It was a hard-talked battle. . . but Cumbernauld's Abronhill High School were crowned the winners of the Lanarkshire Schools 2012 Speaking Competition.
Teams from eight schools debated the premise "Teenagers of today are irresponsible and should be kept indoors until they are too old to indulge in antisocial behaviour" at the Victim Support Scotland and Network Rail-backed contest in South Lanarkshire Council's headquarters in Hamilton
The standard of competition was so high that it proved impossible to separate the runners-up with teams from Larkhall Academy and St Maurice's High School, Cumbernauld, finishing in joint second place.
Zac Reid from Clyde Valley High School in Wishaw was the winning essay writer and Heather Trayner from Larkhall Academy took the plaudits in the poster design competition.
The event, which aimed to get young people to think more about the impact of vandalism and antisocial behaviour, was judged by Ben Hall the head of Government and Corporate Affairs for Network Rail, Kate Jackson the national manager of Crimestoppers, Chief Superintendent Ellie Bird the area commander for British Transport Police, Chief Superintendent Nelson Telfer, the divisional commander in Lanarkshire for Strathclyde Police and Victim Support Scotland's Alan McCloskey head of Victim and Witness Services and Margaret McFarlane the area chairperson for South Lanarkshire.
Heather Dickson, Business Delivery Manager for Lanarkshire said the competition had spread the message about the impact of these crimes to youngsters across the area and had produced a very positive outcome which it is hoped will encourage Network Rail to sponsor the event again in future years.
Heather said: "All in all the pupils from all eight schools who participated throughout the heats and finals events contributed to the highest standards, and there are definitely some future speaking, art and writing stars amongst them.
The top picture shows the winners from Abronhill High and judges, while the event drew a good crowd to the council offices, above left.