The Canterbury Regionals took place at Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti on the 18th/19th of May. 24 teams entered, the largest number of entries since the 2011 earthquake. The standard of the tournament was very high, and the adjudicators were impressed by all speakers.
The tournament consisted of four limited preparation rounds, covering topics such as religious education in state schools, whether medical decisions about children’s health should be made by doctors instead of parents, women comprising 40% of all boards in New Zealand, and the use of force by Western nations to intervene in humanitarian crises.
Breaking to the semi-finals were St Bede’s College One, Burnside High School One, St Margaret’s College One, and Villa Maria College One. Narrowly missing out on the break were St Andrew’s College, Burnside High School Two, and St Margaret’s College Two. The motion for the semi-final was “This House believes that religious officials who are opposed to gay marriage should be required by law to perform them if requested”. In a unanimous decision, Villa Maria College One beat St Bede’s College One, and in a 2-1 split Burnside High School One beat St Margaret’s College One.
The Grand Final was held in the University of Canterbury Undercroft Seminar Room, and it was great to see a large audience there to support the teams. In a closely fought debate, Burnside High School One successfully affirmed the motion “This House believes that the welfare system should aim to provide a comfortable lifestyle, rather than a lifestyle which is just above the poverty level” and took out the title.
Thanks again go to Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti for hosting us, particularly to Braden Faave for ensuring we had everything we needed. Thanks also go to Christopher Bishop, Steven Whittington, Mitchell Cooper, Tim Bain, Tom O’Brien, Sean Maskill, Sarah Hoffman, Jonathan Nicolle, Jeremy Bell-Connell, Nick Evans, Pete Harris, Ashleigh Ooi, Jennifer Smith, Cyrus Campbell, Laura Brenssell, Thomas Jordan and Bill Dieckermann for giving up their weekend to adjudicate. Special thanks go to George Mander and Sophie Maher for being absolute troopers over the weekend, and doing all the jobs that nobody wanted to do.
All in all it was a successful weekend – thank you to all the students, teachers and adjudicators that made it happen!
Congratulations to the winners of this years’ prizes:
Winners
Burnside High School
Daniel Coats
Wan Zhi Tay
Natalija Petrovic
Runners Up
Villa Maria College
Savannah Smith
Holly Moffett
Penny McRandle
Lion’s Club Canterbury Cup for the Most Improved Team
St Andrew’s College
Daniel Maier-Gant
Anita Suryani
Ben Hurley
Members of the Canterbury Regional Squad
Daniel Coats (Burnside High School)
Daniel Maier-Gant (St Andrew’s College)
Ben Maguire (St Bede’s College)
Jess Minehan Fitzgerald (Rangi Ruru Girls’ School)
Vincent Curd (Christ’s College)
Chris Cooper (St Bede’s College)
Holly Moffett (Villa Maria College)
Savannah Smith (Villa Maria College)
Savannah Adams (St Margaret’s College)
Members of the Canterbury Regional Development Squad
Nick Wilson (Shirley Boys’ High School)
Aaron Millar (Shirley Boys’ High School)
Emily Moon (St Margaret’s College)
Meghan Laing (St Margaret’s College)
Isabella Walsh (St Margaret’s College)
Most Promising Speaker
Daniel Maier-Gant (St Andrew’s College)
Best Speaker
Daniel Coats (Burnside High School)
Megan Dickie
Canterbury Regional Convenor 2013