The Council has appointed Joe Connell as this year’s Nationals Chief Adjudicator.
Joe is a highly experienced schools debating coach and adjudicator. He won the National Champs in 2002 as a member of the CNI Team and coached the CNI Team in 2006 and 2007. He has adjudicated at the Wellington, CNI and Hawke’s Bay Regional tournaments for a number of years and was a highly successful university debater who has been the best speaker at all three major NZ tournaments.
The Council has also appointed Christopher Bishop and Gareth Richards to join Joe as part of the Motions Committee for this year’s tournament.
Christopher is the President of the Schools’ Debating Council and has served on the Nationals Motions Committee for a number of years. He recently adjudicated at the World Schools’ Debating Championships for New Zealand.
Gareth is a former executive officer of the Council, coach of a Wellington regional team, and competitor at Nationals for CNI in 2001. He has adjudicated at numerous regional tournaments in New Zealand as well as at the World University and Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships.