The University of the Free State are African Champions

The University of the Free State from South Africa has emerged as the winners of the Inaugural Pan-African Universities Debating Championship which was held in Gaborone Botswana.

The final comprised:
The University of the Free State--B -Opening Government
National University of Lesotho--A –Closing Government
University of Namibia-C—Opening Opposition
University of Namibia-A- Opening Opposition

The Best Adjudicator Trophy was awarded to Carl Persat of Namibia
The Best Speaker for the tournament was –Ruth Mulenga of Botswana

The lists of participating countries were:
Nigeria
Ghana
Uganda
Kenya
Botswana
Lesotho
Namibia
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Zambia

The tournament also comprised debate trainers from the US, Botswana, South Korea and South Africa who trained the many virgin debaters from across the African continent.

This week long tournament was hosted at the University of Botswana main campus with the award ceremony at Phakalane Golf Estates.

The African Universities Debating Board which will facilitate the dissemination of training materials, coordinate Pan-African debating events and organize training sessions and help spread debate across the African continent was established at this ground breaking event.

The Chief Adjudicator for the tournament was Logan of Malaysia and the tournament was convened by Justice Motlhabani of Botswana.

For more information visit www.botsdebating.com

Debating Guide

In recent years I posted a series of "preparing for worlds" articles that were taken from a guide to Worlds style debating. I'm not going to repost them all again but in case anyone is interested here are the links to each post.

Firstly here is a link to my training and tips posts on the style at Worlds.
- http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/search/label/Training

Training Presentation


Here is a guide I wrote a few years ago:
- General Info
- Speaking in Public
- Researching your Debate
- Points of Information
- One Page Summary





Here are some posts I uploaded in advance of Worlds in 2006 and they are based on a training guide by Dan Neidle.
- http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/2005/12/preparing-for-worlds-3-first.html
- http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/2005/12/preparing-for-worlds-4-poi.html
- http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/2005/12/preparing-for-worlds-5-roles.html
- http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/2005/12/preparing-for-worlds-6-arguments.html
- http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/2005/12/preparing-for-worlds-7-rebuttal.html
- http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/2005/12/preparing-for-worlds-8-extensions.html
- http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/2005/12/preparing-for-worlds-9-good-bad.html

Adjudicating a debate
- How to Adjudicate

Hosting a Tournament
- Tabbing your tournament
- Guide to bidding for Worlds


Finally here are some official guides to worlds for both debaters and judges:

Motions & Research

I'm also regularly asked for potential motions. Well now it's too late to do much research if you are starting from scratch. If you are then I suggest you buy all versions of Time, Newsweek and the Economist you can get at the airport and read them on the flight to Ireland. The Economist World in 2009 special edition is a useful

If you have a little more time and access to the internet and a printer then some years ago I posted a list of potential topics. Many still hold true although some are out of date. I could update them but I am doing this in between changing, feeding and winding a new baby so I'm afraid you will just have to make do with the old list.
- http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/2005/12/preparing-for-worlds-2-topics


In terms of researching these subject areas a quick way to get a good overview is to search for that topic in the BBC website. They often have good topic outlines. Enough to get you into the debate if you wish to do some last minute research. Also www.debatabase.org is a good resource with printable talking points on many topics.

If you are looking to do some last minute padding of (or creation of) a case file then remember that the key is that you have to know the information is there. You won't have time to read every thing between now and the start of the tournament. Create an index of the topics you have in the file. And it has to be paper based. Worlds rules prohibit the use of electronic equipment.



Finally it is important to understand that no matter how much research you do you will have to debate several topics which you have not prepared for. You can't have covered everything. In a case like this don't panic but go back to the "first principles" post in the training section.

Update from Athens

From WSDC Mailing list

Dear All,

I want to take this opportunity to reassure everyone that we have absolutely no concerns whatsoever about the safety and security of participants at the WSDC in February in the light of last week's unrest. Firstly, there is no reason to believe that there will be any problems in February. Also, even if we had been holding the championships last week, we would not have been in any danger. We would have had to make some logistical rearrangements due to transport disruptions etc, but the Stanley Hotel is not in an area that suffered.

I have received a number of concerned emails in the last week or so and without underestimating the seriousness of the demonstrations in any way or demeaning the significance of the tragic death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, I just want to reassure everyone who is coming to Athens that we are still excited about you all coming and that we are looking forward to a fun and safe tournament.

See you in February

On behalf of the Organizing Committee

Effie Giannakouri

Convener

Monash win WUPID

Monash (Amit Golder & Victor Finkel) have won the 2008 WUPID.

Tim Mooney (Sydney) topped the speaker tab.

The final motion was "This house would use military force against Somali pirates".

From globaldebate

Results so far from WUPID

From http://globaldebateblog.blogspot.com/

Grand Final:
Sydney A
Ateneo de Manila A
Monash C
Vermont A

Semi Finals
Motion: THBT South American countries should nationalize their natural resources.

