Excellence-Understanding-Freedom

We've moved!

2011-08-17T13:11:00.002Z

Please update your bookmarks: the WSDC blog has moved to http://blog.schoolsdebate.com.

Consultation Part 2

2011-07-17T21:08:00.000Z

Dear colleagues and fellow members of the WSDC community,

As trailed just over a week ago, on behalf of the directors I would like to invite all members of the World Schools community to contribute to a consultation seeking their views and comments on two decisions, arising from the recent AGM, that the directors must shortly make. You may read and contribute to the consultation at http://forum.schoolsdebate.com. The consultation will end on Friday 22 July, and the directors will share their final decision with the community immediately after that.

If you have already registered to read or contribute to the AGM, you may log in to the forums using the same email address and password. If you have forgotten your password, use the link underneath the login form to reset it. If you have not previously registered, you may create a new email/password combination.

I look forward to reading the community’s contributions.

Best wishes to you all,

James Probert
Chair, World Schools Debating Championships Ltd
Company limited by guarantee in England and Wales, number 6666449
Registered address Dartmouth House, 37 Charles Street, London W1J 5ED

Consultations & changes at WSDC Ltd

2011-06-29T19:33:00.000Z

James Probert, chairperson of the Directors of WSDC Ltd writes;

Dear colleagues and fellow members of the WSDC community,

You will be only too aware that at the conclusion of our AGM in February the Board of Directors pledged to consult the World Schools community on the details of the new membership system introduced by the bye laws adopted at that meeting. This consultation will include both a finalised version of the wording of the amendment to the bye-laws proposing a system of counting votes of members in blocks by country, and a schedule of fees payable by different categories of member.

Recently Andrea Coomber, chair of the board of directors from 2008 to 2009 and again from 2010 onwards, has decided for personal reasons that she is unable to make the level of commitment to WSDC in the future that the role of director requires, and has resigned. I would like to thank her both personally and on behalf of the entire community for her sterling service and hard work up to this point.

At the most recent meeting of the board of directors I was elected chair. At the same meeting I’m delighted to say that Trevor Sather was co-opted onto the board of directors, and following my resignation as chair of the development committee has taken up that challenge too.

There is much work ahead of us, the WSDC community embodied in WSDC Ltd, as we move toward registered charity status and subsequently play an important role in helping and driving the development of the series of annual tournaments, focussing, as agreed at the last AGM, on widening access, in a number of different ways, to the competition. I very much hope that we will be able to build on the work of the board to date, which has sometimes been of necessity slow and steady, and quicken the pace of the organisation’s maturation and growth.

The last meeting of the board of directors agreed to begin as soon as technically practical the consultation on membership fees and voting systems, with a view to implementing the preferred version of both before Dundee. Therefore, in addition to being an update on the changes of personnel on the board of directors and development committee, I would also like this email to serve as an advance notice of the online consultation, which will begin in one week, on 6 July 2011, and last for two weeks, until 20 July 2011. Instructions for taking part will be sent out in due course.

I look forward to as many of you as possible participating in the forums, and to a bright future for WSDC as the new and exciting measures necessary for our growth and development are put into place.

Best wishes to you all,

James

James Probert,

Chair, WSDC Ltd.

Vote now!!!

2011-06-21T23:50:00.000Z

Hello everyone.

As you know -I hope- there is a postal ballot as to whether WSDC should abolish the "x+1 rule" which prohibits former WSDC debaters from judging at the WSDC championship immediately following the one in which they debated as school students. That subsequent championship can occur any time between 6-18 months after the championship at which they debated. Currently, they have to wait until the championship after that, hence the name "x plus 1."

This issue was discussed at length in the adjudication working group, the emails of which you can still read if you subscribe to the topica mailing lists and search through the group archive. As a result of a series of motions proposed by South Africa and seconded by Greece, a postal ballot has been convened so that we can resolve the issue one way or the other before the next WSDC Championship at Dundee in August 2011.

The ballot closes on 21 June 2011, which means at midnight on 21 June 2011 in your nation (midnight being just before 22 June begins!) Ballots are to be sent to our trusty secretary Hayah Eichler at hayah.eichler@gmail.com

Some nations have already voted. The Executive Committee thanks them for doing so and acknowledges receipt of their ballots. However, a large number has not voted. As at this morning the nations from which Hayah had NOT received ballots were:

Argentina
Bangladesh
Bermuda
Botswana
Chile
Indonesia
Ireland
Japan
Mongolia
Namibia
Peru
Qatar
Sweden
USA

I apologise if some of you have in fact sent Hayah your ballot in the meantime, but for those of you who haven't, I do invite you to have your say and cast your vote. We will welcome your ballot whether you wish to say "yes" or "no" or "abstain". We value your contribution to the decision-making process.

If you have lost or have not received the ballot papers please contact Hayah at the address above and she will only be too happy to send ballots and accompanying explanatory documents to you. If you are not your nation's delegate but you know who is, contact them and encourage them to vote.

Thanks for reading this. And...VOTE NOW!!!

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan
Chairperson
WSDC Executive Committee

PREPARED MOTIONS FOR WORLD SCHOOLS DEBATING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011 IN DUNDEE

2011-06-01T18:56:00.004Z

The WSDC Motions Committee is pleased to announce the following prepared motions for the 2011 Championships.

Round 1
This House would offer dictators immunity in return for leaving power

Round 3
This House believes that Universal Primary Education is a misallocation of resources for the developing world

Round 5
This House would legalise the sale of human organs

Round 7
This House believes that women can only achieve equality under a secular system of government

The Grand Final
This House believes that autocracy is doomed in the age of Facebook

All other motions will be announced one hour before the debates.

The Motions Committee (elected at WSDC 2010)
Mehvesh Mumtaz Ahmed (Pakistan/Hong Kong)
Christopher Bishop (New Zealand)
Simon Quinn (chair) (Australia)
Thepparith (TJ) Senamngern (Thailand)
Eva Spoor (Netherlands)
Cameron Wyllie (Scotland)

The Chief Adjudicators
Beth James (Wales)
Andrew Marshall (Australia/England)

For further information about the World Schools Debating Championships 2011 click here

To see Newsletters 1 & 2 from the WSDC 2011 organising committee,click here

For information about the postal ballot closing on 21 June 2011, email the WSDC Tournament Executive Secretary here

Registration for WSDC 2011 now open. Closing date 10 February 2011

2011-01-30T21:06:00.001Z

Beth James, co-Chief Adjudicator with Andrew Marshall for WSDC 2011 writes;

Dear all

As many of you should hopefully already know, registration for WSDC Dundee is now open. To register please follow this link http://wsdctournament.wordpress.com/watch

Please remember that you must complete an adjudication questionnaire (also available by following the above link) for every judge which you would like to bring to Dundee.

When stage one of the registration process closes on 10th February we will confirm if your nation has been awarded a place in the competition based on the cap policy and we will allocate the additional spaces for any judges that have been requested using the information provided in the adjudication questionnaires. The information in the questionnaires will also be beneficial for us in preparing necessary adjudication training etc.

If you would like to be considered as an independent judge please also complete the questionnaire by 10th February and email it directly to this address; CAs@wsdcdundee.com

If you have any questions please contact contact@wsdcdundee.com for general queries or CAs@wsdcdundee.com
for adjudication queries.

All the best

Beth James

Co-CA WSDC Dundee 2011

Happy New Year and happy newsletter!

2010-12-28T11:47:00.004Z

Kia ora everyone! Welcome to the revamped and reactivated WSDC blog.

You may well be able to come up with a better and more exciting title. I've taken the three key words from the charter - precious words as they are - but this blog is of course a work in progress. All suggestions welcome.

And welcome too to the first newsletter for Dundee 2011. Click hereand there it is!

The championship is now only 8 months away and this will be the first of a number of newsletters from Irene and her diligent and industrious Org Comm. Check out the Dundee 2011 website www.wsdcdundee.com and keep checking this blog at regular intervals.

In the meantime, Happy New Year and may 2011 be a good one for you:

Z novym hodam
Bonne Annee
Chestita Nova Godina
Feliz Año Nuevo
Xin Nian Kuai Le
Sretna Nova godina
Šťastný Nový rok
Head uut aastat
Ein Glückliches Neues Jahr
Kenourios Chronos
Sun Leen Fai Lok
Selamat Tahun Baru
Naye Varsha Ki Shubhkamanyen
Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit
L'Shannah Tovah
Akimashite Omedetto Gozaimasu
Saehae Bock Mani ba deu sei yo
Antum salimoun
Laimingu Naujuju Metu
Srekna nova godina
Selamat Tahun Baru
Shine jiliin bayariin mend hurgeye
Marago Qhamwaka Waupe
Nhu Da Ya Vintuna
Gelukkig Niieuwjaar
Kia hari te tau hou
Naya Saal Mubbarak Ho
Manigong Bagong Taon
La Multi Ani
S novim godom
Bliadhna mhath ur
Stastny Novy rok
Srečno novo leto
Gelukkige nuwe jaar
Pudhu Varusha Vaazhthukkal
Wilujeng Tahun Baru
Gott nytt år
Sawadee Pee Mai
Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Bothi Oro Manyeni
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Kind regards,
Claire Ryan
Chairperson,
Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

International tournament in New Zealand, February 2011

2010-09-13T08:21:00.000Z

Chris Bishop writes:

Dear friends

The New Zealand Schools' Debating Council is looking to organise an international WSDC-style tournament in New Zealand in early/mid February 2011, to help fill the gap between WSDC 2010 in Qatar and WSDC 2011 in Dundee.

Plans are at an early stage, but we're looking for expressions of interest from the community now about what countries would be interested in coming to New Zealand to take part, so we can get planning.

Our intention is for the tournament to be a tour of the North Island of New Zealand, with debating taking place in a variety of cities and towns around the island. The tournament would start in either Auckland (the largest city) or Wellington (the capital) and finish in the other. There would be a range of sight-seeing activities built into the programme in New Zealand's many tourist hot-spots.
The tournament would consist of 8-10 preliminary rounds in WSDC format, followed by, depending on the number of teams, knock-out rounds building to a final.

Registration for the tournament would be around $700 - 1000 NZD per person which would cover 8-10 nights accommodation, most meals, and travel around the island.

If your country is interested in taking part in the tournament or learning more, then please contact me on the details below.

Kind regards

Christopher Bishop

President, New Zealand Schools' Debating Council Inc
president@debating.org.nz
www.debating.org.nz

This blog has moved

2010-05-01T14:56:00.001Z

This blog is now located at http://schoolsdebate.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://schoolsdebate.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

ESL awards

2010-02-21T11:05:00.004Z

BEST ESL TEAM.

SLOVENIA

Congratulations also to the second-best ESL team Greece
and the third best Sri Lanka.

TOP ESL SPEAKERS

(Such speakers may individually qualify for ESL status although their team overall may not.)

5. Jeewon Yoo (Korea)
4. Do Kwon (Korea)
3. Muhammed Gulzar (Pakistan)
2. Filippos Lekkas (Greece)

AND THE BEST ESL SPEAKER FOR 2010 is.....

1. SHEHRYAR SHEIKH from Pakistan.

For the ESL tab containing the top 30 speakers, click
here.

EFL awards

2010-02-21T10:50:00.004Z

Shaheen unmasked.

BEST EFL TEAM.

THE NETHERLANDS

Congratulations also to the second-best EFL team Romania
and the third best Germany.

TOP 5 EFL SPEAKERS

(Such speakers may individually qualify for EFL status although their team overall may not.)

5.Inka Mobinger (Germany)
4.Elisabeth Van Lieshout (The Netherlands)
3.Sanjit Dias (Sri Lanka)
2 Zan Zveplan(Slovenia)

AND THE BEST EFL SPEAKER FOR 2010 is.....

1. LEONIE BEYRLE from Germany

For the EFL tab containing the top 30 speakers, click here.

New Nation awards

2010-02-21T10:25:00.004Z

NEW NATION AWARD.
This is awarded to the highest ranking new team, that is one participating for the first time ever at WSDC.

Our best new nation is: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.
Congratulations also to the second-best new team - China - and the third-best - Sudan.

