New Zealand Schools’ Debating

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.

Congratulations to Tom Chen, a member of the 2008 NZ Team which won the 2009 World Champs in Athens. Tom now studies at the Australian National University in Canberra, and he recently debated for ANU at the Australian Intervarsity Debating Champs, which involved over 100 teams and 300 debaters from all around Australia. Tom was ranked as the 8th best speaker at the tournament; a remarkable achievement. Tom’s team also reached the octo-finals.

There was a huge amount of NZSDC alumni competing and judging at the recent World Universities’ Debating Championships held in Turkey.

Two teams of all-NZSDC alumni fought their way through 388 teams and made it to the octo-finals, where they were knocked out.

• Victoria A – Stephen Whittington (Nationals 03, 04, NZ Team 04) and Polly Higbee (Nationals 03, 04, NZ Team 04) – broke 29th
• Auckland A – Ben Milsom (Nationals 03) and Stephanie Thompson (Nationals 07) – broke in 32nd place.

Congrats also go to the following Victoria teams who narrowly missed the break:

• Victoria B – Seb Templeton and Ella Edginton (Nationals 07, NZ Team 07) who finished 48th;
• Victoria C – Kathy Scott-Dowell (Nationals 05, 06, NZ Team 05, 06) and Richard D’Ath (Nationals 06, NZ Team 06) who finished 43rd.

NZSDC alumni were also active on the judging front. Current President of the Council, Christopher Bishop, judged the Grand Final of the tournament. Sayeqa Islam (Nationals 98, 99, NZ Team 98) judged the ESL Grand Final. Jonathan Orpin (Nationals 01, NZ Team 01) judged the main break semis and Jesse Wilson (Nationals 98, 99, NZ Team 98, 99) judged the ESL semi-finals. Gareth Richards (Nationals 01), also broke as a judge.

Congrats to all the NZSDC alumni who participated at the recent Australasian Intervarsity Debating Champs in Melbourne, Australia. In particular, hearty congrats to:

• Stephen Whittington, Polly Higbee and Ella Edginton – who finished as runners-up, representing Victoria University of Wellington
• Glenn Riddell and Craig Riddell who broke in 8th position for Auckland 1, knocked-out in the octo-finals
• Stephanie Thompson, Ben Milson and Mitchell Cooper who broke in 12th position as Auckland 2, knocked out in the octo-finals
• Sayeqa Islam who acted as a DCA for the tournament and who judged the semi-finals
• Christopher Bishop, Ranald Clouston, Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna, who all judged the semi-finals and were conflicted out of the final!
• Brad Ward and Clodagh who judged the ESL Grand Final;Sarah Keast and Louis Chambers, who also broke as judges.

The latest edition of the NZ Schools’ Debating Council newsletter “Declined for Rudeness” is now available to download: Download Now

If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter, please email the president of the NZSDC: president@debating.org.nz

On Monday 11 May the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Hon John Key, hosted a reception in the Grand Hall of the New Zealand Parliament to congratulate the world champion Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team.

Update: Photos from this event are now available in the photo gallery.

The speeches from the event were videoed and you can see them by clicking here or at the bottom of this post. The Prime Minister speaks first, followed by Maria English (Captain of the NZ team), Tim Clarke (Partner at Russell McVeagh), and Christopher Bishop, the President of the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council.

Also present were the Minister of Education, Hon Anne Tolley, the Attorney-General, Hon Christopher Finlayson, the Minister of Revenue, Hon Peter Dunne, and Jacinda Ardern MP (a New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council alumna), along with proud family and friends.