World Debating Website

Some recent results: Hugill Cup '09

2009-11-12T08:30:00.000Z

On 6-8 November, 32 teams attended the Hugill Cup in Edmonton, Canada.

Advancing to the Semifinals were:
Alaska IK*
Alaska GS*
Alaska CH
Calgary WS

Alberta CI*
Alberta BL*
UBC CP
U of Saskatechewan HR

The champions were Alaska GS (Akis Gialopsos & Amie Stanley)
The other finalists were:
Alaska IK (Michael Imeson & James Kilcup)
Alberta CI (Emily Cliff & Iain Ireland)
Alberta BL (Ian Burch & Robert Lees-Miller)

The top 5 speakers were:
5th Place – Garrett Richards (Saskatchewan)
4th Place – Colin Haughey (Alaska)
3rd Place – Dylan Hardy (Saskatchewan)
2nd Place – James Kilcup (Alaska)
1st Place – Michael Imeson (Alaska)

The following motions were debated:
Rd 1: THBT custody hearings should not take a child’s biological parentage into account.
Rd 2: THW allow evidence obtained from entrapment to be admissible in court.
Rd 3: THW deny communion to politicians that support abortion.
Rd 4: THBT Britain UK should withdraw from the EU.
Rd 5: THW condition the award of major international sporting events upon the legalization of prostitution for the duration of the events.
Semis: THBT Saudi Arabia should cancel the Hajj in light of the swine flu.
Finals: THBT, in the future, clones should not be awarded the same rights as humans

Argument, Debate & Critical Pedagogy Conference October 2010‏

2009-11-12T08:28:00.000Z

THIRD International conference on argumentation, rhetoric, debate and the pedagogy of empowerment - thinking and speaking a better world

The World Debate Institute at the University of Vermont USA and ZIP, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga/ Pro et contra Institute for culture of dialogue Slovenia invite all scholars and practitioners of argumentation, rhetoric, debate, and educators using deliberative education methodologies to the Third International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate and the Pedagogy of Empowerment -- THINKING AND SPEAKING A BETTER WORLD.

Two conferences have been held, one in Koper and the other in Ljubljana Slovenia. The next conference is planned for October 28-29-30 2010. The conference will be hosted by The University of Maribor, Faculty of Pedagogy, Department of Philosophy. Both previous conferences attracted over 85 scholars from around the world.

The conference will welcome scholars and educators from diverse fields for vigorous dialog and exchange. This conference will unite scholars of argumentation and rhetoric, teachers, and organizers of local, national and international debating networks to discuss critical thinking and advocacy discourse through pedagogy. We intend for the conference to welcome all who are involved in public discussions and debates about different issues.

This conference is extremely timely. A global information society which seeks reasoned solutions to problems through broad citizen involvement needs to develop and refine techniques for criticizing and validating ideas through discourse and then impart these to new generations of citizens if we are to create a better future and avoid looming crises. This conference represents a unique opportunity to share ideas, network and cross-fertilize with global critical thinkers.

The program for the conference will have three themes. Submissions are encouraged to center their work on one of the three themes and to submit proposals to the appropriate conference division. Interdisciplinary work that might fit into more than one category is welcome.
•Argumentation and rhetoric. The use of logic and reason to criticize and analyze ideas through communication. Those interested in research on argumentation theory, criticisms of communication acts and scholarship on argumentation practice are encouraged to submit to this division.
•Debate. The use of formal argumentation forums to educate and empower citizens. Those interested in work on the practice and theory of debate competition, public debates, research on the impact of debate for participants, and theorizing about debate paradigms are encouraged to submit to this division.
•Critical thinking/pedagogy. Teaching and the methodology of teaching in the active classroom. Those interested in using debate, discussion and argumentation in classrooms, discussion of experiences and teaching lessons relating to communication and critical thinking are encouraged to submit to this division.

A committee of conference organizers and scholars will examine submissions to each division. Deadlines and committees will be announced soon.

Those wishing to attend the conference without submitting a paper are very welcome but must register.

Organizing committee: Bojana Skrt, Za in proti, zavod za kulturo dialoga, Slovenia Alfred C. Snider, World Debate Institute, University of Vermont, USA 2010 in Maribor

See our blog for news and updates at http://betterworldconference.blogspot.com/
Our previous website was http://debate.uvm.edu/betterworld.htm
World Debate Institute http://worlddebateinstitute.blogspot.com/
ZIP http://www.zainproti.com/
University of Maribor http://www.uni-mb.si/

Some Recent Results: Bath IV

2009-11-11T08:30:00.001Z

Daniel Warents and Rosie Unwin of Middle Temple won the Bath IV 2009. Daniel also topped the speaker tab. The other finalists were Cambridge A (Jo Box and Charlotte Thomas), ULU (Fred Cowell and Stanzie Bell) and SOAS A (Jordan Anderson and Sheraz Qureshi) in the final. Koen van Schie, of Leiden, was the best ESL speaker.

The motions were:
R1: THW require free-to-air coverage of all major sporting events
R2: THW allow those who contract swine flu to sue the person who infected them
R3: THW require all citizens to attend day-long political discussion seminars prior to voting
R4: THB that states have no moral responsibility to intervene in other countries, even in cases of genocide, except to defend the interests of its own citizens
R5: THW force MPs to retrospectively repay illegitimate expense claims, as determined by the Kelly report
Final: 'THB that no person should have an income more than three times the median in their society'.

Source Britishdebate maillist

Three More Days : Botswana Worlds : Call for DCAs

2009-11-10T08:36:00.002Z

Just a friendly reminder - 3 more days to send in your applications!