NEW NATION SPEAKER AWARDS

5. Jiali Li (China)
4. Calvin Cox (Sudan)
3. Sara Smylie (UAE)
2. Raeesa Munshi(UAE)

and the top new nation speaker is....
1. ANIRUDH SIVARAM (UAE)

Honouring our breaking teams

2010-02-21T10:14:00.006Z

Following our top 2 teams and top 10 speakers in previous blogs, let's celebrate the successes of other stellar performers at this championship.

We honour our octofinals:
Finishing 16th: Hong Kong
Finishing 15th: Ireland
Finishing 14th: Scotland
Finishing 13th: India
Finishing 12th: Sri Lanka
Finishing 11th: The Netherlands
Finishing 10th: Israel
Finishing 9th: Greece

Our quarter finalists;
Finishing 8th: Pakistan
Finishing 7th: New Zealand
Finishing 6th: Slovenia
Finishing 5th: Australia

Our semi finalists:
Finishing 4th: Wales
Finishing 3rd: Singapore

We congratulate our runner up team England and of course our victors and 2010 World Champions Canada.

Team Tab and other results

2010-02-21T04:40:00.005Z

Here is the team tab for all 57 nations for WSDC 2010, again ranked on the 8 preliminary rounds.

For the record, the list of participating teams is:

Argentina
Australia
Bangladesh
Bermuda
Bosnia
Botswana
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
England
Estonia
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Japan
Korea
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lithuania
Malaysia
Mexico
Mongolia
Montenegro
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Pakistan
Palestine
Peru
Philippines
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Scotland
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Sweden
Thailand
Turkey
UAE
Uganda
USA
Wales

Click here for the results by round for the preliminary rounds. Shaheen's break round results are here.

This is the list of all the resolutions debated at WSDC 2010.

And this is the list of those nations classified as ESL or EFL. The list was released by the CAs on the first day.

I am awaiting confirmation by the CAs on the other speaker and nation awards but hope to have those placed on the blog as soon as possible.

Top 10 speaker awards ( and top 100 speakers' list)

2010-02-21T04:00:00.007Z

Greetings again everyone.

Here is the list of the top 10 speakers who were awarded and recognised at the closing night awards dinner in Doha. And what a fabulous night it was. Congratulations to them all.

10.Hasan Dindjer (England)
9. Georgina Barker (Scotland)
8. Maria English (New Zealand)
7. Shehryar Sheikh (Pakistan)
6. Gregory Farquhar (England)
5. Manasvin (Veenu) Goswami (Canada)
4. Eleanor Gordon-Smith (Australia)
3. Charlotte Thomas (Australia)
2. Laura Birchall (Australia)

And the best speaker for WSDC 2010.....(drum roll....)

1. JOANNA CONNOLLY (Australia).

I don't have any photos I'm sorry because I had to be on stage on the awards night but if you have photos and the speakers and their families are happy that I publish them on the blog, let me know.

The list of the top 100 speakers, based on the preliminary rounds and debating at least half of those rounds, is right here.

And the winner of WSDC 2010 is......

2010-02-19T01:41:00.006Z

CANADA 8-3! A win for the first time in 22 years....but the best wine always takes time!!!!

Hope this fabulous win makes the wait (and the hard work by Canadan debaters and coaches over the years) worth it.

(My photos are published here with the kind permission of the Canadian team. They are placed here so that 3rd speaker Veenu's mother, who has been supporting from afar, can enjoy them. Be very proud Priya and thank you!)

Check out www.pen.com.qa for local, front page news which features the Canadian team.

Semi final results!!!!!

2010-02-17T14:49:00.004Z

Wales proposing 0 England opposing 9
Singapore proposing 0 Canada opposing 9

Finalists are Canada and England.

Quarter-final results!!!!

2010-02-17T11:00:00.003Z

Motion: That compensation should be paid for the injustices committed by past generations.

PROPOSITION OPPOSITION
Wales 4 Australia 3
Canada 6 New Zealand 1
Singapore 6 Slovenia 1
Pakistan 1 England 6

Semi final motion; That the United States should withdraw from the middle east

Wales is to propose against England. They are preparing as I type.
The debate is at the Islamic museum where I am now.

I don't know which of Singapore and Canada is proposing. I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

Octofinal results

2010-02-16T18:32:00.005Z

Shaheen with Team India, spirited debaters throughout this tournament, breaking for the first time and eager to do even more next time. Wow!

OCTOFINAL RESULTS

Motion: That we should have no laws which restrict free speech.

PROPOSITION OPPOSITION
Australia 5 Hong Kong 0
Canada 4 Ireland 1
Singapore 3 Scotland 2
England 4 India 1
Greece 0 Pakistan 5
Sri Lanka 1 Slovenia 4
New Zealand 5 Netherlands 0
Wales 5 Israel 0

Quarter finals will see Australia v Wales, Canada v New Zealand,
Singapore v Slovenia, Pakistan v England

Breaking news; the breaking teams

2010-02-15T20:14:00.006Z

Chris Erskine (co-CA) announces the draw supported by The Team, L to R Simon Quinn (co-CA)and CAP members Taimur Bandey, Effie Giannakouri, Pardip Chopra, Beth James and Eva Spoor.

Here are the breaking teams from 1st to 16th, with number of wins, number of judges and total speaker points.

Congratulations to them all!!!!

1. Australia 8 wins, 23 judges, 6277 total speaker points
2. Canada 8, 22, 6171
3. Singapore 8, 22, 6161
4. Greece 8, 22, 6105
5. England 8, 21, 6188.5
6. Slovenia 7, 19, 6016. 5
7. New Zealand 6, 19, 6189.5
8. Wales 6, 19, 6080.5
9. Israel 6, 18, 6012
10. Netherlands 6, 18, 5961
11. Sri Lanka 6, 17, 6047.5
12. India 6, 16, 5982.5
13. Pakistan 5, 18, 6114.5
14. Scotland 5, 17, 6163
15. Ireland 5, 16, 6093.5
16. Hong Kong 5 16 6074.5

Tomorrow will be the octo finals with 1 facing 16, 2 facing 15 and so on.
In other words,
Australia v Hong Kong
Canada v Ireland
Singapore v Scotland
Greece v Pakistan
England v India
Slovenia v Sri Lanka
New Zealand v Netherlands
Wales v Israel

Spare a thought for the teams also on 5 wins and who came so close, engaging in some fabulous debates during the tournament:

17. Republic of Korea (5, 16, 6072)
18. Bangladesh
19. South Africa
20. Mexico
21. Philippines
22. Indonesia
23. Romania
24. Germany
25. Sweden
26. Estonia

It's getting very interesting in Doha.....

2010-02-15T14:59:00.005Z

WSDC 2010 character, the falcon Shaheen, graces the display board in the Mariott reception area. A life-size Shaheen has made various appearances througout the championship.

Many upsets (on paper anyway!!!!), many new teams coming through and making a mark - YAY!

Here are the provisional results and team rankings after round 6. Rounds 7 and 8 results coming soon if I can find time between now and the break night party......

Round zero

2010-02-13T19:55:00.003Z

57 is an uneven number so there was a need for Round 0 which was held this evening after a day of shopping and tours.

Here are the results.

Team standings after Round 4 - and some gratitude

2010-02-13T03:38:00.008Z

Photos; CA Chris Erskine on the adjudicators' briefing day; Adjudicators Christopher Sanchez (Germany), Elisa Frank (Canada), Aaron Maniam (Singapore), Branislav Fecko (from the mighty Slovakian team of 9 judges)

Kia ora tatou.

At the half way stage, we are having two days off, one to acknowledge Friday and enjoy an evening desert safari under the stars and the next to go on various tours, including visiting the Islamic museum, watching camel races or floating on a dhow.

I have to say that for such an intense competition like WSDC, two days on, two days off, two days on before we hit the break rounds seems very sensible. It allows more time for us all to socialise, unwind and get to see a bit of Qatar rather than be cloistered in prep rooms 24/7. So I give many thanks to the organisers here in Qatar for their perspicacity!

The Chief Adjudicators Chris Erskine and Simon Quinn, together with their CAP (Chief Adjudication Panel) Taimur Bandey, Pardip Chopra, Effie Giannakouri, Beth James and Eva Spoor, are doing an outstanding job, dealing not only with a competition which has leapt from 39 teams to 57, but adjudicators who can't add up mark sheets! They are utlising a new tabbing programme which is working well courtesy of Simon Quinn (both for its invention and its maintenance.) A huge amount of appreciation goes to them for their many hours of hard work for the rest of us.

They have released an official tab including tournament rankings half way through the competition. Here it is. As you can see by looking at it, a number of teams are on the same win-loss ratio, which for 7 teams means no losses at all (so far.) Rankings are in those cases determined first by the number of judges who have awarded the debate to the team and then the team's speaker points.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend. I'm certainly enjoying mine.

Day 2 in Doha

2010-02-11T21:08:00.002Z

Here you can see the fare to which we are treated on a daily basis.

As for the debating, nothing can ever be taken for granted and there have been a few interesting results. Here then are the results of Day 2 - enjoy.

And remember, your children and grandchildren are safe, well-fed, generously cared for and turning on some fabulous debates!

Debating in Doha - day 1

2010-02-10T21:46:00.006Z

Greetings everyone and welcome to the blog from Doha. Here it's winter, so the temperature has plummeted to.....16 degrees! Warm climate, warm hospitality.

We have been thoroughly looked after since we arrived at the luxurious Mariott. We are treated to huge buffets for breakfast and dinner (and well fed at the host schools as well) more than enough to feed the 500. Qatar Debate and QMDI can't do enough for us.

The opening ceremony last night was sensational. I don't have any photos because I had a little bit of work to do at the function but if you have some, do send them to me and I'll publish them so our readers can see what I mean.

However I'm sure this blog's visitors haven't come to be made jealous about Qatar's abundant generosity. You've come for the results of Day 1. Here they are!

Good night

Draw videos online

2010-02-02T21:07:00.003Z

Hi everyone,

The draw videos are now online! They are available at http://www.youtube.com/wsdc2010#g/p

I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the draw process. In particular, I would like to thank the draw supervisors -- Irene McGrath (Group A, Dundee), Sixto Ramos (Group B, Peru), Jess Price (Group C, Cape Town), Pardip Chopra (Group D, Calgary), Gaurav Keerthi (Group E, Singapore), Taimur Bandey (Group F, Lahore), Effie Giannakouri (Group G, Athens) and Chris Erskine (Group H, Doha) -- as well as Claire Ryan and Dr Hayat Maarafi for their welcome messages. Chris and I have been very happy with the entire draw process, and we are satisfied that all draw participants have followed the requirements of the "draw explanation" document that we circulated last week.

I would also like to thank Joshua Milch for the many hours that he has volunteered for editing and formatting.

We hope that you enjoy the videos!

Simon Quinn
Co-CA, WSDC 2010

The draw is now released

2010-02-01T16:25:00.002Z

Hi everyone,

Greetings from Education City, Doha -- where, half an hour ago, the draw for WSDC 2010 was completed. The draw is attached as are the draw labels

As you know, the draw explanation, draw structure and pre-tournament ranking were released last week, expressed in terms of team codes. The selection of teams to match those team codes has been done in eight cities around the world, supervised by some of the most senior members of the WSDC community, and done in such a way that none of the people in those cities yet know any of the other draw results.

The draw video clips are currently being formatted and uploaded to YouTube. We will e-mail as soon as the link is available; given the file sizes, we expect this to be some time in the next 24 hours. The clips are great to watch, and we hope you will enjoy them!

Simon Quinn and Chris Erskine
Chief Adjudicators

Annual General Meeting and related documents

2010-01-25T19:01:00.003Z

All,

The WSDC Ltd. charity's AGM will be held in Qatar at 9am on 16 February 2009, prior to the annual Council meeting. In this regard, please find attached the following:

1. The notice of the Charity AGM doc and the notice of the Council meeting including the agendas.
2. The Directors' report for your consideration (including Annexes A, B and C
3. A call for nominees for the position of Director for 2010-2013

Please note that each nation sending a team to Worlds in Qatar is eligible for membership of WSDC Ltd. The Directors will shortly confirm acceptance of those countries which have applied for membership since Athens and are participating in Qatar.

