Scots win Wellington Regionals for third year in a row
The 2008 Wellington Regional Debating Championships were held on Tuesday 11 March and Saturday 15 March at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. The Championships were fortunate this year to be supported by the Drug Foundation, who provided the schools with dinner on Tuesday, lunch on Saturday, and prizes for the winners and best speaker. Eighteen teams from fourteen schools competed in the tournament.
In Rounds 1 and 2 of the tournament the teams debated both sides of the motion “This House would legalise the opium trade.” In Round 3, a limited preparation debate, teams considered whether it was in the interests of environmental groups to engage in civil disobedience. In Round 4, teams debated whether all government funding of the arts should be abolished.
Four schools made it through to the semi-finals: Scots College, Samuel Marsden, Wellington College, and Wellington East Girls’ College. Commiserations to St Mary’s College, who missed out on the semi-finals on win points. In the semi-finals, on the motion “This House would sign a free trade agreement with China”, Scots defeated Wellington College (2-1) and Marsden defeated Wellington East (3-0).
The Grand Final was on the motion “This House would allow individuals to sell their organs”, reflecting the Bioethics Council’s continued support of the Championships as the Council’s Regional Partner. In a close and tightly fought debate, Scots (affirming) defeated Marsden in a 2-1 decision.
Winning team: Scots College (Richard Vose, Luke Laban, Nick Cross)
A number of awards were given out after the tournament. Highly Commended awards were given to Lauren Brazier (Paraparaumu College) and Charlotte Davis (Queen Margaret College). The Most Promising Speaker of the Championships was Julia Wells (Wellington East Girls’ College). The two reserves to the Wellington Schools’ Debating squad are Hunter Douglas (Wellington College) and Elisha Watson (Samuel Marsden). The six members of the Wellington Schools’ Debating squad are:
- Holly Jenkins (Sacred Heart College)
- Julia Wells (Wellington East’ Girls College)
- Johanna McDavitt (St Mary’s College)
- Nick Cross (Scots College)
- Frances Ratner (Queen Margaret College)
- Maria English (Samuel Marsden Collegiate School)
Wellington Regional Squad 2008 (L-R, Johanna McDavitt, Nick Cross, Holly Jenkins, Maria English, Frances Ratner)
The best speaker of the Championships was Maria English.
Best Speaker: Maria English
Thank you to Marsden for hosting the Championships, for the fourth successive year, and to all of the excellent adjudicators who gave up their time: Gareth Richards, Christopher Bishop, Joe Connell, Josh Cameron, Rosemary Dixon, Kevin Moar, Jonathan Orpin, Rosy Moar, Kathy Scott-Dowell, Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna, Polly Higbee, Kathy Errington, Hugh McCaffrey, Yogesh Patel, Ella Edginton, Paul Smith, and Udayan Mukherejee.
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2007 Championship
A report on the 2007 Russell McVeagh Wellington Regional Schools’ Debating Championships is available here.
Previous Winners
Previous winners of the Wellington Regional Schools’ Debating Championships can be found here.
Previous Teams
Previous members of the Wellington Regional Schools’ Debating Team can be found here.
2005 Championship
A report on the 2005 Russell McVeagh Wellington Regional Schools’ Debating Championships is available here.