Palmerston North Boys’ win Central North Island Regionals 2009
The Russell McVeagh Central North Island Regional Debating Champs was held at St Peter’s College, Palmerston North, on Sunday 17 May. 10 teams from 7 schools from around the region were in attendance for a gruelling, one day, competition.
The first two rounds were prepared debates with teams arguing thoroughly prepared cases for and against government funding for the arts.
This was followed by two rounds of limited preparation debating as competitors debated the merits of banning tobacco and assassinating dictators. It was impressive to see competitors in their first ever limited preparation debates handle these complicated issues with confidence.
The preliminary rounds left Palmerston North Boys’ High School as top qualifiers on four wins and no losses. They came up against Wanganui High A in the final, who proceeded through narrowly over Wanganui Collegiate and Wanganui High B on win points.
The teams were given 50 minutes to prepare for the final, on the topic “This House supports bail-outs for struggling companies”. After a lively debate, Palmerston North Boys’ High were declared the winners by a unanimous panel of adjudicators, winning the Sir Michael Hardie Boys’ Cup.
Best Speaker of the Tournament:
Hamish Journeaux (Palmerston North Boys’ High School)
Central North Island Team for National Finals in August:
Hamish Journeaux (Palmerston North Boys’ High School)
Brierley Penn (Wanganui High School)
Alex Carswell (Palmerston North Girls’ High School)
Reserves to the Central North Island Team:
Aric Shakur (Palmerston North Boys’ High School)
James Penn (Wanganui High School)
We wish them all the best and have every expectation of success in August!
Josh Cameron
CNI Convenor, 2009