New Delhi, Jan. 30 -- Picture this: a mother hurriedly whispers advice to her nervous 9-year-old daughter as they walk past a boy memorising words from a piece of paper clutched in his hands. Nearby, another boy, not more than 8 years old, anxiously looks around. But within minutes, as the three step onto the stage, the nervousness disappears. Instead, under a bright yellow spotlight, they are seasoned performers talking about everything from the climate and free speech to the necessity of kindness in society. On Wednesday, 24 students between the ages of 9 to 17 from across India - finalists shortlisted from hundreds of entries - performed at the first edition of HT The Next Voice, a storytelling, poetry recital, and spoken word competition, for students from classes 3 to 12, at Vasant Vihar's Modern School. From 9.30am, students performed on a variety of themes, including "kindness matters", "the right to learn", "environmental pollution", and "road safety". They were divided up into three groups - Classes 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. The youngest group competed only in the storytelling and poetry categories on the theme of kindness. Nine-year-old Reyana Agarwal from Springdales School, Delhi, won in the poetry recitation category with her poem titled "Be kind to every kind." On her poem - on wanting to pluck a flower and pick up a puppy, but choosing not to do so, knowing the pain it would cause - she said, "I wanted people to think about being kind to everyone, and not just humans. I think performing poetry is important so that people can understand this." Vedanshi Kartik, 14, from Mumbai's Hiranandani Foundation Schools won in the category from the group of Classes 6-8. She treated the audience to a recital of American poet Carl Sandburg's "I am the people, the mob." She said she chose the poem because she felt it had a meaningful and topical lesson. "It is one person calling people to unite, to not forget the injustices they have faced, and to fight for freedom." From the same group, Sohana Sawhney from Springdales won in the spoken word contest, where contestants argued passionately for the right to learn and against denying children education or allowing gender norms to dictate what they learn. "I thought that it would be a unique topic, but turns out everyone else also thought the same," laughed Abdija Singha (11), a Class 6 student from Dwarka's Venkateshwar International School, who came third. "It was a great opportunity to perform on such a big platform." The oldest group of students saw many more self-composed pieces. In her turn, 17-year-old Tara Maithili Mishra combined humour with dystopia to build a world where children take a field trip to a "clean air museum" and see rare sights, such as a painting of clear skies and a free oxygen breathing booth. "I was inspired by my own experiences growing up in Delhi and Guruguram, where we already have annual pollution breaks from school, and dirty air has become normalised," said the Class 12 student from Gurugram's Heritage International Xperiential School. The winner from the group's poetry category, Class 10 student Asmi Bhardwaj (15), from Sri Venkateshwar International School, called for a more inclusive society. Her poem "Two sides of a coin" was on the theme right to learn. "When we go around the city, we see peddlers on the road, with their children next to them. Do these kids not have the right to learn, and the right to dream?." The day ended with cash prizes for all 24 finalists, ranging from Rs.25,000 for third place to Rs.75,000 for first place. "It is our wedding anniversary today, but we have been focused only on this," said Akriti Bansal, a mother. Her daughter, 9-year-old Rukmini Devi Public school student Mannat Bansal, was the winner in the storytelling category in the youngest group....