Speech Contest 'Say it Multi!'

On June 22, the closing ceremony of the multilingual speech contest SAG'S MULTI! took place, where prizes were awarded to 32 students from all over Austria. For the first time, ORF acted as the sponsor of the competition, in which young people aged 12 and over have to switch between German and a foreign language in their speeches. RBI supported this important initiative as one of the main sponsors.

'Living internationality is deeply rooted at Raiffeisen Bank International, which operates in 13 markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Promoting excellence, especially among young people, also contributes to our success,' said Paul Pasquali, who supported the language competition as a representative of RBI.

For the first time, the competition was under the honorary patronage of Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, who said in a video message, 'From Chechen to Urdu, from Farsi to Danish - this diversity is something beautiful and valuable, because it is both a reflection and a model of our society here in Austria. Every topic you have spoken about, whether diversity, LGBTQ, women's rights or climate crisis, needs your voice. You are part of a generation that will make a big difference. Who has a lot to say. I will be listening carefully. And we all should.'

272 students qualified for the competition by submitting a video of their speech, with 36 languages to be heard. 133 of them then made it to the final round in early May, from which 32 young language talents were eventually awarded. The speeches themselves dealt with a wide variety of topics, such as women's rights, climate protection, democracy or diversity, in a multilingual and passionate manner.