20 years.......

This weekend, the New Zealand Schools Debating Council will hold its annual National Debating Championships from which the team to debate in Washington DC will be chosen.

There will also be a very special dinner on Saturday night, 24 May: we will celebrate 20 years of NZSDC's existence. Yes, it was two decades ago ( I remember it well as I rest on my zimmer frame....) that we formed the Council, in part to select a team to compete in the first ever WSDC competition. If you would like to wish us well or you have any ancient photographs with which you'd like to humiliate some of our alumni, don't hesitate to post them here or to me at tautoru@xtra.co.nz

I'll return the favour by posting photos of the dinner here or in the next newsletter.

And lets all join in across the world to celebrate the success of WSDC over those 20 years, the friendships it has forged, the debates, some simply magnificent, some simply wild, the growth of debating and public speaking organisations throughout the world and the shaping of our nations' future leaders.

Happy 20th anniversary to us all!!

WSDC newsletter no 1

Tena koutou and welcome to the first of what I hope will be many newsletters from WSDC. I've uploaded it in pdf format which I hope you will be able to access and enjoy.

Kind regards,
Claire Ryan
Secretary
World Schools Debating Council Executive Committee


Download the newsletter

Result of postal ballot for incorporation and Motions Committee

In April 2008 a postal ballot of the World Schools Debating Council was held. 31 nations were eligible to vote. 29 nations voted. Thank you very much to all who participated.

The postal ballot was to vote on proposals to incorporate WSDC and to elect 5 members of the Motions Commitee to prepare debating topics for WSDC 2008 in DC.

1. Incorporation of the World Schools Debating Championships

In order for the proposals about incorporation to to be passed, two-thirds of the eligible nations had to vote for them. Two-thirds of the 31 eligible nations is
20.66 or rounded up, it's 21.

The result of this ballot was as follows:

VOTING FOR THE PROPOSALS TO INCORPORATE: 29

VOTING AGAINST: 0

Congratulations to James Probert and his team who worked very hard on the incorporation proposals, the documents and the explanatory material.

The following proposals were therefore passed by the WSDC Council:

(a) That a company named the World Schools Debating Championships Limited be created, as described in the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association.

(b) That this company shall assume the duties currently carried out by informal bodies called the World Schools Debating Council and the Executive Committee of the World Schools Debating Council, and that the company shall assume the ownership of the name and logo of the current World Schools Debating Championships.

(c) That the Directors of the newly established company shall adopt such rules for the company as are described in the documents ‘The Charity Rules’ and ‘The Debating Rules’, shall apply for the company to be given charitable status, and shall make such appointments and take such actions as are necessary to begin the work of the Charity.

2. Election of the 2008 Motions Selection Committee

The results of the election were as follows:

Ria Nuri Dharmawan (Indonesia) 24 votes
Hayah Eichler (Israel) 25 votes
Albert Fornis (Greece) 24 votes
Jumin Lee (South Korea) 15 votes
Aaron Maniam (Singapore) 27 votes
Noel McGrath (Ireland) 21 votes

Accordingly, Ria Nuri Dharmawan, Hayah Eichler, Albert Fornis, Aaron Maniam and Noel McGrath are the elected members of the 2008 Motions Select Committee.

The rules provide that the host nation can nominate up to two people to join the Motions Committee. The United States of America's nominees are J.J. Rodriguez and Ian Lising.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan
Secretary
World Schools Debating Council Executive Committee

May newsletter for WSDC 2008

Phyllis Hirth, Convenor of WSDC 2008 in Washington DC, has released information about the activities available on the free day. Read this and more on the WSDC 2008 blog.