If you are interested to apply but need more time to write your application, please let me know and we can work something out.

Cheers
Logan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Logan <loganimal@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 1:54 AM
Subject: Botswana Worlds : Call for DCAs

Dear Global Debate Community,

It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the organising committee of Botswana Worlds 2011 to invite applications for Deputy Chief Adjudicators (DCA) to join our Adjudication Team. We are looking for 2 or 3 individuals who,

have strong adjudication and debate experience at the international level in the Worlds format (organisational experience is a plus but is not required)
are actively involved in their debate communities and will be until December 2010
have time to communicate regularly (by email and skype) with other members of the adjudication team
can be in Botswana at least one week before Worlds 2011 (19th December 2010)
work well under pressure, doesn't really need sleep, and has other essential qualities of an exceptional DCA

The Application Process
There will be two phases, an Application phase and a Public Review phase

Application Phase - this phase begins now and ends on the 13th of November. More information below.
Review Phase - will run for two weeks soon after the application deadline expires. A list of all applicants will be published and the Worlds debate community will have the opportunity to provide feedback. The objective of the feedback should be to provide further information about the candidate that is relevant to their application or character references. Feedback should be provided directly to the adjudication team and will be treated with utmost discretion and sensitivity. These comments will not be made public (even after worlds) or accessible to the applicants (even if they are successful). Also the number of comments a candidate gets will have no bearing on the chances of their appointment.

Interested applicants should send
a) A Cover Letter (please explain your motivation(s) for applying. Also, please briefly discuss what you think the challenges of being a DCA at Worlds are and why you are up to them).
b) A Detailed Resume (please include commitments until December 2010)

Your application will be processed solely by the adjudication team (James Dray and I) and Convenor (Justice Motlhabani). No one else will view any content related to the entire application process. Candidates will be chosen based on what we believe is the best for Botswana Worlds and the World Universities Debating Championships.

Please send all applications to adjudicationteam@botswanaworlds.com by 12GMT 13th November 2009.

Please feel free to email questions or comments to the same address, or directly to James or myself.

Looking forward to hearing from (some of) you soon!

Cheers

Logandran Balavijendran
Chief Adjudicator

James Dray
Deputy Chief Adjudicator

Botswana Worlds 2011

Preparing for Worlds: some topics

2009-11-10T07:38:00.002Z

As mentioned in the previous post I have a list of potential topics for Worlds. It's a list I first published a number of years ago. I have added a few new topics and deleted a few out of dates ones. This is not a complete list of possible topics. I have no idea what motions the adjudication team for Koc will come up with. It is just a starting point to get you going on research.

If you can add any to this list then that would be very welcome. Please post them in a comment and I'll add them to the list.

