VAYA Online INTERNATIONAL
SPEECH ARTS + DRAMA FESTIVAL
Adjudicators

	Louise Manders, Essex, UK (Intermediate & Senior Speech Arts) Louise first trod the boards when only five days old. Her professional theatrical career, which included repertory, musicals, television, films and touring within the UK began with Haymarket Stage Productions. Louise is presently not only an adjudicator for the British and International Federation of Festivals and the Guild of Drama Adjudicators but is also an adjudicator member of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama. Her work takes her all over the UK as well as abroad. Louise was Artistic Director of the Phoenix Youth Theatre in Southend, formerly the New Focus Theatre for many years. She teaches all ages, including adults, and specialises in the LAMDA examinations. She runs workshops and master classes, directs plays, open air productions and musicals, devises original drama compositions, writes poetry and has written many musical plays for children and students.
	Ruth Daniell, Kelowna, BC (Creative Writing) Ruth Daniell is an award-winning writer and editor who lives with her family in Kelowna, BC. Her first full-length collection of poems, The Brightest Thing (Caitlin Press, 2019), explores fairy tales, sexual violence, love, and healing. Her poems have appeared in Arc Poetry Magazine, Grain, Room magazine, Qwerty,The Antigonish Review and Event. The recipient of the 2013 Young Buck Poetry Prize with CV2, the winner of the 2016 Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest with The New Quarterly, and a recent recipient of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Daniell is also the editor of Boobs: Women Explore What It Means to Have Breasts (Caitlin Press, 2016). She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (honours) in English literature and writing from the University of Victoria and a master of fine arts in creative writing from the University of British Columbia. She is currently working on a new collection of poems about birds. In addition to her degrees, Daniell holds two diplomas in speech arts performance—her ATCL from Trinity College London and her ARCT from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She teaches speech arts performance and creative writing for children, youth, and adults, and designs curriculum for other speech arts educators. Daniell is also the founder and organizer of a literary reading series in Vancouver called Swoon, which ran from 2013-2017 and focused on discovering new and innovative work about love and desire.
	Vivienne Redford, Bedfordshire, UK (Junior Speech Arts Vivienne has studied Speech and Drama since the age of four and has been teaching the subject since 1980. She is Head of Speech and Drama at a large independent girl’s school in Bedford. She is also the Principal of the Redford School of Speech and Drama, established in 1982, training children and adults of all ages in all aspects of the performing arts and communication. Many of her former students perform in TV, film and theatre around the world and in major West End productions, the Globe, the RSC and the National Theatre. Others are pursuing careers as teachers of Speech and Drama, Theatre Directors and Technicians. Vivienne has produced and directed a diverse range of musical and theatrical productions and particularly enjoys writing and devising original and creative theatre with her senior students. For the past twenty-five years, she has organised and directed a widely-acclaimed summer school for students aged 7 to 21, which culminates in a commissioned play written for, and performed by, the students who attend. Vivienne is an examiner for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, a Council member of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama and an Adjudicator member of the British and International Federation of Festivals travelling extensively throughout the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands, and is currently a Speech & Drama Representative on the Adjudicators Council. She has recently been awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts in recognition of her extensive work in Speech & Drama, particularly with young people. She is a former secretary and now a Vice-President of the Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech and Drama which has given her a clear understanding and insight into the work, energy and commitment that Festival organisers, teachers and pupils put into making their Festivals a success. When not working (which is a rare occurrence) Vivienne enjoys seeing as much theatre as possible, reading, particularly children’s books, cooking and relishes spending time with her family.