NZSDC alumni have done spectacularly well at the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Champs which concluded yesterday at the University of Auckland. 100 teams took part in one of the most prestigious and largest debating tournaments in the world, and the final featured five speakers who have debated at the New Zealand National Champs (and one coach)! It was also the first all-New Zealand final that anyone can remember.
The winning team from Victoria University of Wellington was Stephen Whittington (Nationals 03/04), Udayan Mukherjee (Nationals 07) and Ella Edginton (Nationals 07). The runner-up team from the University of Auckland featured Stephanie Thompson (Nationals 07), Akif Malik (Nationals 2005) and Kathy Errington (Auckland Coach 09/10)
Another Victoria team also reached the semi-finals. Congratulations to Richard D’Ath (Nationals 06), Paul Smith (Nationals 07), and Seb Templeton (Wellington Coach 09) who were knocked out by the eventual champions.
It’s also worth noting that Stephen Whittington was the 2nd best speaker of the tournament and Seb Templeton was the 7th equal. Stephen also won the Jock Fanselow Cup for being the Best Speaker in the Grand Final.
Other NZSDC alumni to do well included Aria Newfield (Nationals 09), Josh Baxter (Nationals 09) and Gretta Schumacher (Nationals 08), Nupur Upadhyay (Nationals 08), Sam Bookman (Nationals 07), and Craig Riddell (Nationals 06) who all reached the octo-finals for Auckland University.