Aboriginal justice (e.g. aboriginal community courts)
Adoption (e.g. overseas adoptions, Celebs (Madonna, Elton John)
Afghanistan (e.g. failed democracy and drug production)
AIDS prevention (e.g. condoms, drug patents)
Anti social behaviour (e.g. ASBOs in UK)
Anti-terror leglislation (e.g. patriot act)
Assassination of heads of state
Ban hunting (e.g. fox hunting in UK)
Bank Bailouts (UK, Ireland, US, Germany)
Bank Bonuses
Burma (e.g. Aung San Suu Kyi)
Capitalism vs Socialism (e.g. failure of one over the other)
Carbon quotas (National or individual)
CCTV (use of)
Child care (e.g. for working mothers or maternity/paternal leave)
China and Africa
China and Taiwan
Citizen initiated referenda
Citizenship exams
Class action lawsuits (banning them)
Cloning (Animals, Humans etc)
Compulsory ID Cards
Computer Games (e.g. violence in)
Condoms in Pornography
Consensual Cannibalism
Cuba (e.g. sanctions against)
Darfur & Sudan
Death penalty (e.g. US, concept of “redemption”)
Divorce (access to, Fault vs no fault)
Egypt (e.g. rise of Islamist political parties)
Embro rights (e.g. right to life, right to implantation, parental rights)
Energy (e.g. generation of, political use (Russian Gas))
Established Journalism vs blogs/podcasts
EU Commission (e.g. election of)
EU Democracy (e.g. Only Ireland held referendum on Lisbon)
EU Expansion
EU Lisbon Treaty/Constitution
EU single working language
EU/US relations (e.g. trade, terror etc)
Euro (e.g. Italy/Ireland should abandon, UK should adopt)
Exploration of Space (e.g. Mars, ISS, China)
Extended alcohol drinking licences (e.g. 24 hour pubs)
Face transplants, ethics of
Far Right Parties (access to the Media, BNP)
Free Speech (e.g. Wikipeadia)
Freedom of labour movement (e.g. migrant labour in EU)
Freedom of speech (e.g. Muhammad Cartoons, Holocaust Denial)
Gay public figures, Outing of
Gay rights (marriage, priests, adoption etc)
Genetically Modified Organisms (e.g. food)
Green Energy (benefits, hype etc)
Healthcare (e.g. US, cost of, etc)
Honour killings
Human genetics (cloning, stem cells etc)
Human Rights linked to sporting events (e.g. Olympics in China)
Hybrid energy (e.g. hybrid cars)
Illegal Immigration (e.g. into US/Australia/Europe)
International Adoption (e.g. Romanian orphans)
International ban on whaling
International Challenge in business (i.e. industry moving from west to east) AKA "Outsourcing"
International dimlomacy (e.g. role of UN, US, EU etc)
International emergency response force (e.g. Tsunami, Earthquake, New Orleans)
International extradition of terrorists (CIA flights to Europe) aka International Rendition
International laws on intellectual property (copyright, patents etc).
Internet music/film Piracy (e.g. Pirate bay etc)
Internet Pornography (e.g. .xxx domain names, child porn)
Internet Privacy (retention of browsing history, e-mails etc)
Internet regulation (ICANN and role of US government)
Iraq, future of
Israel (right to defend itself, illegal settlements)
Judicial independence (e.g. appointment or removal of a judge)
Korea (North v South relations)
Limit Free speech (e.g. Holocaust denial/incitement of terror/Turkey & Armenia/Thailand Royal family)
Limits to self defence (e.g. right to shoot intruders in your home)
Mandatory minimum sentences (e.g. for drug crimes)
Maritime Law (e.g. flags of convince)
Marriage (e.g. states should only recognise civil partnership)
Medical "fashion" (e.g. hype around Bird Flu, SARS, Swine Flu)
Nobel Peace Prize (e.g. merit of)
Nuclear Power (e.g. environmental benefits/costs)
Nuclear proliferation/disarmament (e.g. Iran. Khan network)
Obesity in Children
Palestine, future of
Parental consent for medial treatment of under 16s (including seeking an Abortion, obesity, MMR)
Parental responsibility for crimes of children
Pensions (e.g make them compulsory)
Performance enhancing drugs in sport
Piracy on the high seas (e.g. Somalia)
Piracy on the internet (e.g. pirate-bay)
Pre-emptive military action (e.g. Israel v Iran)
Privacy of the Catholic confessional
Prostitution (e.g. legalisation of)
Public sector vs Private sector (benefits of working in one over the other)
Public vs Private education
Public-Private partnerships (e.g. in infrastructural development)
Reality TV (influence of)
Religious dress in school/work (e.g. Hijab in France, Crucifix in Italy)
Religious education (e.g. what should be taught in state funded schools)
Religious law Vs National Law (e.g. canon law)
Respect for national sovereignty (e.g. in war on terror)
Respecting Ethnic Diversity (muslims in France, travellers in Ireland, aboriginal populations)
Retirement Age (e.g. raising it to 75)
Rights of minority to homeland (Basque, Kurds etc)
Russia (e.g. economy, democracy)
Salary cap in sport (e.g. English Premiership)
Social Media (youtube, blogging etc)
Social Networking (e.g. facebook, twitter)
Social partnership (e.g. Unions, Government, Employers working together)
Social welfare (% or minimum wage, vouchers vs payments)
State funding for charity (Overseas aid budgets)
State funding for sports
Swine Flu (hype or real risk, government response, vaccination)
Tax incentives for artists
Taxation (what to tax, social contract etc)
Telephone records (e.g. state monitoring private calls)
Term limits for politicians (e.g. Bloomberg in New York)
Terrorism Compensation (e.g. Lockerbie, IRA)
Testing on Animals (drugs, cosmetics etc)
Tibet (Independence, Dali Lama)
Torture (e.g. use of in war on terror, waterboarding)
Trade Unions (e.g. benefits of, dangers of)
Trade Unions (e.g. future of)
Traffic problems (e.g. Congestion charges, toll roads, mandatory car pooling etc)
Treatment of addicts (e.g. access to further treatment e.g. transplants)
Truth & reconciliation commissions (South Africa, Ireland etc)
Turkish entry into the EU.
Turkish genocide in Armenia
UN (e.g. reform of)
Vaccination (international programmes, swine flu)
Voting Rights (e.g. age, convicts, emmigrants)
War Crimes Tribunals (Serbia, Karadzic)
Women in politics (e.g. quotas)
Women's rights (e.g. in the Church, workplace, education etc)
WTO Negotiations (e.g. Agricultural subsidies, Tariffs)
Zimbabwe (democracy, constitution, elections)

Preparing for Worlds

2009-11-10T07:31:00.000Z

At this time of year I get a number of e-mails asking a few common questions related to Worlds. Therefore I thought I would post some general ones.

Q. I would like to go to Worlds in Turkey. How can I register?
A. Unfortunately at this point you can't. Registration happened back in June and was over subscribed in 90 seconds. You can visit http://www.kocworlds2010.com/ for more info. The best thing to do is aim for Worlds in Botswana and in the meantime look at attending some of the big IVs or regional championships. WUPID in December is also well worth looking at.

Q. We have tried to register for Worlds and can't. Can you help?
A. No I can't. I don't have any role in the organisation of Worlds in Turkey. My Emeritus role on council is a non-voting honorary one so I don't have any real power to help. To be honest even if I did have the power I wouldn't attempt to override or influence the hard working org committee.

Q. Where can I find more information about Worlds?
A. Other than this site (http://www.debating.ie/) visit http://www.kocworlds2010.com/

Q. Are there any Training guides for Worlds?
A. Yes. Lots. Best place to look is http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/search/label/Training

Q. Are there any videos of Worlds format?
A. Yes. Again lots. The best place to look is http://debatevideoblog.blogspot.com/

Q. What topics are likely to come up?
A. That's not quite like asking what the lottery numbers are but it's not far behind. A quick look at past Worlds motions show that it covers a wide range of subjects. In recent years I have published a list of potential topics. I'll republish it but bear in mind that the list has 130 topics and there are many many other potential subjects. The best way to prepare is to be as well read as possible.

Q. What are good sources of information on topics?
A. At this stage it's about reading and understanding as wide a range of subjects as possible. Be up to speed with the latest topics and issues. Assuming you are going as a team or squad then share the work. I suggest you buy versions of Time, Newsweek and the Economist. The Economist World in 2010 special edition is due our soon and is always useful.