In the event that your country has corporate membership or has applied for corporate membership of WSDC, the governing documents require that you confirm the name of your authorised representative to the AGM in writing prior to the meeting. Please do this by sending an email message to the Director's nominated chair for the charity's AGM in Qatar, Asher Weill at debasher@netvision.net.il

Best,

Andrea Coomber
Chair, Board of Directors
WSDC Ltd.

Proposed rule changes for WSDC

2010-01-18T18:45:00.001Z

Greetings everyone.

Here are the proposals for rule changes for voting at the Council meeting at Doha, Qatar on 18 February 2010.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan
Chairperson
Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

South Africa bids for WSDC 2012

2010-01-18T18:32:00.002Z

Greetings everyone.

South Africa is bidding to host WSDC 2012. The bid is the only one received for 2012and will be voted on by the World Schools Debating Council at the Annual General Meeting in Doha.

I have great pleasure in enclosing the bid documents.
1. Intention to bid letter
2. Sponsorship letter
3. The bid document

Members of the South African organising committee will be present at Doha, will be happy to answer any queries and will make a presentation of their bid on the evening of 16 February 2010 before the vote takes place on 18 February 2010.

Kind regards

Claire Ryan
Chairperson
Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

Important information on the dress code for Qatar

2010-01-13T18:35:00.002Z

Dear all

Attached is a document outlining the appropriate dress code for the forthcoming World Championships in Qatar. We kindly request that all participants read it carefully and choose their attire for WSDC accordingly.

With thanks

Beth James

On behalf of the WSDC Executive Committee and approved by the organisers of WSDC Qatar 2010.

Blogging and twittering

2010-01-07T23:12:00.002Z

I'll be blogging again from WSDC this year and tweeting/twittering as well.

See you on this site or @tautoru

All other bloggers and tweeters feel free to join in.

Prepared motions for WSDC 2010 now released

2009-12-06T12:19:00.002Z

Greetings everyone.

On behalf of Qatar, the host of WSDC 2010, I hereby announce the the motions at WSDC 2010;
(a) for the prepared preliminary debating rounds (4 in total)
(b) for the Grand final.

First, I wish to thank the Motions Committee which has worked very hard in order to bring you the motions earlier than two months prior to the start of the championships.

The Motions Committee members are:
Chris Erskine (chair)
Sherria Ayuandini (Indonesia)
Taimur Bandey (Pakistan)
Russell Courts (Greece)
Jim McElroy (Ireland)
Loucia Isaac (Qatar)
Simon Quinn (Qatar)

And now.....the motions.

PRELIMINARY ROUNDS

(forgive the capital letters; the Motions Committee is not trying to shout, but the convention is to write motions in capitals)

THAT WE SHOULD SUPPORT MILITARY INTERVENTION IN SOMALIA

THAT EVERY COUNTRY SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO POSSESS NUCLEAR WEAPONS

THAT DOCTORS SHOULD REPORT EVIDENCE OF MARITAL ABUSE TO THE POLICE

THAT TERRORIST SUSPECTS SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL IN CIVILIAN COURTS

GRAND FINAL

THAT GOVERNMENTS SHOULD NEVER BAIL OUT BIG COMPANIES

Until the draw is announced, teams will not know whether they will be proposition or opposition for the 4 prepared preliminary rounds, so they should begin preparing both sides.

The remaining four preliminary rounds will be on motions announced to the teams one hour before the debate begins, as will all the break round debates (the octo finals, quarter finals and semi finals).

REGISTER BY 8 DECEMBER 2009.

Finally, I hope you have already registered for WSDC 2010 and if not, that you do it now. NOW!!! Places are at a premium and I understand that the deadline of 8 December 2009 will need to be enforced.

I understand that the cap is 40 member nations and 10 new nations. However, any extra new nations can fill any places that are not taken up by the 40.
So far an overwhelming number of new nations has registered but an underwhelming number of member nations/returnees.

I hope that people don't leave it too late. It will be sad if a dithering returnee nation leaves it until after 8 December in the fond hope that it won't matter, because it will.

Good luck, please register NOW - and happy preparing.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan
Chairperson,
Executive Committee,
WSDC ltd

The final countdown

2009-12-05T19:26:00.006Z

It's the final countdown to the registration deadline of
8 DECEMBER 2009.

If you want to be part of WSDC 2010 in Doha, Qatar in February 2010, please register now before it's too late. Registrations after 8 December 2009 cannot be accepted, I'm sorry.

Remember also that 8 December 2009 is the day the motions for the prepared debates at WSDC 2010 are released so get your team ready for that! The draw won't be released until about a week before the championship begins.

To register, click here.
If you have any questions, email me by clicking here.

See you in Doha!

Claire Ryan,
Chairperson,
Executive Committee,
WSDC Ltd

2nd newsletter for WSDC 2010 out now.

2009-11-28T09:51:00.002Z

Click here for the newsletter.

Registration closes on 8 December 2009.
Doha - will you be there?

Registration for WSDC 2010 now open

2009-10-15T18:01:00.002Z

Greetings everyone.
I am delighted to let you all know that registration for WSDC 2010 is now open. To register and surf the WSDC 2010 website, click here

The site is vibrant and easy to navigate, packed with information not only about registering but also about debating, WSDC, Qatar, the schedule for 2010, visas, Qatari embassies around the world, accommodation, transport...you name it!!
Happy surfing!

For a brief summary of WSDC, its requirements and procedures, click here.
However, this is only a summary. WSDC is governed by its rules and if by chance they do differ from the summary, the rules prevail. I invite you to read and be aware of the rules. You will find the rules here.

Bring on Doha and the battle of minds!!

Kind regards.

Claire Ryan,
Chairperson, Executive Committee,
WSDC Ltd

WSDC 2010 registration opens 8 October 2009.

2009-09-06T19:03:00.006Z

Hello everybody. Exciting news: registration for WSDC 2010 in Qatar will be opening on or about 8 October 2009, so only a month away now. The Qatar Debate website registration page will be up and running around that time.

The second newsletter will be coming out about then with detailed information about the tournament including visas, dress requirements, schedule, timetable, events and so on. The newsletter will be available on the Qatar Debate website, on this blog and sent to the emails of representatives of current member nations of WSDC as I know them. (So if your email or representative has changed, let me know before then!)

It will also be sent to all those who have subscribed to the WSDC mailing list. Have you subscribed? It's easy; go to the menu at the top of this page, click on "Mailing list" on the right hand side and follow the instructions.

If you belong to a nation which wishes to participate in WSDC for the first time, we warmly welcome you and invite you to contact our two Executive members who are assisting new countries. They are Sherria Ayuandini and Taimur Bandey

For any other queries before 8 October, contact me.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan,
Chairperson,
Executive Committee,
WSDC Ltd
(one behalf of the Executive Committee
Beth James, Geetha Creffield, Sherria Ayuandini, Taimur Bandey, Hayah Eichler, Karin Kase, Irene McGrath, Dick Wafer)

WSDC 2010, 8-18 February 2010.

2009-09-01T11:41:00.003Z

The 22nd WSDC championships will be held in Qatar from 8 to 18 February 2010.

For further information, click here

To read the latest newsletter, click here

And the winner is.....

2009-09-01T11:37:00.008Z

Scotland which will be hosting the World Schools Debating Championships from 16 to 26 August 2011 in and around Dundee. Congratulations to Irene McGrath and her hardworking team.

For breaking news, click here.

And for a preview of Dundee, click here.

Scotland bid for 2011

2009-04-10T18:07:00.004Z

Irene McGrath from Scotland writes;

Dear All

As promised, here at last is our revised bid document. It was sent to the Executive at the weekend and will require to be voted on fairly soon as the university residence is pressing us to pay a deposit.

We have been able to change the dates to 16th - 26th August 2011 and hope that these will find favour with everyone. The changes are to be noted on the front cover, on p19 and on p24. We have also deleted the now unnecessary reference to Eid on p18 and remain conscious that the tournament will take place during Ramadan.

There is one other change which we require to bring to everyone's attention. Diana Gotts has decided for personal reasons to step down as Chief Adjudicator. We are very pleased to be able to announce that she has been replaced by co-CAs Beth James and Andrew Marshall. You will find reference to this on p15.

I'm afraid you will just have to imagine the tartan ribbon this time, and me doing my best to hand these out individually at breakfast! You will no doubt be advised of the voting procedure in due course and in the meantime I hope you will have time to read this through.

Best wishes to everyone.

Irene

Note: A postal ballot will be emailed to all members about this on or about 13 April 2009 with a short time for the return of voting papers, firstly because it would have been done immediately at an AGM, secondly because all nations have had the bid document for some time and the only changes are to the dates and the Chief Adjudicators and thirdly because Scotland has to pay the deposit to secure venues on or by 20 April 2009. Watch this space - and your inboxes. Claire

Invitation to join working groups

2009-04-10T17:35:00.008Z

Greetings everyone.

As you know, the Executive members of WSDC Ltd facilitate working groups in areas the WSDC Council has deemed important and the work in those groups is done through e-discussion lists.

The Executive therefore invites interested members of the WSDC community to join one or more of these lists and bring to the group or groups your experience and enthusiasm so that you can firstly help WSDC progress and secondly, have some good recommendations and proposals for the Council Meeting in Doha in early 2010.

Some of you may already belong to a working group. If so, there is no need to resubscribe. Some of you may soon receive an invitation via netpals or because you were your nation's voting delegate in Athens. So I'm sorry if you end up receiving the invitation to join a working group many times but at least you will have received it!

Before you (hopefully) say yes, here are a few pieces of information for you.

The e-discussion working group lists are run through a website called "topica" ( http://lists.topica.com/) and joining the list involves a process of applying to join plus being approved to join so that only people from the WSDC debating community end up being part of the lists, not some random spammer or flamer.

You will need to be someone who is not at secondary school (or younger!) or is not in a national schools debating team for 2010. You will probably find the working groups most helpful if you are someone eligible under the rules to judge or coach at WSDC . You will also need to subscribe. Do so simply by sending an email to the subscribing address below of the group(s) you want to join.

You will then receive an email from topica asking you to confirm your subscription. Just follow the instructions and click the link. You're almost there!

You will then receive another email saying your request has been sent to the list owner (none other than WSDC's renowned sage and IT icon Trevor Sather) for approval.

He'll review your request (to make sure you aren't some random spammer or flamer!) and you'll soon receive the email saying "Welcome to WSDC x group (ie whatever group you've joined.)" This means that you've finally been admitted to the engine room of World Schools Debating and your life will never be the same again!!!!!!

You can then send a post to the group saying who you are and where you are from and start receiving hundreds of posts from hundreds of debaters all over the world at hundreds of hours.

So are you up for the challenge? Say yes and subscribe to one or more of the following working groups:

**Adjudication Working Group (chairs: Hayah Eichler, Dick Wafer).
To subscribe to this group, click here or mail to
wsdc_adjudication-subscribe@topica.com

**Draw Working Group (chairs: Geetha Creffield, Karin Palo).
To subscribe to this group, click here or mail to
wsdc_admin-subscribe@topica.com

**Hosting Working Group (co-chairs: Beth James, Irene McGrath).
To subscribe to this group, click here or mail to
wsdc_hosting-subscribe@topica.com

**Language and New Countries Working Group (co-chairs: Sherria Ayuandini, Taimur Bandey).
To subscribe to this group, click here or mail to
wsdc_lang-subscribe@topica.com

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, just email me here

Have fun joining and working with our WSDC groups.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan

Chairperson,

Executive Committee, WSDC Ltd

Administration and other boring matters......

