Semifinals for the CCTV Cup English Speaking Contest wound up

The semifinals for the CCTV Cup English Speaking Contest wound up Saturday. After three days of fierce competition at Beijing Foreign Studies University, 23 finalists emerged to move on to the last round.

Saturday was crucial for close to a hundred semifinalists at the CCTV Cup English Speaking Contest. Each was put through highly demanding sessions involving impromptu speeches and a question and answer session.

Combined with the results of prepared speeches on the previous two days, this eliminates three out of four hopefuls.

The calm assurance displayed on the stage is often the result of months of diligent work on the part of both contestants and instructors.

One of the most prestigious events of its kind, the CCTV Cup English Speaking Contest is co-organized by CCTV-9 in collaboration with the Beijing Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Now in its eighth year, the scale and quality has greatly improved. The contest's preliminary phase involved some five million students from over eight hundred universities across China.

As the day drew to an end the moment of truth arrived. The names of 23 exceptional English speakers were announced as the finalists.

Now, these survivors of months of intense competition move on to the televised final round at the CCTV studios over the last four days of this week.