Room 1
1st Govt Sydney A
2nd Govt Ateneo de Manila A
1st Opp Monash D
2nd Opp UT Mara B
Judges: O’Brien, Connor, Piyanart, Haft, Samnamngern

Room 2
1st Govt Queensland A
2nd Govt Monash C
1st Opp Harvard A
2nd Opp Vermont A
Judges: Harvey-Smith, Ivan Ah Sam, Berna, Chandran, Lillin

Quater Finals:
Motion: THW bomb terrorist bases in Pakistan.

Room 1
1st Govt UT Mara B
1st Opp NUS A
2nd Govt Monash B
2nd Opp Sydney A
Judges: Connor, Haft, Piyanart, O'Brien

Room 2
1st Govt Geopower-Ateneo de Manila A
1st Opp Ateneo de Manila A
2nd Govt Nanyang B
2nd Opp Monash D
Judges: Ivan Ah Sam, Hewson, Nelson, Lillin

Room 3
1st Govt Queensland A
1st Opp Nanyang C
2nd Govt NUS B
2nd Opp Monash C
Judges: Berna, Chandran, Campbell, Harvey-Smith

Room 4
1st Govt Ateneo de Manila B
1st Opp Vermont A
2nd Govt Monash A
2nd Opp Harvard A
Judges: Samnamngern, Salahuddin, Williams, Chong

HWS / IDEA Round Robin website launched

HWS and IDEA aim to bring together an elite and internationally diverse group of debaters and adjudicators each year for a weekend of debate at the highest level. The tournament will be held in the WUDC debate format, set up in a unique pre-paired round robin, ensuring that every team debates against every other team exactly once in the preliminary rounds. Our goal is to facilitate great debating and to recognize the skills and accomplishments of great debaters and adjudicators by treating them to a weekend of satisfying debate and superb hospitality.

You can now see many more details about our tournament and the surrounding events, including:
* Organizing committee
* Events and hospitality
* Provisional schedule
* Qualification criteria
* Registration information
* Tournament policies
* Prizes and awards
* Historical winners
* Links to previous final rounds (streaming video)

http://www.idebate.org/hwsroundrobin/

This year HWS & IDEA are working together to draw great teams and judges from around the globe. Applications for at-large invitations are due at the end of January. Contact Eric Barnes (Tournament Convenor) for more information. barnes (at) hws (dot) edu

All the Best,
Eric
----------------------------------------
Prof. Eric Barnes
barnes (at) hws (dot) edu
Debate Coach
Public Policy Program Philosophy Department
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Geneva, New York

WUPID 2008 break

Here is the WUPID break as announced by Alfred on the global debate blog.

1. Sydney A 14
2. Monash C 13
3. Harvard A 12
4. Geopower-Ateneo de Manila A 11
5. Ateneo de Manila A 11
6. Ateneo de Manila B 11
7. Queensland A 11
8. NUS A 10
9. Monash B 10
10. NUS B 10
11. Monash A 10
12. Monash D 9
13. Nanyang B 9
14. Vermont A 9
15. UT Mara B 9
16. Nanyang C 9

WSDC 2009 motions

From WSDC mailing list

On behalf of the host of this year's World Schools Debating Championships to be held in Athens, Greece from 9 to 19 February 2009, I hereby advise you of the resolutions for the preliminary prepared rounds and final.

PRELIMINARY ROUND PREPARED MOTIONS
This House would encourage the expanded use of civilian nuclear energy
This House believes that public services are best run by private companies
This House believes that cultural treasures should be returned to their areas of origin
This House would legalise current technologies for choosing human embryos on the basis of their genetic characteristics

GRAND FINAL MOTION:
This House believes that governments should grant amnesties to all illegal immigrants

NOTE:
All teams should arrive in Athens prepared to debate both the Proposition and Opposition sides for each of the four preliminary round prepared motions.

The draw (the document listing which teams will be debating each other in each round, which teams will be in proposition and opposition for each debate, and the order in which the prepared motions will be debated) will only be released shortly before the start of the Championship.

Whilst preparing for the debates, teams are strongly advised to read and be familiar with the WSDC Guidelines on Defining Motions & Constructing Cases.

OTHER ROUNDS
All teams involved in the championships will participate in eight preliminary round debates - four of which will be prepared debates on the motions listed above, and four of which will be impromptu debates for which the motions will be released only one hour in advance.

Please note that if the total number of participating teams is an odd number, one team will sit out each preliminary round and instead participate in a 'bye-round' so four teams will debate only three of the prepared motions if that is the case.

The octo-finals, quarter-finals and semi-finals will also be impromptu debates.

For impromptu debates, the team members will be kept in preparation rooms during the hour leading up to the debate. They will not be allowed to consult with their coaches during that hour.

Under the WSDC Rules, teams may not bring any published or handwritten materials into their preparation rooms for impromptu debates, except for one English Language dictionary, one bilingual dictionary, and one single-volume encyclopaedia or almanac. They are also not allowed to bring in any devices that are potentially capable of accessing information from outside the preparation room, such as mobile phones, laptop computers, pagers, PDAs, BlackBerries, and so on.

If you have any questions regarding the rules or format for debates at the championships, please feel free to e-mail me for clarification.

Good luck for your team's preparations for the competition.

Claire Ryan
Secretary,
Executive Committee,
WSDC Ltd