2009-04-06T12:52:00.004Z

Executive Committee 2009-2010
Claire Ryan (New Zealand) chairperson
Beth James (Wales) vice chairperson
Geetha Creffield (Singapore) secretary

6 committee members;
Sherria Ayuandini (Indonesia)
Taimur Bandey (Pakistan)
Hayah Eichler (Israel)
Irene McGrath (Scotland)
Karin Palo (Estonia)
Dick Wafer (Ireland)

The following working groups are led by committee members:
Adjudication - Hayah Eichler, Dick Wafer
Draw - Geetha Creffield, Karin Palo.
Hosting - Beth James, Irene McGrath
New Countries - Sherria Ayuandini, Taimur Bandey

Motions Committee
Sherria Ayuandini (Indonesia)
Taimur Bandey (Pakistan)
Russell Courts (Greece)
Chris Erskine (Australia)
Jim McElroy (Ireland)
Two more to be named by Qatar.

Complaints Committee
Roger Hatridge (Republic Korea)
Beth James (Wales)
Two more to be named by Qatar
and other members to be co-opted.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WSDC LTD
Andrea Coomber (chair)
Peejay Garcia
Andrew Goodman
James Probert
Yuri Romanenkov
Claire Ryan
Jimmy Soriano
Asher Weill

Speaker and team ranks

2009-04-06T10:59:00.003Z

HERE they are at last, everyone....
the final team positions
breaking team ranks,
the top 50 individual speakers,
ESL team positions
top 20 ESL individual speakers
EFL team positions
top 20 EFL individual speakers.

Click here to see them.

The attached rankings are correct as of 5 April 2009, but differ slightly from those previously released after receipt of some further minor corrections from coaches and team managers.

Thanks to James Probert and his adjudication team and congratulations to all of the speakers.

EFL best speaker

2009-02-21T06:12:00.002Z

DO HYEONG KWON from the Republic of Korea.

ESL best speaker

2009-02-21T06:04:00.003Z

JANICE YOON from the Republic of Korea!

Top ESL team 2009

2009-02-21T05:33:00.002Z

Reclaiming their 2008 title, TEAM GREECE!

Top EFL team 2009

2009-02-21T02:12:00.001Z

THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA!

Dan the man

2009-02-20T13:10:00.003Z

The top 10 speakers for WSDC 2009 are (hopefully accurate, as I hastily scribbled the names):

10. Melanie Pope (England)
9. Lee Jia Wei (Singapore)
8. Iqbal Kassam (Canada)
7. Ben Woolgar (England)
6. Jack Gamble (England)
5. Anish Hazra (Singapore)
4. Teoh Ren Jie (Singapore)
3. Christopher Bissett (Australia)
2. Maria English (New Zealand)
1. DANIEL KALISKI (South Africa)
(seen here just after receiving his award to a standing ovation)

Top 50 speaker tab, team tab and EFL/ESL awards coming soon...

And the winner is.........

2009-02-18T19:49:00.005Z

NEW ZEALAND!!! 6-1

Whaia e koe ki te iti kahurangi; ki te tuohu koe, me maunga tetei
(Seek the treasure you value most dearly: if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.)

The final count down

2009-02-18T05:04:00.002Z

Grand final resolution: THB that all illegal immigrants should receive amnesty.

New Zealand is proposing, England is opposing.

The debate begins in about 10 hours' time......

News just to hand.....

2009-02-17T14:24:00.002Z

No, I haven't found my purse BUT here's some even BETTER news. We have our finalists.

The semi-final topic this afternoon was "THBT dictatorships should not receive international aid". England proposed against Greece. New Zealand proposed against Singapore. England won 4-1 and New Zealand won 3-2.

Ah yes, these two teams!! May the best one win. I have a little whakatauki (proverb) for each member of both teams:
toko reo, toku ohooho (my words, my awakening.)

Thank you for enlivening us with your words. May you realise always the good and the transformation you can achieve with them.

I look forward to the final and will bring everyone the result as always.

C

Close encounters of the word kind

2009-02-17T11:50:00.005Z

A future Kiwi debater supporting the team in Athens.

Resolution: THW lower the voting age.

The teams are listed below, proposition first then opposition, with the number of judges obtained. From all accounts, the debaters were close encounters and hard fought. I witnessed the best debate I'd seen all tournament between Pakistan and England, a joust full of sophistication, wit and rhetoric and the best of debating.

Pakistan 1 v England 4
Australia 2 v Singapore 3
New Zealand 4 v Canada 1
Greece 4 v Scotland 1.

So England meets Greece in a semi final for the second consecutive year and New Zealand meets Singapore.

I'd like to watch but it appears that some %$#@ has stolen my purse and being without cash and credit cards in a foreign country is a nuisance to put it mildly so instead of enjoying the semi-finals I'll be trying to do the contact-NZ-at-midnight-and-cancel-the-cards thing. However, the semi-finals will be much more fun than my woes so I will bring you the results once I know them. And anyway, at least I've seen some outstanding debating.

Delphi verdicts....

2009-02-16T22:12:00.004Z

Hi folks. Sorry about the delay in getting the results of the octo-finals to you. I wanted to blog from Delphi after the debates because the Wi Fi access there is clean and consistent. However, I was told I had to get on the bus imediately as the debate I watched (NZ v Wales) was the last debate to finish and we were late. As I waited on the bus for close to 12 minutes while various stragglers from the apparently earlier finishing debates climbed aboatrd the buses, I speculated as to how many blogs I could have posted in that time.

There was then the 3 hour bus trip back to Athens (including dinner and another stop) and after that, a 2.5 hour wait for internet connectivity here at the hotel. And it's just come free now.

So, results..

Philippines 1 v England 2
Australia 3 v Netherlands 0
New Zealand 3 v Wales 0
South Africa 0 v Scotland 3
Peru 0 v Greece 3
Canada 2 v Ireland 1
Slovenia 0 v Singapore 3
Korea Republic 1 v Pakistan 2

No oracle, just a few words, from Delphi

2009-02-16T12:04:00.002Z

7 buses have taken over 300 people from Hotel Stanley, through the bustling Athens traffic, along cobbled streets in little villages high in the hills, past snow laden mountains, all the way to the world's navel, Delphi!

The octo-final resolution is:
This house would require people to work in return for welfare payments.

The teams, prop first, opp second are:

Philippines v England
Australia v Netherlands
New Zealand v Wales
South Africa v Scotland
Peru v Greece
Canada v Ireland
Slovenia v Singapore
Korea Republic v Pakistan

YES!!!! It's the break

2009-02-15T19:11:00.004Z

Here I am, blogging live from the St Catherine's School Hall, thanks to their IT department! Chief Adjudicator James Probert has just read out the names of the top 16 teams and wow, what match ups there will be at Delphi tomorrow. There's been a huge amount of cheering, especially for Team Greece.

Here is the break;
1. England 8 wins, 22 judges
2. Australia 8 wins, 21 judges
3. New Zealand 8 wins, 19 judges
4. South Africa, 7 wins, 20 judges
5. Peru, 7 wins, 20 judges
6. Canada, 7 wins, 19 judges
7. Singapore, 6 wins, 20 judges
8. Korea Republic, 6 wins, 19 judges
9. Pakistan, 6 wins, 19 judges
10 Slovenia, 6 wins, 18 judges
11. Ireland, 6 wins, 16 judges
12. Greece, 6 wins, 16 judges
13. Scotland, 5 wins, 16 judges
14. Wales, 5 wins, 16 judges
15. Netherlands, 5 wins, 16 judges
16. Philippines, 5 wins, 14 judges.

The rankings are done by wins, then ballots or number of judges, then speaker points.

For the octo-finals at Delphi, the sides to be determined by coin toss, team 1 meets 16, 2 meets 15 and so on.

The line-ups are:
England v Philippines
Australia v Netherlands
New Zealand v Wales
South Africa v Scotland
Peru v Greece
Canada v Ireland
Singapore v Slovenia
Korea Republic v Pakistan.

Well, it's an early start tomorrow. The buses leave at 7:30 am. So it's good night from me and good night from the rest. Send your teams lots of texts, emails and positive thoughts!!!

Day 5 results

2009-02-15T18:56:00.002Z

As we await the break party, here are the results for rounds 7 and 8.

I have rushed the results to get them to you - I think they are correct. I'll be back once the break night announcement has been made.

The mathematicians and pundits among you will by that time have worked it all out anyway....

Good luck to everyone!!!!

Claire

Round 0

2009-02-15T03:30:00.004Z

The resolution for Round 0 was announced after 7 pm, Saturday evening once the sun had truly set, and the 4 debates began after 8 pm. These were held in various rooms in the hotel and many of the teams which were not debating in the round turned up to watch, providing the competing teams a generous and much appreciated audience. In our debate, (Namibia v Romania) two of the observing debaters cheerfully offered to be chairperson and timekeeper and the audience attentively listened to both teams.

Despite the noise from the hotel lobby below (which at one point necessitated our intervention ), from other youngsters staying in the hotel using the room as a cacophonous thoroughfare and from the clatter of the hotel staff as they went in and out of the lift and moved various large items behind us, the debaters prevailed!

For Round 0 results, click here

We're up to Day 3 already

2009-02-13T23:57:00.007Z

Kia ora again and thanks for waiting for the results. Tonight, there has been a passng thunderstorm, a power blackout in the hotel during wine tasting (a term to be used loosely) for the WSDC adults while the debaters learned Greek dancing - and the usual connectivity battle with the Wifi.

Oh well, I guess it's been an interesting end to the most glorious day of sunshine to date. I was lucky enough to enjoy again the great food, company and debating at HAEF for rounds 5 and 6. We've been well served by the schools around Athens and it has been fantastic to return to the large school audience, such a vital component of Worlds.

Tomorrow is a day off - except for those who like me will be judging Round 0 but that isn't until after sundown when Shabbat ends, Israel being in Round 0, so it is to a large extent, a free day. This means time for laundry, completing a power point for a comet which is passing close by the earth this month, visting the free internet cafe in Syntagma Square (unlimited, free internet access) and the like.

As for the results of Day 3, here they are. I note that they are gracing other websites once I send them out so it's great that the news is getting out there. Don't be afraid to acknowledge this site as your source, and also to let me know of your own blogsites about the championship so I can feature them here.

Thanks everyone,

Claire

Results from Day 2

2009-02-12T23:42:00.002Z

Another delightful day in Athens. Our group journeyed to HAEF (Hellenic American Educational Foundation) where we were feted and fed wonderfully.

Here are the results of Day 2.

Results for Day 1

2009-02-11T16:58:00.005Z

Kia ora everyone. Day 1 of the championships took place in balmy weather in schools across Athens and the results are now in.

I know that this is the post for which you've been waiting, far more than for any report by me about the adjudication seminar or the fabulous opening night so I won't spend any more time keeping you in suspense. I apologize for the delay in getting the results out to you but internet connectivity at the hotel is poor and peripatetic, so I've been waiting for the small, fleeting window of opportunity to get this post out.

For the results, click here

Love from Athens,

Claire

Acropolis Now....

2009-02-07T06:41:00.009Z

A view of the Acropolis from the roof garden of Hotel Stanley, taken half an hour before the shooting star

Kalimera from Athens. This place is amazing. It's supposed to be winter and strong sunlight is streaming through my window on the 5th floor of the Stanley. (Yes alright, it did rain yesterday but the rain was warm like an Auckland summer.) The generosity and hospitality of Effie and her people flows in abundance. And there is a legal roof garden at the hotel. I know. I've been there. And I know I'm allowed because Effie and Helen took me there and permitted me to run around, the usual thing when you let Kiwis loose. I took the photo just so you can see what a magnificent view will greet you from the rooftop - and the balconies of some of your rooms. About half an hour later, I was up there again, admiring the northern night sky when a shooting star arced briefly over the city and was gone.

The Athenian night sky was not as sparkling as the view from Effie's home outside Athens but still impressive. After staying at the Giannakouri palace for a few days, we moved into the Stanley two days ago and have now settled in, waiting for the rest of you. The metro station is right outside the hotel as is a fleet of polished yellow taxis and a kiosk that sells all manner of things including key ingredients for finals, like dark chocolate. Internet is available at the hotel for 20 euros for 500 minutes or 50 euros for a week. However, free internet access is available all over Athens and there is a hotspot not far from the hotel (and much closer besides!!) The hotel staff know everything about, well, everything and even took the time to courteously warn me about pickpockets before I descended into the roar of the crowd in the subway. And a 3 euro all day pass - pretty reasonable.

