of America, will be
addressing Lions Clubs there and will no doubt be adding a further number of
International Newspaper Publicity inches to those our Quest has already
received in Australia.
WHERE
DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Like the
original instigator of the Quest, I too am a dreamer and I have hopes that
this Quest will capture the imagination of Lions throughout Australia and
that this year, nine Finalists ( one from each District ) can be visiting
Overseas Countries and upon their return to Australia, a Lions Youth of the
Year can be declared.
Such a
National Project on a purely Voluntary basis, will increase our prestige,
unite us closer as a Multiple District and provide a tremendous incentive to
every male youth, about to leave Secondary School from Leaving Certificate
level up.
Who knows
where a scheme such as this will finish, who could visualise the affect it
will have on the future male youth of our country...........and what a
magnificent claim it will be to call it our own Lions National project. Who
knows, we may help produce a prime Minister or a Thomas Edison and even if
we don't Australian youth must benefit greatly from our efforts.
