And the Winner Is...

John Vance, the American Embassy's counselor of Public Affairs, presents the award to Tomáš Nechleba who earned the national prize.

...everyone who took part in the contest! That's what they always say. We know. But it's very true in this case! The 14 secondary school students who gathered on May 11 for an awards ceremony at the U.S. Embassy's American Center had already won the National English-Language Competition's regional contests.

The group took part in a final competition at the British Council, in which Tomáš Nechleba from Biskupské gymnázium J. N. Neumanna in České Budějovice earned the national prize, followed by Petr Paleček from Wichterlovo gymnázium in Ostrava-Poruba and Radka Weberová from Brno's Gymnázium.

Students received English-language dictionaries, almanacs and other teaching materials donated by the U.S. Embassy and British Council to help them in their future studies.  They also heard about American Center programs involving their peers, like “Generation NEXT”, and what's available on the Embassy's social media sites.

John Vance, the American Embassy's counselor of Public Affairs; Jiří Veverka, director of the National Institute of Children and Youth; Jindřich Bartoň, professor at the Jindřich Orten Gymnázium in Kutná Hora; and Talentcentrum's Markéta Rausová presented the awards. The Talentcentrum at the Ministry of Education's National Institute of Children and Youth coordinated the contest.