On the internet start reading the BBC website. As well as breaking news they often have good topic outlines and backgrounds. Some other websites exist with more general principle based topics. Check http://www.debatabase.org/ and http://www.debatewise.com/ as both have talking points on many topics.

If you are looking to create a case file then remember that the key is that you have to know the information is there. You won't have time to read every thing between now and the start of the tournament. Create an index of the topics you have in the file. And it has to be paper based. Worlds rules prohibit the use of electronic equipment.

Q. What happens if a topic comes up I haven't researched?
A. This isn't just likely it is certain. It is important to understand that no matter how much research you do you will have to debate several topics which you have not prepared for. You can't have covered everything. In a case like this don't panic but go back to the "first principles" post in the training section. http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/2005/12/preparing-for-worlds-3-first.html . One key thing is not to panic. Be comfortable speaking and this leads me to the next question.

Q. How do I train for Worlds?
A. The best way to train for debating is to debate. It's one thing to know what to do and how to do it but it is another when you are standing up there translatig thoughts to speech. I recently spoke in a debate for the first time in several years (usually I judge). I was so rusty it was scary. I knew what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it but I just struggled more than I expected. The best way to prepare for Worlds is to debate as often as possible. If you can go to some IVs. If you can't get to many IVs then organise Worlds style debates within your society. The more you speak in debates the more natural and fluent it will become for you.

HWS / IDEA Round Robin Qualifiers

2009-11-05T00:21:00.009Z

The HWS/IDEA Round Robin will be held on April 2 & 3, 2009 in Geneva, New York. A total of 16 teams will be invited to compete, and there are 16 “automatic bids” (listed below). Those not earning an automatic bid are encouraged to apply for an “at-large bid”. (Applications are due January 31, 2010.)

AUTOMATIC BIDS go to the 2009 winners of:
Asian BP Championships
Asian Unity
Australs
CUSID BP Nationals
Europeans
Hart House IV
International Mace
Oxford IV
Pan-African BP Championship
Sydney Mini
US UDC
Yale IV
and, all 4 teams in the grand final round at Koc Worlds!

Posted by Eric Barnes (convenor of the HWS / IDEA RR) with thanks to our advisory committee for their ongoing help: Logan Balavijendran, Rory Gillis, Neill Harvey-Smith, Ian Lising, Helina Loor, Justice Motlhabani, and Naomi Oreb.

For more information, write to: barnes (at) hws (dot) edu

Some Recent Results: Yale IV

2009-11-04T06:49:00.000Z

On 23-24 October, Yale University hosted the Yale IV. There were 120 teams, representing 39 institutions in attendance.

Advancing to quarterfinals after 5 rounds were:
1. Alaska IK (15 points)
2. Hart House FL (13 points)
3. Carleton A
4. McGill SS (12 points)
5. MIT GM
6. Queens C
7. Stanford DK
8. Stanford A (11 points)
9. Brandeis A
10. UCC/NUS
11. Hart House TT
12. Swarthmore DW
13. Swarthmore CP
14. Brandeis D
15. Amherst LZ (10 points)
16. McGill MM

The semifinals included:
Alaska IK
Hart House FL
Carleton A
McGill SS

MIT GM
Queens C
Stanford DK
McGill MM

The champion debate team was Hart House (Richard Lizius & Ian Freeman).

The 3 finalists were:
Alaska (Michael Imeson & James Kilcup)
Carleton A (Adam Coombs & Andrew Lawrence)
McGill SS (Saro Setrakian & Sean Stefanik)

The top 5 speakers after 5 preliminary rounds were:
1st Place: Richard Lizius of Hart House FL
2nd Place: Ian Freeman of Hart House FL

3rd Place: Michael Imeson of Alaska IK

4th Place: Adam Goldstein of MIT GM

5th Place: James Kilcup of Alaska IK

The motions at Yale were:
Rd 1: THBT the US and its NATO Allies should significantly reduce their presence in Afghanistan.
Rd 2: THBT Medicaid should cover all legal abortions.
Rd 3: THB in the right to self-determination.
Rd 4: THBT that the Nobel Peace Prize should only be awarded posthumously.
Rd 5: THBT legal aliens should have an unqualified right to vote.
1/4s: THBT all punitive damages in private lawsuits should be paid to the government.
Semis: THBT the US should impose sanctions on Israel if they do not withdraw all settlements from the West Bank.
Finals: THS races to the bottom.

Thanks to Shawn Briscoe for this info.

Some Recent Results: Hart House IV

2009-11-04T06:35:00.000Z

There have been some big tournaments recently that I didn't post the results from:

On October 16-19, the University of Toronto hosted the Hart House IV. There were 84 teams, representing 26 institutions in attendance.

Advancing to quarterfinals were:
*Alaska A
Claremont A
Swathmore A
*UBC A

Dal C
*Queen’s D
McGill A
*UBC B

*McGill B
*Osgoode A
Queen’s B
Cornell C

Queen’s E
*McGill C
*Yale A
Dal A

The semifinals included:
Yale A
*McGill C
*Alaska A
UBC A

Queen’s D
Osgoode A
*UBC B
*McGill B

The champion debate team was UBC B on Closing Opp.
Alaska A (Opening Gov)
McGill C (Opening Opp)
McGill B (Closing Gov)

The top 5 speakers after 5 preliminary rounds were:
1st Place: Rudi Lof of Osgoode A
2nd Place (tie): Saro Setrakian of MGill B & Michael Imeson of Alaska A

4th Place: James Kilcup of Alaska A

5th Place: Sean Stefanik of McGill B

The motions at Hart House were:

Rd 1: THS Turkish membership in the EU.
Rd 2: THS the use of bounty hunters.
Rd 3: TH opposes the ahistorical inclusion of minorities in television and film.
Rd 4: THB China should forcibly reintegrate Taiwan.
Rd 5: Provided we have the technology, THW allow human cloning.
1/4s: THS a 100% death tax.
Semis: THB when states are unable to defend themselves by conventional means, targeting civilian populations are a legitimate act of war.
Finals: THW not contact undiscovered human populations.

