One of these young people was Wingham High School captain Stephen Smith.

Hailing from Port Macquarie, Wauchope, Wingham, the Great Lakes and Taree the students were all taking their public speaking and personal development skills to the next level after winning the club version of the competition over the last few months.

During the whole day event, students were interviewed by a panel of judges who quizzed them on their resume and personal life experience before they stood in front of 70 people at Port City Bowling Club to deliver prepared speeches.

The other candidates for this round of competition were Ashley Selibio from Chatham High School, Kyden Power-O'Toole from Mackillop Senior College, Shannah Schroeder from Wauchope High, and Annelise Romer from Great Lakes College.

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Mal Murray, local event coordinator said all five students should be very proud of their efforts.

"To get to this point they are all winners having won the first round of the competition at a club level," Mr Murray said.

"On the day the competition was incredibly tough and our two local students did their very best up against some strong students.

"In the end it was Stephen Smith from Wingham who took out the competition qualifying for the district level on March 30, which will also be in Port Macquarie.

"I want to thank all the sponsors who helped make the event possible and congratulations to all our raffle prize winners."

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Stephen took out both the public speaking award and the overall award which elevated him to compete at the next level.

Mr Murray said the judges commended all students on the way they tackled the impromptu questions as well as how prepared they were in the interview.

"Each of the candidates knew their stuff and it was clear they had been preparing for the competition," he said.

"At the dinner when they delivered their speeches they were all engaging and had the audience captivated as they spoke.

"All the students also approached the impromptu questions in different ways which kept the audience interested."

Stephen will now go forward to the district final which will be held at Port City Bowling Club on Saturday, March 30.