I've visited 5 of the host schools. They are eagerly awaiting their international guests and there will be a few wonderful surprises in the welcome you receive. But I'm sworn to secrecy.

Blogging again at WSDC

2009-02-01T12:56:00.003Z

Hi everyone,

This is to let you know that I will be blogging again at Athens this year. In fact I am my way there now, sitting in the Plaza Premium Lounge at Singapore's Changi airport (my favourite) awaiting my flight to Athens in just under 4 hours and typing this post. Yay for free internet connections.

I am not on the CAP this year so the results may take a little longer. Please be patient - I will pester Chief Adjudicator James Probert and everyone else until I have the round by round results and then you will have them too.

One day, there will be live streaming of your favourite team by somebody technically gifted, (which won't be me obviously but I too look forward to the day.)

Kind regards to you all.

Claire

WSC 2009 - The Draw

2009-01-26T15:24:00.003Z

The draw for the forthcoming WSDC in Athens was released today, by Chief Adjudicator James Probert and his adjudication panel.

WSDC alumni in action in Cork

2009-01-26T11:49:00.004Z

Thanks to Christopher Bishop for letting us know about the following WSDC alumni in action at the World Universities Debating Championships in Cork, Ireland:

Tim Mooney (Sydney) - 2nd on tab (WSDC 2005 for Australia) - octofinalist
Julia Fetherston (Sydney) - 5th on tab (WSDC 2003, 2004, 2005 for Australia) - octofinalist
Steve Hind (Sydney) - 5th on tab (WSDC 2005 for Australia) - octofinalist
Shengwu Li (Oxford) - 7th on tab (WSDC 2003 for Singapore) - semi-finalist
Evan Goldman (Queensland) - 12th on tab (current Australian coach, WSDC 2002 for Australia) - semi-finalist
Stephen Whittington (Victoria) - 15th on tab (WSDC 2005 for New Zealand) - semi-finalist
Kitson Symes (Oxford) - 18th on tab (WSDC 2006 for England) - semi-finalist
Alex Worsnip (Oxford) - 22nd on tab (WSDC 2005 for England) - grand finalist
Polly Higbee (Victoria) - 25th on tab (WSDC 2005 for New Zealand) - semi-finalist
Sam Greenland (Sydney) - 25th on tab (Coach of Hong Kong) - octo-finalist
Lewis Bollard (Victoria) - 37th on tab (WSDC 2005 for New Zealand) - grand finalist
Cormac Early (Victoria) - (WSDC 2005 for Canada) - grand finalist
Tom Jackson (Nottingham) - (WSDC 2006 for Hong Kong) - quarter-finalist

Greetings from Greece - important information

2009-01-06T20:46:00.007Z

Effie Giannakouri, the Convenor of WSDC 2009 writes:

Dear All,

Attached you will find a newsletter about our tournament- I hope it answers most of your questions. In any case, please don't hesitate to contact us for any questions that you may have.

The second letter is on some practical issues that we need to deal with as soon as possible and we need your help. Please read it and help us resolve these matters.

Please send all your replies or questions to the WSDC 2009 email here

Thank you very much and looking forward to seeing you very soon!

Effie Giannakouri

Release of debate resolutions for WSDC 2009

2008-12-12T17:12:00.003Z

Kia ora tatou and greetings to you all.

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.

In the meantime, best wishes for the season and a happy Christmas or as it is said in Maori "Nga mihi o te Kirihimete me Te Tau Hou". (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.) Also, Happy Hannukah for 21 December, and blessings and peace for the 1st of Muharram on or about 29 December.

Perhaps you can send me seasons greetings in your own language and I can publish them all here, together with greetings for any other festivals at this time I may have overlooked.

Ka kite ano,

Claire Ryan
Secretary, Executive Committee, WSDC Ltd

21st WSDC - Website and invitation to adjudicators

2008-11-16T18:57:00.009Z

Greetings everyone.

I have two great pieces of news for you all.

First, the Convenor of the 21st WSDC championship, Effie Giannakouri, has announced that the website is up and running. Check it out here

I hope you are planning to join us to celebrate our 21st birthday party!!

Secondly, the Chief Adjudicator for the championship, James Probert, has today launched an invitation to adjudicators, international and national, to apply to judge at WSDC. Read below for his invitation.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan
Secretary, Executive Committee,
WSDC Ltd

Dear World Schools community,

It is with a great deal of excitement that I am looking forward to the forthcoming XXIst World Schools Debating Championships in 2009. The tournament will be held between 9 and 19 February in Athens, ancient birthplace of democracy and now a fascinating, beautiful and fun city, with some of the best infrastructure and nightlife in the Mediterranean. The organising committee, led by convenor Effie Giannakouri, has secured excellent accommodation that could not possibly be more central to Athens’ major shopping, eating and entertainment districts, and world class venues for the debate rounds, including some of the most famous and important buildings in all of western culture.

The tournament also expects to see a continuation of the trend of the last few years towards larger and larger competitions, possibly even exceeding the record of 39 teams set in Washington DC in September. As chief adjudicator that makes me acutely aware of the importance of getting a large pool of qualified judges. Confident as I am that the obvious attractions of Athens and the prospects of seeing old friends again will be a powerful draw, I want to make it clear that in the past few years the tournament has suffered from not having enough judges, and so every application is both gratefully received and much-needed. With the support of the ever-growing debate community worldwide, I know that we can make Athens 2009 the best-judged tournament yet.

Applications to judge are welcomed from all experienced debate judges, not just from those who have previously adjudicated at World Schools. The application form can be found here here and contains more information about the expectations we have of adjudicators. The registration deadline for the tournament is 1 December, so please get your form in as soon as possible.

I would also be grateful if you could forward this message to any other people you think may be interested in coming to judge at the championship. Together we can reach many more national debate networks and many more potentially valuable judges than I can centrally.

I look forward to seeing you in Athens in February. Let's make World Schools' twenty first birthday one to remember!

James Probert

Chief Adjudicator, XXIst World Schools Debating Championships, Athens

WSDC Ltd Executive Committee 2008/2009

2008-09-26T19:02:00.004Z

Chairperson: Chris Erskine (Australia)
Vice Chairperson: Geetha Creffield (Singapore)
Secretary: Claire Ryan (New Zealand)

6 committee members;

Jeannette Baljeu (Netherlands)
Taimur Bandey (Pakistan)
Beth James (Wales)
Alex Just (Qatar)
Irene McGrath (Scotland)
Dick Wafer (Ireland)

WSDC 2008 debates on line

2008-09-19T21:39:00.006Z

Recordings of debates from the 2008 championship are springing up everywhere.

Here's one of the Grand Final. I don't know which kind soul recorded the debate then made it so quickly available to us all but a huge thank you to whoever did it.

Tuna Snider is also uploading debates on his WSDC 2008 blogspot so check that out too. He has the NZ v Scotland semi-final there now. Hopefully he or someone else has the England v Greece semi-final as well. If people would like to share their recordings with Tuna or with me for inclusion on the WSDC 2008 blogspot or the WSDC blog, please don't hold back!

Gaurav Keerthi from Singapore who was judging at WSDC also filmed a number of debates including the delightfully entertaining England v Israel quarter final which he has placed on the Facebook WSDC Washington DC group and is also reproduced here. Gaurav is also placing more WSDC 2008 debates which he recorded on the Debate Association Singapore website. Click here if you would like to register with that site.

NB: I've also gone back and added a few extra photos to earlier postings plus added ESL/EFL top 3 teams to the team tab, and published a corrected individual speaker tab because of errors in that tab so feel free to go back and have another look.

Claire

2008 speaker tab.

2008-09-19T16:18:00.008Z

Here is the individual speaker tab containing the names of the top 50 speakers at the 2008 World Championships. This is an amended list from that earlier published.

Chief Adjudicator Aaron Maniam advises that there was an unfortunate software error in the computation of scores earlier, which he has spent some time correcting and checking and trusts he has now rectified.

As usual, only the top 50 names are published to the world and only those who have debated in at least 4 of the preliminary rounds are included in the list.

I have ensured as best as I can that the names of the individuals have been spelled correctly but I am dependent on the information that has been supplied to me. If any name is incorrect, please e-mail me and I will correct it.

If nations wish to know the placings and speaker points of their speakers who are not in the top 50, could the team managers please e-mail Aaron Maniam and request the details. He will be happy to provide them.

Thank you very much and congratulations to all those who debated in this tournament.

Claire Ryan
Secretary, Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

2008 team tab.

2008-09-19T13:38:00.010Z

As promised, here is the WSDC 2008 team tab.

It includes the top 3 EFL and ESL teams.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan,
Secretary, Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

More international debating... without leaving home

2008-09-16T08:48:00.004Z

Congratulations to England, New Zealand and all the teams at what was a gripping World Championships - and thanks to Claire from those of us around the world who were only able to live it via her posts to this blog.

When the dust has settled, you might be interested in a new project from a South African school - Global Connection - which enables schools to debate each other over the Internet, using a variation of World Schools style. It's done using the popular Skype software which is downloadable for free; otherwise you just need a PC, broadband connection and a webcam/microphone.

Sign up now and arrange your debates with schools around the world.

Top 10 speaker awards

2008-09-15T02:32:00.004Z

Jen Savage with her award

10. Hugh Burns (IRELAND)

9. Daniel Kaliski (SOUTH AFRICA)

8. Sian Ni Mhuiri (IRELAND)

7. Emily Chalk (AUSTRALIA)

6. Sam Greene (CANADA)

5. Ben Woolgar (ENGLAND)

3 = Holly Jenkins (NEW ZEALAND)

3 = Chris Bisset (AUSTRALIA)

2. Ben Kornfeld (NEW ZEALAND)

1. Jen Savage (NEW ZEALAND)

EFL best speaker award

2008-09-15T02:26:00.005Z

Congratulations to FILIP DOBRANIC from Slovenia who wins the award for the second year in a row.

A software error in the tab programme meant that while the late round 4 Slovenia v USA points were entered into the tab and the scores were included in the team total, the programme did not automatically carry the points through to the individual tab the way all the other scores were carried through, so Filip's scores and the scores of all those in that debate were not originally included and he wasn't originally announced as EFL best speaker. Aaron Maniam , Chief Adjudicator, has now rectified this. Sincere apologies to all concerned.

Aaron is resolved to do his best to work with future adjudication teams to rectify this glitch on future tabs.

The top 3 EFL speakers are:
3. Valerie Deiss (Germany)
2. Carmen Belafi (Germany)
1. Filip Dobranic (Slovenia)

ESL best speaker award

2008-09-15T02:16:00.008Z

Congratulations to ZEESHAN HAIDER from Pakistan.

Top ESL speakers:
3. Feroze Shah (Pakistan)
2. Elena Georgantzis (Greece)
1. Zeeshan Haider (Pakistan)

Awards night part 2 - EFL award......

2008-09-15T02:06:00.002Z

goes to...............

TEAM SLOVENIA

Top 3 EFL teams:
1. Slovenia
2. Netherlands
3. Argentina

Awards night part 1 - ESL award

2008-09-15T01:55:00.005Z

The final banquet is in progress. The awards have just ocurred. Here we begin the list.

ESL team award - TEAM GREECE

Top 3 ESL teams:
1. Greece
2. Pakistan
3. South Korea

Rule Britannia!

2008-09-14T23:25:00.007Z

New Zealand 4 v England 5

Final judging panel: Aaron Maniam (Singapore), Chris Erskine (Australia), Janet Webster (Canada), Taimur Bandey (Pakistan), Jumin Lee (Republic of Korea), Simona Mazilu (Romania), Branislav Fecko-Cegin(Slovakia), Liana Miholic (Slovenia), Beth James (Wales),

England wins the championships! So I guess I won't be singing......except the praises of a great debate between Team NZ (Jen Savage, Ben Kornfeld and Maria English with great support from Holly Jenkins and Tom Chen) against Team England (Ben Woolgar, Seb Farquhar and James Fox ably supported by Emily Pearce), worthy winners England and gracious losers NZ.