Thanks to Shawn Briscoe for sending these to me.

National Debate Series: Boston, Nov 10th‏

2009-11-03T06:38:00.000Z

The National Debate Series: Boston is a FREE event taking place at BU's Morse Auditorium on November 10th from 7 to 10pm. It will bring together the debate teams from Harvard, MIT, BU, and BC, and special guest Steve Pagliuca, co-owner of the Boston Celtics and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, to debate four topics: the public health insurance option, "don't ask don't tell", sending more troops to Afghanistan, and nuclear energy. The event is hosted by Politalk – a Boston area political talk program - in partnership with Debatepedia, who is providing extensive pro/con materials on the above topics for audience members and the general public.

http://www.nationaldebateseries.com/

http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/National_Debate_Series:_Boston

Sydney Win UTS IV

2009-11-03T06:36:00.001Z

UTS IV was held over the weekend of October 24th - 25th. The tournament was won by Tim Mooney & Naomi Hart (University of Sydney) from Opening Government on the motion This House would end 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' . Runners up include Su-Min Lim & Ben Williams (University of New South Wales), Paul Karp & Daniel Swain (University of Sydney), and Ravi Dutta & Sam Greenland (Composite).

Best speaker of the tournament was Seamus Coleman (University of Melbourne).

Koc Worlds 2010 | Institutional Team Cap Extension

2009-11-01T20:43:00.001Z

Dear debating community,

We are writing with some good news for people who are still left out of Worlds and who want to come. After some late cancellations and non-payments, we have our final batch of teams available this week. We will also be confirming whether or not those judges who have applied to Can Okar or one of the DCAs will be invited to attend.

What is different this time is that we are allowing institutions to ask for more than one team up to a limit of four teams. This means that if you currently have three teams, you can apply for one additional team. If you have no teams, you can apply for up to four. We will not need additional judges at this stage so if you go from three to four teams, we will not require an additional judge.

Given the late stage at which we are, we will need those universities that want to send teams to contact BOTH Hasan Sadik Arik at h.s.arik@kocworlds2010.com and Fatih Mehmet Inal at f.inal@kocworlds2010.com by Wednesday 4 November 2009. We cannot entertain applications after this stage. If demand exceeds our supply, we will carry out a draw that evening (in the presence of a member of the Worlds Council Executive) and invite teams to pay us on Thursday. You will have no more than one week (up to 12 November 2009) to prove that you have paid into our account so we only invite those teams to apply that can actually pay. This is important: people keep on taking up our offers and then not paying – after this week, we will finalise the numbers with our hotel and no additional registration can be taken. If you apply now and don’t pay, please recognise that you will have stolen a place irretrievably from someone who could have come. We will indicate how you can prove you have paid in our mail to you on Thursday.

The cost of registration will be 490 EUR per person. There are many institutions who have already paid this who will be reimbursed as we noted in our previous mails about registration (i.e. they are now in the top 360 by virtue of drop-outs). We will contact them and reimburse them at Worlds.

I hope this is the very final phase of registration. It’s been an interesting journey and one that was time-consuming. We are relieved to be coming to the final stages so that we can concentrate on our next big challenges!

Regards,

Fatih Mehmet Inal
Co-Convenor, Worlds 2010

Pan Pacific Championships Results

2009-10-29T06:58:00.000Z

Aloha colleagues,

The Hawaii Pacific University Sea Warrior Debate Society hosted the third annual Pan Pacific Championship Debate Tournament, October 16-18 at our Hawaii Loa Campus. Twenty-four debate teams representing 11 universities from Hawaii, the US mainland and Malaysia competed in World style debate for the title of Pan Pacific Champions of debate! Portland State University (Aaron Baker and Lindsay Bing) won the overall Championship title and a team from the University of Hawaii (Ben Siegel and Daniel Hugo) won the title of the overall best team from Hawaii.

This year the tournament featured the following topics:

THW This house would classify crimes motivated by a victim’s homeless status as “hate- crimes”.
THB undocumented immigrants should be eligible for financial aid for higher education.
THB the United Nations should protect the Arctic.
THW increase its support of military efforts in Afghanistan.
THB the International Criminal Court should prosecute war crimes in Gaza.
THW exchange personal privacy for counter terrorism monitoring.

Finals: THB that President Obama should not have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Two teams from the Portland State University (Kelly Welch and Sean Partch; Aaron Baker And Lindsay Bing), one from University of Hawaii, Manoa (Ben Siegel and Daniel Hugo) and a composite team from University of La Vern and Universiti Teknologi Mara (John Martin, Hazwani Zainal) reached the grand final round held at the Kalama Beach House in Kailua, HI.

Before the final round, teams were treated to Hawaiian style BBQ on the beach and a Hula performance. Other institutions represented at the tournament were University of Southern Illinois, Northwest University, California State University San Bernardino, Hawaii Pacific University, Claremont McKenna College, California State University, Fullerton and Rocky Mountain.

The Pan Pacific Championship will be moving to February. See you in Spring 2011 in paradise!

Mahalo,
Rose Helens-Hart
Director of Debate
Hawaii Pacific University

Singapore Debate Open 2009

2009-10-27T06:27:00.002Z

Hi All!

