A Bermudian student at St. Joseph's Institute for the Deaf has won a prestigious American communications competition.

Shakori Trott, 13, recently won the East Missouri District Optimist Communications Contest for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

His theme was 'Cyber Communication: Progress or Problem?".

In the competition, students were allowed to use sign language, an oral presentation, or a combination of both to compete. Both styles were judged using the same criteria. The presentation had to be at least four minutes, but no longer than five minutes.

Shakori was awarded a $2,500 scholarship for the honour.

"Through his speech Trott did a wonderful job of presenting his thoughts about the questions posed to him," said District Chair, Karl Tyminski. "The members of our Optimist District have no doubt that Shakori Trott has a bright future ahead of him."

Optimist International is one of the world's largest service club organisations with 107,000 adult and youth members in 3,400 clubs in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico and throughout the world.

Each year, almost 300 Optimist Clubs participate in the Communications Contest for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Carrying the motto 'Bringing Out the Best in Kids'.

There are no Optimist clubs in Bermuda, but there are clubs in some Caribbean nations such as Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Antigua and Barbados.

Shakori is the son of Lisa and Sinclair Trott. He is in middle school, going into grade seven.

"I am going on a boarding school because there are no schools in Bermuda that have all the materials that I need," he said. "I got involved in the competition when my classmate and I had to write a speech to tell the whole school.

"The teachers judged my classmates and I. In my speech I wrote how Cyber Communication is a progress or a problem and that you just have to be careful."

Shakori Trott's winning speech:

Hello! I am going to tell you about cyber communications. Do any of you have a cell phone, iPod or computer? Ok! Now those who have computers, how many of you are on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or use Yahoo? Then you are using cyber communication. It means to talk and share your feelings and thoughts by using a computer.

There is a bright side and a dark side to cyber communications. Let's talk about some problems or the dark side first. There are things you have to be very careful about when you use the Internet and e-mail. Yes, I know that every day after school you e-mail and text your friends and all of that. Some people like chat rooms. What if your chat room message goes to a stranger? You never know what that stranger might do with this information. She or he might click the word "reply" and pretend to be one of your friends. What if that person, who is pretending to be one of your friends, says to meet you somewhere to have fun?

What do you think you should do? Should you meet that person or stay home? I would stay home. If it is your friend, you can check by e-mailing him or calling on a phone. If it is not your friend, and if you choose to meet that person, guess what could happen? Well, maybe I should not be the person to tell you. Ask your parents because I don't want to scare you to death. You have to be very careful when you go into a chat room.

Okay, I think we were on the dark side too much, so let's look at the bright side of communication. My host mom thinks that cyber communication usually allows good communication. The best part she likes about cyber communication is that she can keep in touch with her friends from college. That was a long time ago! It would be hard if cyber communication was never invented. Think about it. We would not easily know what's on the news, what the weather is going to be like, or who is the FBI's Most Wanted! We could have lost relationships with old friends, and that would be very sad. So let's thank God that we have cyber communication.

I do not live with my family very much during the school year. I live with a host family and I sometimes get home-sick. So I use cyber communication to communicate with my family. When I communicate with my family I do not get homesick very much. So I am thankful that we have cyber communication! The best way for me to communicate is to be with my family. The next best way is to talk with my family through a webcam. A webcam is a live picture on your computer. You can actually see the person instead of just listening to their voice. It's almost like you're in the same room with them. And third would be calling or texting my friends and family on a cell phone. The worst thing for me would be to have to write letters!

So I think cyber communication is more progress than problem. Just be careful. I am thankful that we have cyber communication.