Congratulations to England, a team that lost no rounds throughout the entire competition, who were clever, sophisticated and witty.

The final banquet awaits.....love to you all and I'll be back later with some photos and final thoughts.

Will it be God save our gracious Queen or God defend our free land?

2008-09-14T02:02:00.004Z

Teams New Zealand and Scotland who provided us with a simply spectacular semi-final

Result of the semi-final:

New Zealand 7 Scotland 0

England 5 Greece 2

Final tomorrow: TH would expand the permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

New Zealand proposing, England opposing.

Let the semi-finals begin!!!

2008-09-13T23:43:00.002Z

Resolution: This house would drop all US sanctions on Cuba.

(Interesting wording - from which height?)

New Zealand proposing against Scotland

England proposing against Greece.

May the best team win... well, I am a little partisan of course... but still, may the best team win.

(And if NZ manages to win the whole thing, I promise to sing!!!!)

Indian Creek Part 2

2008-09-13T02:03:00.003Z

I have received a lovely little clip from Indian Creek, featuring an interview with brilliant Bryce from Hong Kong, and snippets from the Hong Kong v Lithuania debate.

ENJOY!!!

Click here

Quarter-final results!!!!

2008-09-12T21:37:00.003Z

TH regrets the hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

PROP OPP
New Zealand 4 Ireland 1
Greece 3 South Africa 2
England 4 Israel 1
Scotland 4 Canada 1

There were some very gracious appreciative and congratulatory speeches by losing teams this afternoon, more so than I've seen before. These teams rock.

So.....it's New Zealand v Scotland and England v Greece tomorrow night.
I can hardly wait

Quarter final topic

2008-09-12T18:31:00.002Z

TH regrets the hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

PROP OPP
NZ v Ireland
South Africa v Greece
England v Israel
Scotland v Canada.

Go teams!!!!
And to those around the world: keep sending positive vibes and messages!!!!

Outstanding Octofinals

2008-09-12T18:09:00.002Z

THBT heads of government should be required to have a parliamentary majority to govern

PROP OPP

Netherlands 0 New Zealand 5

Australia 1 Ireland 4

Canada 3 South Korea 2

Scotland 4 Pakistan 1

South Africa 3 Hong Kong 2

Singapore 2 Greece 3

England 3 Wales 2

Slovenia 0 Israel 5

Commiserations to the teams who now exit the competition but become supportive audiences. As you can see, the rounds were very close and we saw some superb debates between very gifted teams.

Congratulations to the winners of close-fought battles. This afternoon is going to be sensational.

The Break

2008-09-11T04:52:00.004Z

Lewis Turner, coach of Wales, hearing the news that Wales has broken.

Hello again everyone.We returned from a great day at Indian Creek in time to quickly change into more casual clothes and head off to the Crystal City Sports Bar for a night of good food, good friendship, not-so-good dancing and the great break announcement.

Slovenia v USA were completing their rescheduled debate when we arrived so I stayed back to await the decision (Slovenia 3-0) and then checked with the others the tab for the final breaking teams - although really, James Probert had done such a splendid job with the tab, and he and Kris Ade with the data entry, so that the final checking by the rest of us was just a confirmation of the obvious.Our work done for the meantime, the CAP headed off to the Sports Bar to be greeted by an excited throng ("ooh, here comes the CAP!!!")and various offers to buy drinks if we could just even drop some hints but I don't drink so that was a waste of time -and they don't sell White Chocolate bars at the Sports Bar.

After what seemed to be an eternity for the anxious debaters, Phyllis entered the building. With the help of the DJ's microphone against the background of the usual sports bar noise she proclaimed the draw from 1 to 16 with the teams loudly cheering and hollering not only for themselves if they made the break but even more riotously and generously for each other. Some people had worked the draw out already but there were many moments of worry for those on 5 wins who knew that some of them wouldn't break - before all was revealed.

And here it is:

Breaking teams

1. New Zealand. 8 wins, 23 judges
2. South Africa. 8 wins, 22 judges
3. England. 8 wins, 21 judges
4. Canada. 7 wins, 21 judges
5. Pakistan. 7 wins, 19 judges
6. Israel. 7 wins, 19 judges
7. Singapore. 6 wins, 19 judges
8. Australia. 6 wins, 18 judges
9. Ireland. 6 wins, 18 judges
10. Greece. 6 wins, 18 judges
11. Slovenia, 6 wins, 16 judges
12. Scotland. 5 wins, 15 judges
13. South Korea. 5 wins, 15 judges
14. Wales. 5 wins, 14 judges
15. Hong Kong. 5 wins, 14 judges
16. Netherlands. 5 wins, 14 judges.

Where teams are on equal wins and judges, they have been separated by speaker point totals.

On Friday, the teams will meet in the octofinals, paired 1-16, 2-15, 3-14 and so on.All debates will be limited preparation ie one hour of preparation after the topic is announced. Sides will be determined by coin toss before the topic is announced.

Just so you know the fabulous encounters we will see, here they are:
New Zealand v Netherlands
South Africa v Hong Kong
England v Wales
Canada v South Korea
Pakistan v Scotland
Israel v Slovenia
Singapore v Greece
Australia v Ireland.

It's now after 1 am so I'm about to sign off. Tomorrow is the free day, so a sleep in is in order before heading into Washington Central and....the Smithsonian!!!

Rounds 5 and 6

2008-09-11T03:43:00.004Z

Above: Team Germany making friends and influencing people at Indian Creek High School 10 September 2008

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay in getting results to you....but when you're working all day travelling a number of hours to judge wonderful debates outside Washington and working all night every night into the small hours (such is the volume of work for this CAP, even more so than last year)then there is little time or opportunity short of complete sleep deprivation to post to the blog.

For the last two days I, some other judges and 4 debating teams have been travelling by bus out to the warmly welcoming Indian Creek High School in Crownville, Maryland. It's a refurbished, rebuilt high school, the new buildings being only two years old, on a former tobacco farm in a leafy, semi-rural setting. Yesterday it took us two hours to get there in humid conditions, because we got lost, the directions were wrong, and even the local mailman did not seem to know where it was. But we did see a great deal of the Maryland country side and the local bush, creek and nouveau-rustic cottages nestled beneath the trees - although perhaps more than we had intended and more than once past the same crashed and crushed black car sitting on an otherwise impeccably manicured front lawn...

Finally, we arrived, our orange bus (reminiscent of Peru but without the rapid-fire horn sounds) rumbling up the sweeping driveway half an hour after we were scheduled to begin debating. The school took it all in its stride and the staff simply rearranged their day. Today, the same bus driver knew where to go and we arrived within an hour. The school was delighted to have us, dispatched appreciative audiences to our debates (it was so great to have an audience), hosted the debates either in a light, open music room with the sun warming our backs or in the impressively spacious auditorium, fed us well, enjoyed a workshop by Asher Weill today and hosted a reception tonight to thank and farewell us. This will be one of my fondest memories of this tournament - this is what WSDC is all about.

The school is setting up its own debating team and I said that I hoped to one day see a member of Team USA from Indian Creek HS.

Anyway, here are the results of Rounds 5 and 6. The teams that debated at Indian Creek in those rounds were Australia, Ireland, Pakistan and South Africa, four power houses of debating who put on great performances for the students and teachers, many of whom were enthused and inspired by our teams. (Today, teams Canada, Germany, Lithuania and Hong Kong came out to the same school and further impressed the school with their verbal dexterity and eclectic general knowledge. I'll post rounds 7 and 8 once I have them all!)

Round 5: Prepared: THW make the directors of multinational companies personally liable for environmental abuses committed by their companies in the developing world.

PROPOSITION OPPOSITION

Swing 0 Qatar 3

Montenegro 3 Mongolia 0

England 3 USA 0

Wales 1 Slovenia 2

South Korea 1 Israel 2

Kuwait 0 Canada 3

Argentina 0 Greece 3

Peru 1 Philippines 2

Romania 1 Indonesia 2

Estonia 2 Bermuda 1

Sri Lanka 2 Bangladesh 1

New Zealand 3 Scotland 0

Hong Kong 0 Singapore 3

Australia 1 South Africa 2

Ireland 1 Pakistan 2

Mexico 0 India 3

Botswana 3 Slovakia 0

Netherlands 3 Czech Republic 0

Lithuania 1 Germany 2

Bye: Japan

Round 6: Impromptu: This house would cease the use of detention without trial in the war on terror

PROPOSITION OPPOSITION

Greece 3 Kuwait 0

USA 3 Peru 0

India 3 Japan 0

Mongolia 0 Swing 3

Slovenia 2 Argentina 1

Israel 3 Wales 0

Philippines 1 South Korea 2

Indonesia 2 Estonia 1

Bermuda 0 Sri Lanka 3

Bangladesh 2 Romania 1

Canada 1 England 3Scotland Hong Kong

Singapore 0 New Zealand 3

Pakistan 3 Australia 0

South Africa 3 Ireland 0

Qatar 3 Montenegro 0

Slovakia 1 Mexico 2

Czech Republic 2 Lithuania 1

Scotland 1 Hong Kong 2

Germany 0 Netherlands 3

Bye: Botswana.

Rounds 3 and 4

2008-09-09T03:56:00.005Z

Round 3–Prepared Debate

This house would ban the use of unethically obtained data in scientific research.

PROPOSITION TEAM OPPOSITION TEAM

South Africa 3 Japan 0

Singapore 3 Montenegro 0

Canada 3 Mongolia 0

England 3 Qatar 0

New Zealand 3 Bangladesh 0

Slovakia 0 Ireland 3

South Korea 3 Estonia 0

Argentina 2 Indonesia 1

Peru 0 Kuwait 3

Bermuda 0 Greece 3

Israel 3 Romania 0

Mexico 1 Scotland 2

Swing 0 Hong Kong 3

India 1 Pakistan 2

Botswana 0 Australia 3

Czech Republic 0 Slovenia 3

USA 1 Germany 2

Wales 2 Netherlands 1

Lithuania 1 Philippines 2

Bye: Sri Lanka

Round 4 impromptu motion:
This house believes that humanities courses should be part of every
undergraduate programme.

PROPOSITION TEAM OPPOSITION TEAM

Japan 0 New Zealand 3

Montenegro 0 England 3

Indonesia 0 Peru 3

Sri Lanka 0 Canada 3

Kuwait 1 Slovakia 2

Bangladesh 0 South Africa 3

Estonia 1 Israel 2

Qatar 0 Singapore 3

Greece 2 South Korea 1

Romania 1 Argentina 2

Ireland 3 Bermuda 0

Hong Kong 1 Mexico 2

Scotland 3 Swing 0

Australia 3 India 0

Pakistan 3 Botswana 0

Slovenia USA (postponed)

Germany 1 Czech Republic 2

Netherlands 0 Lithuania 3

Philippines 0 Wales 3

Rounds 1 and 2: results and thoughts

2008-09-08T04:57:00.007Z

Today the competition started for everyone, following the "warm-up" of adjudicator training sessions and Round 0. All storms had passed and the sky was back to Washington blue. Those who arrived on Friday night to brooding clouds and the edge of the hurricane could not believe the complete weather change overnight. So in bright sunlight we travelled to George Mason University or GMU for Rounds 1 and 2. We didn't know where we were going and neither did our bus drivers. It could have been worse - we could have disappeared along some stretch of Route 66 never to be seen again. Fortunately, we had volunteers with cellphones and savvy. A few calls later, we arrived at the Student Union building...No 2.

After some refreshments and threats not to return on the bus (and one team didn't)we were into the prepared round. I was fortunate enough with my fellow adjudicators Gaurav from Singapore and Eva from the Netherlands to watch an outstanding debate between Pakistan and Wales. People know I like alliteration so try this: the debate was classy and clever, stylish and sophisticated, poised and professional. What a privilege.

Could I be treated to two great debates in one day? In this case,yes.England and Hong Kong put on another impressive show, this time in the impromptu round. I dissented - but can only say that it was very close and hard fought. Our debaters are all wonderful young people and it was a fantastic first day.