The Singapore Debate Open 2009 is now officially open for registration. Attached is the official invitation letter. We would like to extend our warmest invitation to all to register. The basic details once again are:

Date: 12-13 December, 2009
Venue: NUS Law Campus, Bukit Timah
Debate: BP Style, 4 prelim rounds, Quarters, Semis, Grand Final
Cost: S$50 per team/S$25 per adjudicator/debater

This open invitational tournament promises to be one of the most prestigious and competitive events in the local debate calendar. Over the past two years, the SDO attracted teams from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, local debaters based in the Ivy and Oxbridge circuit and many notable illustrious members of the debating alumni. This tournament is perfect for exposure to a high level of debating and for training for the upcoming World Universities Debating Championships and the rest of the debate year ahead!

This year we are proud to have 2 very accomplished individuals as our CA and DCA, on top of a very high quality adjudicators' pool.

Ms. Sarala Subramaniam is currently a Senior Legal Associate at Rajah and Tann LLP. An esteemed alumnus of the NUS Debate team, she was the Deputy Chief Adjudicator for the Asian University Debating Championships 2006 held in Manila. In the 2003 Australasian Championships, her team was ranked second on the tab.

Mr. Suthen Thomas is one of the Deputy Chief Adjudicators for this year’s World University Debating Championships (WUDC). Better known as Tate, he is a graduate of Multimedia University in Malaysia. In a debating career spanning seven years, he has reached the Octo Finals of Worlds, the Grand Final of Australs and was the Champion of All-Asians in 2005.

To register, please send an email to singaporedebateopen2009@gmail.com with the following details:
1. Institution name
2. No. of teams with names of team members
3. No. of adjudicators and their names
4. Dietary preferences if any/any other relevant information.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at the above email address should you have any further queries. We look forward to hearing from you and meeting you at the Singapore Debate Open 2009.

More details can be found at our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174709185336&index=1).

Please note that registration closes on the 4th of December 2009.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Warmest regards,
NUS Debating Society

Botswana Worlds 2011 : Call for DCAs

2009-10-27T06:03:00.001Z

Dear Global Debate Community,

It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the organising committee of Botswana Worlds 2011 to invite applications for Deputy Chief Adjudicators (DCA) to join our Adjudication Team. We are looking for 2 or 3 individuals who,

have strong adjudication and debate experience at the international level in the Worlds format (organisational experience is a plus but is not required)
are actively involved in their debate communities and will be until December 2010
have time to communicate regularly (by email and skype) with other members of the adjudication team
can be in Botswana at least one week before Worlds 2011 (19th December 2010)
work well under pressure, doesn't really need sleep, and has other essential qualities of an exceptional DCA

The Application Process
There will be two phases, an Application phase and a Public Review phase

Application Phase - this phase begins now and ends on the 13th of November. More information below.
Review Phase - will run for two weeks soon after the application deadline expires. A list of all applicants will be published and the Worlds debate community will have the opportunity to provide feedback. The objective of the feedback should be to provide further information about the candidate that is relevant to their application or character references. Feedback should be provided directly to the adjudication team and will be treated with utmost discretion and sensitivity. These comments will not be made public (even after worlds) or accessible to the applicants (even if they are successful). Also the number of comments a candidate gets will have no bearing on the chances of their appointment.

De La Salle to bid for Worlds 2012

2009-10-23T06:55:00.000+01:00

Just want you to know that we are really working hard here in Manila for our worlds bid this December. Preparations are in full swing! :-)

We are really hopeful that we would be able to bring the Worlds back to Asia and in the Philippines. :-)

IDEA/BFSU Worlds Style Tournament

2009-10-23T06:52:00.000+01:00

Registration now open for the annual IDEA/BFSU Four-Team Worlds Style Tournament

Every year, the International Debate Education Association partners with Beijing Foreign Studies University to present an amazing experience in historical culture and debate. This fourth annual international university tournament will be from December 11-13, 2009, at Beijing Foreign Studies Univeristy, and will feature English, Mandarin, and Moot Court divisions.

The format of the tournament is four-team (Worlds style) parliamentary debate. Training for judges and debaters will also be available immediately before the tournament, which upon successful completion qualified adjudicators will receive official IDEA accreditation.

To register or to find out more about the free tournament, visit our website: http://www.idebate.org/events/index.php?event_id=131

SOAS IV results

2009-10-23T06:50:00.000+01:00

From Britishdebate:

I would like to thank those who attended the SOAS IV last weekend. I have attached the tab. Particular congratulations go Cambridge B (Doug Cochran and Sean Koh) who won the SOAS IV beating LSE A (Rushabh Ranavat and Art Ward), Oxford HJ (Thomas Hoskins and Ben Jasper) and TCD Hist C (Huw Duffy and Jonathan Kelly) in the Final. Mhairi Murdoch (Cambridge A) topped the speaker tab.
For anybody who happens to be curious, the motions were:

R1: THW never release prisoners on compassionate grounds.
R2: THBT states should redistribute wealth beyond the provision of basic security.
R3: THBT Western countries should stop forcing the developing world to respect patents for life-saving drugs.
R4: THBT the West should treat Islamic terrorists and suspected terrorists the same as prisoners of war.
R5: THW abolish state-endorsed marriage.
Semi: THBT an adult can consent to anything.
Final: THBT those who buy non-essential items rather than donating to charity are morally responsible for the deaths of starving Africans.

SSE Riga IV 2009‏

2009-10-22T06:59:00.001+01:00

This year as usual we are conducting the oldest and one of the most prestigious debate tournaments in the Central and Eastern Europe - the SSE Riga IV.

