SIS Debating Semi-Finals Success

The John Button School Prize is awarded each year to the best essay on a subject concerning Australia’s future by a Victorian student who is in Years 10 to 12 and is younger than 19.

Essays submitted for the School Prize will discuss Australian politics or policy. They might address such topics as Australia’s population, climate change, reconciliation with Indigenous Australians, water, asylum seekers, education, health, or the state of the arts – big ideas for Australia’s future.

This year, Max Walton Briggs, was chosen as runner up of the 2019 John Button School Prize for his essay “Rebuilding one of Australia’s most important yet challenging foreign relations: Australia and Indonesia in the 21^st century.”

Following a brief speech by the winning student, Max was invited up on stage along with a fellow runner up, in acknowledgement of their achievement.

This event was part of the Melbourne Writer’s Festival, and acclaimed author Deborah Lipstadt, author of In Antisemitism: Here and Now, presented on ideas from her book, proposing ways to move forward in an increasingly hostile and divided world.

To finish off the evening, Max was treated to a formal cocktail reception at The Moat on Little Lonsdale Street. Judges of the competition were there to discuss his entry, and he was able to mingle with some prominent figures in Melbourne’s educational community.

Mr Sean Pieper
My Summit Extra-Curricular Enrichment Coordinator