King’s College win Auckland Regionals
The 2012 Russell McVeagh Auckland Regional Schools Debating Championships were held over the weekend of 12 – 13 May at St Cuthbert’s College. This year’s Auckland Regionals was the largest ever, with a record 36 teams entering. Judges commented that this Regionals was the highest quality that Auckland had seen, and speakers who made it through to the finals rounds or received speaker prizes should be very proud.
The teams debated a diverse range of topics, from banning beauty pageants, to legalizing performance-enhancing drugs in sport, to chemically castrating sex offenders. Speakers received feedback from talented judges throughout the four preliminary rounds and three finals rounds, and very much enjoyed the weekend.
The eight teams progressing forward to the quarter-finals were King’s, Kristin, St Cuths, Westlake Boys 2, St Mary’s, Grammar 1, St Kents 1 and Grammar 2, with Kristin, King’s, St Cuths and Westlake Boys progressing to the semi-finals.
The Grand Final, with King’s affirming and Kristin negating, was on the motion “This house would make the receipt of the Domestic Purposes Benefit conditional on the administration of long-acting contraceptive”. The judging panel, which included visiting Council members Desley Horton and Stephen Whittington, were split 3-2 in giving the debate to King’s, reflecting the closeness of the debate.
Over the course of the weekend, adjudicators had the difficult task of selecting a squad of six debaters to compete at the Russell McVeagh National Schools Debating Championships in Wellington in August. A variety of other speakers were awarded prizes:
Auckland Schools’ Development Squad:
Jesse Medcalf (Westlake Boys)
Sabrina Yeh (St Cuthbert’s College)
Kellin Wang (St Cuthbert’s College)
Alex Johnston (Auckland Grammar School)
Lauren Holloway (St Mary’s)
Chris Ryan (Howick College).
Most Promising Speaker: Kayla Polamalu (St Mary’s College)
Highly Commended awards:
Jesse Medcalf (King’s College)
Howell Fu (Auckland Grammar School)
Lauren Holloway (St Mary’s College)
Reserves to the Auckland Schools’ Debating Squad:
James Rankin (Westlake Boys’ High School)
Jamie Beaton (King’s College)
Auckland Schools’ Debating Squad:
Ashley Varney (King’s College)
Ishika Jayasinghe (St Cuthbert’s College)
Jessy Wu (St Cuthbert’s College)
Kayla Polamalu (St Mary’s College)
Mitchell Smitheram (Kristin School)
Richard Ngo (King’s College)
Convenor’s Cup for Best Speaker: Mitchell Smitheram (Kristin School)
Stephanie Thompson
Auckland Convenor 2012