General details: CA: Arvydas Ziobakas – a long term member of the SSE Riga Debate Society, Oxford IV 2008 quarter finalist, the ESL champion of Cambridge IV 2008, the 8th best ESL speaker of EUDC 2009.

DCA: Will Jones - reigning WUDC champion, the champion of EUDC 2008.

Registration fee: 70 EUR per team and 30 EUR per adjudicator. n-1 ruleis applied for the teams from the Baltics.

We also have a webpage where all the additional information could befound: www.sserigads.com

Our e-mail is sserigaiv@gmail.com

In case you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them.
Yours faithfully
Nikita Pusnakovs
Chief convener

World Schools Registration

2009-10-22T06:54:00.001+01:00

From WSDC list

Greetings everyone.
I am delighted to let you all know that registration for WSDC 2010 is now open. The website is

http://www.wsdc2010doha.com/

The site is vibrant and easy to navigate, packed with information not only about registering but also about debating, WSDC, Qatar, the schedule for 2010, visas, Qatari embassies around the world, accommodation, transport...you name it!!

Happy surfing and I hope you find the site comprehensive, informative, engaging and motivating.

Bring on Doha and the battle of minds!!

Kind regards.
Ka kite ano te whanau

Claire Ryan,
Chairperson, Executive Committee,
WSDC Ltd .

Debate Update From Malaysia

2009-10-22T06:51:00.001+01:00

Debate Update From Malaysia:

UiTM (Universiti Teknologi Mara) would like to thank the support of every participating institutions in making UiTM IV a success from the 10th -11th October 2009.
Though UiTM hosted it in British Parliamentary format this year, the quality of the tournament remains the same as last year's that was in Asian Parliamentary Format. There were 68 participating teams in this tournament, making it one of the biggest English Debating IV in Malaysia thus far this season. Heads up for Reza & Amin, both covenors, on making this IV a success.

The motions for each rounds were

Round 1: THBT Western Liberal Democracies Should Ban The Use Of Face Veils
Round 2: THW Arm Local Militias To Fight The Taliban
Round 3: THW Not Support The 1 Malaysia F1 Team
Round 4: THW Legalize Porn That Depict Rape
Quarter Finals: TH Believes In A Unilateral Military Offensive By Israel Against Iranian Nuclear Facilities
Semi Finals: THBT The Government Has A Legal Responsibility To Provide Health care
Finals: THW Do Away With Vernacular Schools

Semifinalists were:
UT Mara 1 (Maketab & Izwan)
UT Mara 4 (Syafiq & Stifler)
Mara Veterans (Hafiedz & ShaQ)
IIUM 1 (Daniel & Senad)
IIUM 12 (Meor & Faiz)
IIUM 5 (Zamir & Zaimah)
MMU 1 (Ips & Groobie)
MMU 2 (Fangz & Gluteus)

*UT Mara - Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia
*IIUM - International Islamic University Malaysia
*MMU - Multimedia University, Malaysia

Finalists Were:
UT Mara 1 (Maketab & Izwan)
Mara Veterans (Hafiedz & ShaQ)
IIUM 1 (Daniel & Senad)
MMU1 (Ips & Groobie)

Champion : UT Mara 1
Runner Up : MMU 1
Best Speaker in the Final Round: Izwan from UT Mara

Top 10 best Speakers of the tournament are as follows :
1 MMU 1 IPS 314
2 IIUM 1 DANIAL 309
3 UT MARA 1 MAKETAB 309
4 MARA VETERANS HAFIEDZ 309
5 KDU 3 SIRON 308
6 IIUM 12 MEOR 307
7 MARA VETERANS SHAQ 307
8 IIUM 3 TASNEEM 305
9 IIUM 5 ZAIMAH 305
10 IIUM 12 FAIZ 305

In addition, we would also like to thank the adjudication core...
our CA: Faiz Masai (UT MARA)
DCA's : Balloons (MMU Malacca)
Hendra (Unisel)
Yunus (Independant)

and alumni's from various universities that were willing to spend your quality time to adjudicate at UiTM IV during the weekend.

Last but not least, a huge thanks to the tabmistress Afiah and her mentor tabmaster Aizek 'bean' Busu .. .. ..

PAUDC update

2009-10-22T06:47:00.002+01:00

To all African Debaters and debaters everywhere

This is just a quick update on the PAUDC. Early registration for the Pan-African Debating Championships is now closed .Late registration opens on Tuesday 20th October until Friday 20th November. If you have not already paid your registration fee or indicated that you will be attending please do so as soon as possible as there is less than two months left before the tournament. We will be closing registration as soon as we reach the team cap.

The following institutions have paid and registered to participate in this year’s PAUDC

Registered and Paid

CUT South Africa, Welkom Campus

NIIT- Botswana

University of Limpopo

Wits University

University of Botswana

Limkowing University of Creative Technology

Legae Academy

AL-Nur School

Naledi Senior Secondary School

Rhodes Park School of Zambia

Frank Hardee-Independent Adjudicator England

Logan- Malaysia/South Korea

James Dray- Trainer DCA –United Kingdom

James Black-Independent UK

Ben Ryan-Independent-UK

Graham Sowa-United States of America

University of Zimbabwe

Registered but have not paid registration fees.

