Wanganui High School defend CNI Title
On 26-27 May the 2012 Russell McVeagh Central North Island Regional Debating Championships were held at Palmerston North Boys’ High School. Twelve teams from Wanganui, Palmerston North, and Marton took part.
Rounds 1 and 2 were on the prepared motion “This House would legalise internet piracy”, which produced some interesting debates about Kim Dotcom and left the adult adjudicators impressed with the students’ knowledge of the intricacies of internet hacking!
The rest of the tournament consisted of limited preparation debates, where teams had 30 minutes to prepare. The limited preparation topics were “This House believes beauty pagaents are bad for society”, “This House would legalise performance enhancing drugs”, and “This House supports a maximum wage.”
On Sunday afternoon the tournament was narrowed to semi-finals. Wanganui High School qualified unbeaten on 5 wins from 5. On 4 wins was Palmerston North Boys’ High B and Nga Tawa B. In fourth position was Boys’ High A.
In the semis, Wanganui High defeated Boys’ High A in a 2-1 decision and Boys’ High B beat Nga Tawa B in a unanimous decision. The motion was “This House would withhold development aid from undemocratic governments.”
The Grand Final was held in front of a good crowd in the Boys’ High library on the topic “This House would ban smoking.” After a lively and entertaining debate which even featured audience interaction (by way of a show of hands to illustrate a speaker’s point), Wanganui High School were declared the winners, winning the Hardie Boys Cup for a second year in a row.
A series of awards were presented at the prize-giving.
Promising speakers:
Rhaz Solomon (Wanganui High)
Amaan Merchant (Wanganui High)
Most Promising Speaker: Lucy Robinson (Nga Tawa A)
Highly Commended:
Yige Cao (Palmerston North Girls’ High School)
Lucy Robinson (Nga Tawa A)
Reserves to the CNI Team:
Rhys Judd (Palmerston North Boys’ High School A)
Matthew Atherton (Palmerston North Boys’ High School B)
Central North Island Team 2012:
James Penn (Wanganui High School)
Savanna Gaskill (Nga Tawa B)
Liam Barber (Palmerston North Boys’ High School B)
Best Speaker: James Penn (Wanganui High)
Thanks very much to Palmerston North Boys’ High School, who hosted the tournament. Many thanks also to the adjudicators – Aric Shakur, Christopher Bishop, Yogesh Patel, Ella Edginton, Jenna Raeburn, Daniel Wilson, Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna and Elizabeth Begley.
Thanks also to Aric Shakur for convening the competition, and Yogesh Patel for assisting.