And the results? Here they are:

ROUND ONE: TH SUPPORTS MILITARY INTERVENTION TO DELIVER EMERGENCY AID IN HUMANITARIAN CRISES.

PROPOSITION TEAM OPPOSITION TEAM

Israel 1 South Africa 2

Philippines 0 Singapore 3

Romania 0Hong Kong 3

Slovenia 1 England 2

Greece 1New Zealand 2

Bermuda 1Slovakia 2

Scotland 2 South Korea 1

Czech Republic 0 Argentina 3

Mongolia 0Peru 3

Pakistan 3 Wales 0

Sri Lanka 3 Lithuania 0

Canada 3 USA 0

Japan 0 Montenegro 3

Qatar 2 Botswana 1

Netherlands 2 Mexico 1

Bangladesh 2 Swing 1

Indonesia 0 Ireland 3

Estonia 0 Australia 3

Germany 3 Kuwait 0

ROUND 2: IMPROMPTU: THW BAN STRIKES BY THOSE WORKING IN ESSENTIAL STATE SERVICES

South Africa 3 USA 0

Singapore 3 Slovenia 0

Canada 2 Greece 1

England 2 Hong Kong 1

New Zealand 3 Estonia 0

Montenegro 0 Netherlands 3

South Korea 2 Romania 1

Argentina 0 Pakistan 3

Peru 2 Sri Lanka 1

India 0 Bermuda 3

Israel 2 Scotland 1

Wales 3 Germany 0

Lithuania 1 Bangladesh 2

Kuwait 1 Czech Republic 2

Swing 0 Botswana 3

Mexico 3Mongolia 0

Japan 0 Qatar 3

Australia 3Indonesia 0

Ireland 2 Philippines 1

What we do when not debating.......

2008-09-07T02:40:00.004Z

Debaters need water.....lots of it. What better way to employ adjudicators and debaters idling away the hours before the championships start than to send them off to Costco to purchase 100 crates of water...only the van would only take 50, Costco wouldn't take my card (but did take my cash!!) and after a half hour shopping trip which turned into a 2 hour marathon, the boys are still smiling.

Thanks to Chris from Canada and Sven from Germany for remaining cheerful and upbeat after all our exploits and all their work-outs with the water.....

WSDC begins with Round Zero

2008-09-07T02:06:00.007Z

As Washington felt the edge of the hurricane outdoors, WSDC began in the safety of the indoors, with the adjudicators' briefing begun with a power point presentation by Aaron Maniam before the large group of about 75 broke into 3 groups, the new, the not-so-new and the old hands.

In the afternoon, Round Zero began, the details of which are as follows:

Resolution: THW ban government funding from being given to faith based initiatives.

Proposition Opposition
Botswana Japan
Result: Botswana 3-0

Slovakia India
Result: Slovakia 2-1

Mongolia Sri Lanka
Result: Sri Lanka 3-0

Qatar Bangladesh
Result: Bangladesh 2-1

Meanwhile......at Reagan

2008-09-05T04:01:00.002Z

Those arriving at the National Airport are very close to the Hyatt Regency and there is a free shuttle bus which is (a) FREE and (b) whisks you to the hotel in a matter of minutes. Come out of the terminal, turn right and keep walking until you come to the "Hotel shuttle" sign (the slight clue will be the large group of people gathered there.) Wait until the big blue shuttle with the word "HYATT" comes along and give the driver a wave.

I've been popping out when I can to meet various people at Reagan to direct them to the shuttle. Today I rushed out to meet a team and couldn't find it. Many minutes passed while I anxiously sought out some familiar faces, but to to no avail - before I was put out of my misery by the information that in fact the team is due tomorrow...

To change the subject or as Mark Twain once put it, to draw the curtain of charity over the scene, there are some fabulous eateries within a short distance of the Hyatt. Which one is your favourite? There may be a little prize for the best description........

C

From dullest to Dulles

2008-09-03T16:01:00.012Z

Greetings everyone.

At last I am in DC....or more correctly, in Virginia, after 20 hours of flight(including 3 hours at San Fran.) I left a rather cloudy, dull day in Auckland where it was raining (so....er...untypical of Auckland) and there was a huge amount to do in the office (how equally untypical of me) but leaving all that exciting material behind, I now email you under a balmy, clear sky in Washington.

20 hours is a long time but for the first 12 hours I had the pleasure of sitting next to 2 widows who fled Fiji in one of the coups and were otherwise travelling abroad for the first time so filling in all the forms for the US was an experience of great challenge - and hilarity. Fortunately there were a few spare forms around but we didn't need quite as many as the air hostess predicted. The 12 hours passed quickly (I hasten to add that it took less time than that to complete the forms). I was sorry to say farewell at San Francisco - except for one little matter and that is that one of them correctly guessed my marital and religious status which she said she could tell by looking. I began to wonder if I stayed with them any longer, what else they might discern about me. I don't think they fossicked in my handbag while I was on cabin walkabout (and it was in the hold above for most of the time), nor do I think there was anything in there that could reveal all my past misdeeds but you never know...

In San Francisco I discovered that notwithstanding all my efforts to have my mobile phone configured for global roaming, it wasn't working. A very expensive call to Telecom NZ later, all is up and running...sort of. Text messages seem to be working and I can phone home via toll call prices and home can phone my mobile via non-toll call prices so that's the main thing.

Speaking of the main thing, I'd better get on to the two main reasons why I wrote up this blog this morning.

The first - Dulles Airport. When you arrive there after midnight, the place is in sleep mode apart from passengers becoming anxious about the delay it is taking for their luggage to appear (but when you have to be transported by super-truck from place of landing to main passenger area, so does your luggage so patience is useful especially when-sleep deprived) some service crew - AND a group of very animated, eager taxi drivers who are very happy to help you out in any shape, manner or form, especially as the information booth is empty.

But it comes at a price - the desire to take you all the way to the Hyatt at Reagan for US $50-$64. I imagine the fare is financially viable if there's a group of you who can split the cost between you. It isn't for an individual. I'm very grateful to Phyllis for giving us an estimation of prices before we came so that I knew that the shuttle costs significantly less. The taxi driver who unsuccessfully tried to take my luggage ("But you're a woman", he exclaimed when I refused. Poor man, he didn't know what sort of woman!!!) told me that no shuttles ran at that time of night. He was mistaken - the Super Shuttles still do and one of them cost me US $29. You do have to wait for others to fill the shuttle of course and it tends to meander all around Virginia and DC if it's filled with different people so could take you hours to get to the Hyatt, although at that time of the night - sorry, morning - I didn't have to do any of that and enjoyed a lovely journey under northern stars, listening to the driver's rather interesting selection of music.

As we came into Arlington, the view of the Washington monument was simply stunning.

Secondly, internet access. From the hotel, it costs US$9.99 a day. If anyone knows of anything cheaper, let me know. I'll have a scout around too. It is cheaper for me than the global roaming/Ipass system I often use however and provides the same options so I've been impressed with Ameri-tech so far.

I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Claire

Yes! It's the DRAW

2008-08-31T07:01:00.005Z

Greetings again everyone.

As promised, here is the draw

As in previous years, the draw was done blindly. Firstly, teams were placed into four groups or quartiles, based on their performance over the last three WSDCs or based on their being at WSDC for the first time. Next, codes were assigned to teams based on those quartiles. After that, the draw was prepared. The only thing the codes told those preparing the draw was which quartile a coded team was in. They did not know which specific team a code represented. Finally, the codes were swapped for nations' names only after the entire draw was formulated.

This process helped to check against potential bias and it guaranteed a randomness of the pairings within the constraints of ensuring that teams meet a good cross section of opponents, and as far as possible, given the constraints of the number of teams, the need for a bye round and the different venues, have approximately equal numbers of Prop and Opp rounds, for both prepared and impromptu debates.

Good luck to all teams!

Aaron Maniam, Justin Rodriguez, Chief Adjudicators
Claire Ryan, Secretary, Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

39 teams: draw released midnight US Eastern time

2008-08-30T20:42:00.004Z

Greetings everyone.

With delays in confirming the exact number of teams, the draw has also been delayed. However, it is now understood that there are 39 teams in the competition waiting to find out who will debate whom and when.

Chief Adjudicator Aaron Maniam will release the draw on 30 August 2008 at midnight USA Eastern Time, and it will be posted both on the WSDC 2008 blogspot and here.

The odd number of teams means there will be a bye for a team in each round and therefore a bye round (the famous Round 0).

Get the draw here when it emerges in a few hours and good luck to everyone as they prepare.

Claire Ryan

Vital information for WASHINGTON DC

2008-08-29T20:31:00.006Z

Hi everyone.

Three things to know:

1. Check out the WSDC 2008 blogsite maintained by Tuna Snider, Director of Tournament Operations, WSDC 2008 for current information and updates on Worlds.

2. The archive on the same blogsite is very useful too for giving you all recent (and still very relevant) information.

3. Phyllis Hirth writes:
Code of Conduct.
You each need to sign and return to me the Code of Conduct form which you can find here.

You can scan and email to me or post to:
Phyllis Hirth
29 Forest Blvd
Ardsley, NY 10502

I need them before the championships begin. If you have not signed you can not participate.
Remember that students need their parents or guardian to sign too, so please try not to leave it to the last minute.

Travel from the Airports
For those of you coming into Dulles International Airport, the best transport to the hotel is the Super Shuttle(supershuttle.com) or 800-622-2089 . The fee quoted to me is $26 for the 1st person and $10/person after that. The van will fill any empty spaces with other passengers. You can also hire your own van for up to 10 people for $120.

For those of you coming to Baltimore Washington International Airport, you can also use the same contacts for the Super Shuttle. The rate is $44 for the 1st person and $12/person after that. Same as with Dulles, you can hire your own van for up to 10 people for $104.

Trains.
The young and hearty among you can take the MARC train to Union Station for $6. From Union Station take the Metro red line to Metro Center and change to the blue line to Crystal City. Then call the hotel (703-418-1234) and they will send the shuttle for you.

Hotel rates.
There has been some confusion on the rate for observers. The fee of $1600 is for double occupancy. Unfortunately, we are overbooked at the moment and I am not able to give single occupancy to anyone who was billed $1600. My apologies for the confusion.

Country Exhibit night.
On one of our evenings (Tuesday) we are planning a County Exhibit Night. Please bring something for your table to show the delegates something special about your country. Please, no food. The hotel will not let us serve anything they do not prepare for fear of litigation (remember this is the US, the most litigious nation in the world). This is also a night for those of you with any talents, or talents you think you have, to express yourselves for the benefit of the delegates. Please don't disappoint me on this. I look forward to learning a little more about each of you and about your culture.
More details about the Country Exhibit Night can be found here.

Well, that's it from Phyllis, and from your blogger me - for now.

Take care,

from Claire

WSDC Limited Directors

2008-08-26T18:52:00.002Z

Dear community,

As you are now aware, the recent incorporation of WSDC as a not-for-profit company necessitates that the Council meeting at the championship in Washington takes the form of an inaugural AGM. At that AGM the three founding Directors, Andrea Coomber (former Australian coach), Michael Birshan (former England team member and coach) and Yuri Romanenkov (former Lithuanian team member) will have to retire (though they are also able to stand for re-election). The full complement of Directors our company rules allow is nine, so we hope for at least that many candidates for the position to have put themselves forward by the time we have to circulate the list to our members, on Friday 5 September (also the first day of the tournament).

Eligibility

Any individual over the age of 18 may be a Director, unless:

- they have been disqualified from acting as a company director (unless the court has given them permission to act for a particular company);

- they are an undischarged bankrupt (unless they have been given permission by the court to act for a particular company);

- they have been disqualified from acting as a trustee by virtue of section 72 of the Charities Act 1993 (essentially the above, plus having been convicted of an offence involving dishonesty or deception, or having been previously removed from the office of trustee by the Charity Commissioners).

Please note that otherwise, Directors may be of any nationality and of any age, need not be members of the company (i.e. need not be a country's delegate to World Council) and may be resident anywhere in the world. They may also simultaneously hold any other position in the company (such as Executive Committee membership).

