The Australian Insurance Law Association (AILA) is inviting young insurance professionals to apply for this year’s Ron Shorter Award, a competition aimed at developing public speaking skills.

Now in its 10th year, 2021 entries for the contest close April 16. AILA says 25 participants aged under 35 will be selected for the training. From these, three finalists will be chosen in May to progress to the August final, where they will speak for 10 minutes on their topic before judges and industry professionals.

Participants benefit by raising their profile, speaking publicly on an insurance topic of their choice and meeting peers and luminaries from the insurance industry. Pre-paid VISA cards are awarded for first, second and third place and the finalists also receive a one-day intensive training course with the Australian Institute of Management.

Since 2012, more than 400 young insurance professionals have benefited from the competition, which was postponed last year due to COVID-19, AILA says, and this year the training has been revamped to reflect a jump in demand for online presentation skills.

Ron Shorter was a Practice Manager at Colin Biggers & Paisley Lawyers in Sydney until his death in 2012.