Botswana National Schools Team

Derec Nigeria

Uganda

Selebi Phikwe Senior Secondary School

Cameroon

Igbinedion University Okada, Edo state, Nigeria

Rhodes University

NYDT Zimbabwe

University of Zambia

University of Namibia

Namibia Polytechnic

Kenyatta University

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

University of Zimbabwe

Africa University

National University of Science and Technology

University of the Free State

St Josephs College

Selibi Phikwe Senior Secondary School

Pitikwe Secondary school

Livingstone Kolobeng College

Rainbow College

University of Johannesburg Debate Society (Bunting Road campus)

University of Johannesburg (APK)

National University of Lesotho

Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria Campus

Tshwane University of Technology, Garankua Campus

Monash University-South Africa

Walter Sisulu University-Butterworth

UKZN (Howard College)

University of Calabar

Mary Furlong- Independent adjudicator Zambia

For those who still wish to register, Registration Fees for institutions must be deposited in the below account:

Bank Name: Capital Bank

UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA- DEBATE MASTERS ASSOCIATION

ACCOUNT NO: 0020025790131

BANK CODE: 800267

BRANCH CODE: 80-02-67

SWIFT CODE: CAPLBWGAXXX

Please remember that the costs of the bank transfer should be paid by you – we should get the net sum. Email Graham Sowa at convenorpaudc@gmail.com for all registration details.

Sincerely,

Justice Motlhabani

+267 72467417 debatemasters@yahoo.com

PAUDC Convenor

www.paudc.africandebating.org

Copenhagen summit

2009-10-22T06:42:00.001+01:00

Dear sir or madam,

I am the founder and chief executive of Debatewise.com, a leading debating web site. I'm also on the board of the International Debate Education Association, one of the largest youth debating organisations in the world. I'm emailing to propose a way of engaging young people in a global debate on issues around the Copenhagen summit.

The idea arose from the World Online Debating Championship, an event which has just ended and was the first of its kind. We had entrants from 25 countries and five different continents and they told us they loved debating with young people from other cultures in a way that didn’t involve great travel expense or environmental cost.

We propose using our software, our experience and the extensive contacts we have in the global debating community, to get young people involved in a global debate around the specific issues arising from the summit.

We propose two specific elements to our event:
During the summit: We form a panel of 1,000 young people from various different countries around the world. Some members debate the issues or conclusions from the summit as they arise, others vote on these debates. This forms an up-to-the minute indication of what young people around the world think of what delegates are doing.

After the summit: Young people debate the impact of the agreements and commitments made during the summit on their own country. They discuss whether they will work, the consequences that may result and what else they would like to see happen. In this way, we take what happens during the summit into the lives of people and make it real for them. We get the opportunity to counter misconceptions and motivate people to continue the work started in Copenhagen.

We would be very grateful for any help you could give us recruiting people for our panel. We are looking for English speakers (not native, but they will need a high level of understanding of written English and the ability to write well in English). They should be under 25, be divided equally between men and women, live in all continents of the world and represent all major religions.

If this is of interest, we’d send you a short email which you could distribute to people as you see fit.

In return, we’d be happy to ask members of the panel to debate issues important to your campaign and to use them as a mechanism for discovering global youth opinion on environmental issues.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Regards,

David Crane

About us
Debatewise
Debatewise (www.debatewise.com) is a not for profit online debating site which aims to become the Wikipedia of debate. Anyone can start a debate on any subject they like and anyone can edit and strengthen that debate. This ensures that over time the strongest and most definitive arguments emerge and so provide a highly valuable resource for anyone looking to make up their mind. Debatewise was founded in 2008 and is based in the London internet hub of Hoxton, East London. Patrons include Michael Crick, Gabby Logan and Chris Heaton Harris

The International Debate Education Association:
The International Debate Education Association (www.idebate.org) was created in 1999 and acts as an independent membership organization of national debate clubs, associations, programs, and individuals who share a common purpose: to promote mutual understanding and democracy globally by supporting discussion and active citizenship locally.”

About the debaters
Our panel of debaters will include current and ex World Champions, chief adjudicators of world events and debaters from debating clubs and universities in all four corners of the globe. For more information about the World Online Debating Championship please see here: www.debatewise.com/wodc and here: www.debatewise.com/wodc-debates

--
www.debatewise.com
020 3393 7223 | 07956 292 567
www.twitter.com/debatewise

Delays in posting

2009-10-22T06:39:00.000+01:00

I have been a little slow in updating the site in recent weeks. I've just been very busy at work and with an 11 month old at home. Keep sending in the updates and I'll try to be faster in updating them.

Oxford win UCL 2009

2009-10-14T07:06:00.001+01:00

From Britishdebate:

Hello everyone,

Many congratulations to Oxford LW, Arthur Learoyd & Leo Watkins, who last night won the UCL President's Cup 2009. Many congratulations also to Oxford BC (Hugh Burns & Jen Coyne), Cambridge JN (Jack Gamble & Natalie Smith) and Cambridge WP (Will Bott & Pierpaolo Barbieri) for reaching the final.

I'd like to repeat my many thanks to Anjana, the Convenor, for her superb organisation of the competition, to all the UCL helpers who made the event possible, to Bryn Gough for being such a great DCA, and to Stephen Goodman for tabbing the competition.

I'd also like to repeat my thanks to all the judges that came along and provided one of the best judging pools at a competition I have yet seen. When an preliminary round panel contains two world champions, a worlds finalist, european champion and euros finalist, I'm not sure things can get much better.

Stephen will be releasing the tab shortly, in the meantime I'd also like to congratulate Jack Gamble from Cambridge for topping the speaker tab. The top-ten speakers are listed below:

1. Jack Gamble
2. Ben Woolgar
3. Jen Coyne
4. Hugh Burns
5=. Pierpaolo Barbieri
5=. Natalie Smith
7. Lauren Pringle
8. Will Bott
9. Ben Lewy
10. Scott Ralston

Many congratulations, and many thanks to everyone,

Jonathan Leader Maynard
Chief Adjudicator, UCL President's Cup 2009