New Zealand Schools’ Debating

The New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council is pleased to announce the following dates for the Russell McVeagh Regional Schools Debating Championships in 2009.

Northland: 9/10 May
Auckland: 2/3 May
Waikato: 4/5 April
CNI: 16/17 May
Hawke’s Bay: 2/3 May
Wellington: 4/5 April
Nelson/Malborough: 4/5 April
Canterbury: 16/17 May
Otago/Southland: 23/24 May

More information, such as venues and regional convenors, will be posted here soon (and mailed to schools). For more information in the interim, please contact the President of the Council.

The Council is pleased to announce that it has reappointed Julia Fetherston and Kevin Moar as coaches of the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team which will attend the 2009 World Schools’ Debating Championships in Athens, Greece, in February 2009.

Jen was on Breakfast yesterday morning. You can view the video on the TVNZ website here.

Some kind soul taped the WSDC 2008 semi-final between Scotland and New Zealand. You can see it through googlevideo here.

The Grand Final was also taped. See just how close it was here.

NB: A broadband connection will probably be necessarily to view these.

Maria English was the 11th best speaker on the tab. Well done Maria – an amazing effort. We’re still waiting for the full tab.

UPDATE: Holly Jenkins was actually 3rd equal on the tab, rather than 4th, as was read out on the night. Well done Holly!

Jen and the team’s success was covered in this morning’s Dom Post. See this link for the story.

And David Farrar, an old student debater himself, has been covering the team’s success. See here, here, and here.

Check out the photo gallery for more photos from the World Schools’ Debating Championships. (updated 16/9/08)

Amazing news just in from Washington. Jen Savage has become only the second New Zealander ever, and the first in the “modern era” (where the speaker prizes are calculated using individual scores from the preliminary rounds, as opposed to an actual individual speaking competition – which was a comedy contest) to win the best speaker prize.

UPDATE: Ben Kornfeld was the 2nd best speaker and Holly Jenkins was 4th.

These are amazing results and reflect just how much New Zealand dominated the tournament.

See the story on Stuff and a photo of Jen on the WSDC Blog.

In the Grand Final of the 2008 World Schools’ Debating Championships held in Washington DC this morning (NZ Time), New Zealand narrowly lost to England in a 5-4 decision.

Commiserations to the team losing in the final but congratulations for such a superb record up to this point. All of the New Zealand schools’ debating community is immensely proud of you – and we’re sure you can go one better in Athens in February!

Check out the photo gallery for more photos from the World Schools’ Debating Championships.

This morning (NZ time), New Zealand defeated Scotland in the semis by a 7-0 margin, proposing the motion “This house would drop all US sanctions on Cuba.”

There is a photo of the teams here.

England beat Greece by 5-2.

This is the first time NZ has made the Worlds Final since 1995!! A long time between drinks but we are very hopeful the team can go all the way.

The topic for the final is: “This House would expand the permanent membership of the UN Security Council.”

NZ is proposing, England opposing.

The debate is at 6.30am NZ time on Monday morning. The site will be updated as soon as we hear the results from Washington.

Go NZ!