Responsibilities

Directors have a duty in law to manage the company (its finances, activities, staff, assets, etc) for the pursuance of its objects. There is a complete list of the legal duties members owe to a company, and an outline of the consequences of failing to fulfil them, in section 170 of the Companies Act 2006 (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts2006/pdf/ukpga_20060046_en.pdf).

Directors are expected to be available to take part in the discussions of the Board (which may take place electronically, by email or conference call) regularly, and may be removed if they fail to do so, without permission, for a period of more than six months.

The role of Directors in WSDC Ltd. specifically

The new company we have formed will consist, when it is fully up and running, of four bodies. It is perhaps easiest to see what the Directors are expected to do by examining briefly all four.

1. The Council, which consists of all the voting membership of the company, approves changes to the rules and elects Directors. It also elects the Executive Committee.

2. The Directors manage the finances and legal responsibilities of the company and provide general direction and overall leadership. They ensure that the articles of association and rules are properly followed, that obligations to Companies House and other regulatory bodies are fulfilled, and that members are allocated to the correct class. They take responsibility for the actions of the company and the use of its brand and assets. They appoint (and at least one of their number must sit on) the Development Board.

3. The Development Board is a subcommittee of Directors and other appointed persons who undertake to build a relationship between WSDC and its alumni, approach sponsors and explore other avenues for funding, and generally seek to expand the resources available to the company.

4. The Executive Committee must, uniquely, all be re-elected every year, and individuals must be present at a tournament to stand for election. They will represent the interests of the membership as they relate to the running of debating and debate-related activities at specific championships, by assisting with the interpretation of rules for the championships, examining possible changes to those rules, etc. They may, eventually and when the correct legal and insurance framework is in place, provide advice to Hosts, convenors, and chief adjudicators.

How to stand

Normally a candidate for the position of Director would be nominated by a voting member of the company. There is also a provision for Directors to recommend candidates for election. As, currently, our only members are those three founding Directors, they have agreed to recommend for election anyone fulfilling the criteria who puts themselves forward. If, therefore, you wish to stand for election as a Director of the new company WSDC Ltd., send an email by 3 September to directors@schoolsdebate.com containing the following information required by Companies House:

a) name and any former name;

b) a service address;

c) the country or state (or part of the United Kingdom) in which you are
usually resident;

d) nationality;

e) business occupation (if any);

f) date of birth.

All this, I know, sounds rather daunting, but of course it is only right to let people know what they are in for. In fact being a Director need not be too heavy a burden, especially in comparison to the amount of effort that so many members of our community already put into supporting the championships and debate worldwide. We do need Directors, so I know that candidates will be gratefully received and you will be doing the Council a great favour by giving them luxury of being able to choose between people so keen to contribute to this new enterprise.

I look forward to reading a long list of candidate names on 3 September!

Yours,

James (chair, incorporation working group).

James Probert
Deputy Director of Education &
Head of the Centre for Speech and Debate
The English-Speaking Union
Dartmouth House
37 Charles Street
London W1J 5ED

Tel: +44 20 75291550
Fax: +44 20 7495 6108
W: www.esu.org
W: www.britishdebate.com

Clarification of membership applications

2008-08-18T00:53:00.006Z

Hello again everyone!

I just want to make a couple of points of clarification about full and ordinary membership of the WSDC Ltd Charity we have established.

Full and ordinary membership
Full and ordinary members are intended to recreate exactly the old Council of WSDC as it was before incorporation. Full and ordinary members "own" and have complete control over the Charity, in the final analysis.

Full members are those Council members whose nations have attended 2 out of the last 3 championships

Ordinary members are those Council members whose nations are present at the current tournament (or, if we are between Championships, were present at the last tournament) but who have not been at 2 of the previous 3.

Therefore, to be a full or ordinary member of WSDC:

- Your nation needs to have attended at least two of the last three tournaments, (full) or have attended in Seoul, or be attending in Washington (ordinary); and

- You need to be the sole authorised voting representative of the debate set-up in your nation.

Corporate and individual membership forms.
Some nations on the old Council had - and continue to have - formalised structures at home that decided who should represent them and how that person is allowed to vote. In many cases those structures are corporate bodies - companies, registered trusts or incorporated societies to name a few examples. Where that is the case, then because WSDC is now a Charity, those corporate bodies themselves can be the member of Council for that nation, rather than just the individual representative as before.

So for example, for Mexico, the English-Speaking Union of Mexico will be the member, and they will choose someone (anyone they like) each year to represent them at Council and vote. They will be, to start off, an ordinary member, because they are coming for the first time to Washington.

In New Zealand, the New Zealand Schools Debating Council (Inc) will be the member, and will choose anyone they like to represent them. They will be a full member because New Zealand has been at two of the last three tournaments.

Because these are corporate bodies, the law says that these entities have "legal personality" (in other words, they are able sign contracts, are identifiable parties in legal proceedings and so on). The individual involved in representing the nation may change often, possibly every year, but it is unlikely that the organisation will. Therefore, if this is the set-up or structure in your nation, you should get your incorporated national body to join WSDC Ltd as the sole national voting representative.

The national body will therefore fill out and submit the corporate membership form

Other nations on the old Council had - and continue to have - less formalised structures, where a group of keen individuals (or perhaps even a committee with a name and rules but without legally incorporated status) look after that nation's debating set-up. In this case, because every member of the Charity must be an identifiable, legal party, that nation will have to choose an individual to be their representative, and that member will have to be the only full or ordinary member of the Charity from that nation.

On behalf of that nation therefore, the individual membership form will need to be completed and submitted.

If the informal committee in a nation decides they want to change their representative on Council, the individual will be expected to resign (though the Directors do also have the power to remove a person's membership where they feel it would be in the best interests of that nation's debating community) and the new representative will need to complete and submit a new individual application for membership form. Similarly, if the nation stopped attending, or if a different organisation started sending that nation's team to the tournament, then the individual would be expected to resign or would be removed by the Directors.

So that is where corporate or incorporated members will now differ from unincorporated or informal organisations under the new legal structure. Where the incorporated or corporate members change their representative, they simply notify the Charity of this. Where unincorporated or informal groups change their representative, they need to have the new representative make an individual application for membership.

Other types of membership.
There are many other people involved in the running of the WSDC Ltd Charity, of course, but they are not members in this special sense (full or ordinary members). For example, once the founding three individuals in the company have resigned, (which they will do at the AGM in Washington, when the meeting will elect the new Directors) even the Directors will not necessarily be full or ordinary members, unless they also happen to be the person that represents their nation. Executive members, similarly, may be members (or representatives of corporate members) if they are their nation's chosen delegate, but being on the Executive itself does not make you one, just as it did not in the old Council.

Once we have an elected Board of Directors and a Development Board, whose jobs it will be to think about how to raise money for the central body, retain contact with our alumni, and look into options for sponsorship, then they will activate a third type of membership described in the Rules, associate members.

Associate members are not members of Council, cannot vote on anything at all, and have no governing power over the Charity. Absolutely any individual or corporate entity can apply to be an associate member. Unlike Council members, the Rules allow for them to be charged a fee for membership. They will be, if you like, "friends" or "supporters" of the Charity. They might, as we grow, get newsletters and updates. I expect a lot of alumni will want to be in this category. However, it will require a Board of Directors with a mandate to set the fee and a Development Board to send them newsletters and other communication so for the time being that type of membership will have to wait until after Washington.

There is a fourth category of membership, life members, who are people sent a special invitation, by vote of the Council, to take up a free and lifelong position. This is meant as an honour for people the Council feel to be worthy of it - for example, tireless contributors of decades' standing. That will be up to the Council at the time.

Summary.
Full members are effectively those nations (not individuals) who have attended 2 out of the last 3 championships.

Those nations represented by a corporate entity (company, incorporated society, registered trust) fill out the corporate form. That corporation will appoint one person to represent it at meetings. If that person changes from time to time, that does not change the status of the nation's membership. The nation will just advise the Charity who its new representative is. Once it has become a full member, it is unlikely this will change unless the nation misses more than one championship out of the last three. Then it will be relegated to an ordinary member.

Those nations represented by an informal group or non-corporate entity fill out the individual form as they have no legal standing as a group or organization. Only the individual has standing. That individual "is" the nation for the purposes of the meeting and voting. If that individual stops coming, he or she needs to resign and the new individual has to complete and submit a new individual form.

Ordinary members are those nations who are at the Championships for the first time or have missed more than one of the last 3 championships. They can also be corporate or individual members in the same way as outlined above.

Everybody else who wants to join will be an associate member. These are not set up yet. A few will be invited by Council to become life members.

Hopefully all of this makes sense. Do not hesitate to speak out or ask if it does not.

WSDC Ltd (directors@schoolsdebate.com) looks forward to receiving more applications from those wishing to be full or ordinary members prior to Washington.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan,
Secretary,
Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

Notice of Annual General Meeting of WSDC Ltd

2008-08-16T09:46:00.004Z

Hello everyone,

As you will all (hopefully) be aware, WSDC is now incorporated as WSDC Ltd! (Yay!) So our AGMs from now on will need to be conducted in accordance with the Rules of WSDC Ltd.

It also means that nations will need to formally apply to be members of WSDC Ltd as membership of the WSDC Council is not automatically carried forward to the newly incorporated charity.

Nations which have attended at least 2 of the last 3 Championships may apply as full members, able to vote on all matters at the AGM. Nations which have not attended at least 2 of the last 3 meetings may apply as ordinary members, able to vote on everything esxcept changes to the rules and the appointment of Directors of WSDC Ltd.

Nations wishing to become full or ordinary members should apply in one of two ways, either on a corporate application form or an individual application form.

If the debating structure in their nation is a corporate or incorporated body ( for example, a company, a registered trust, an incorporated society), they should use the corporate application form.

If the debating structure is unincorporated or informal, then it is not recognised at law as a legal body and an individual will need to apply on its behalf. For nations in that position, the individual application form should be used.

Our Charities maestro, James Probert, will be able to answer all and any questions about incorporation and WSDC Ltd ( I can safely say this as James is far away on the other side of the world as I write this, unable to prevent all the promises I an making on his behalf !). He'll be sending out a written document explaining it all before the AGM and will be running a briefing session about incorporation during the Championships (time to be advised) and before the AGM to answer any questions.

So, I enclose:

1. Notice of AGM
2. Application form for full or ordinary membership (corporate)
3. Application for full or ordinary membership (individual)

If you are unsure about the application forms and want to wait until after the briefing session at Washington to complete them, that's fine, as long as we can get the applications completed, submitted and approved by the WSDC Ltd Directors prior to the AGM.

If you do have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

And as I type.....New Zealand's FINALLY won a gold medal in the Olympics.

Kind regards

Claire Ryan
Secretary,
Executive Committee,
WSDC Ltd

WSDC update

2008-07-16T14:52:00.002Z

Hi everyone.

We're only two months away from Worlds in Washington so you will start to notice a big increase in email traffic - if you haven't noticed it already!

I'll be running a blog again on the WSDC site during Worlds. And if there are other blog sites, tell me and I'll advertise them if you'd like them known.

Now, time for some reminders;

1. WSDC NEWSLETTER 2. If you've just recovered from the first one, then let me warn you; no 2 is imminent. Disappointingly, there's no gossip or scandal in it but there is the next best thing: news from all over the place. If you have anything you'd like included, strike now and email me. The newsletter comes out this weekend.

And there's also a newsletter from Washington as well, so you'll be spoiled for choice with information!

2. PAYMENT DATE FOR WSDC IN DC. If you've just recovered from registration, then let me warn you; payment is imminent. You have until 1 August 2008 to pay your registration for Washington. So visit the bank today!!!

3. CODE OF CONDUCT FORMS. Remember that everyone registering to participate in WSDC 2008 - yes, that does include you - must sign and return these to Phyllis before you can participate. Debaters who require parental or guardians' signature, don't leave it too late! And can I just gently suggest that leaving your home nation bound for Washington without the parent or guardian signature is a really dumb thing for a smart debater to do.

You'll find the Code of Conduct forms as annex 3 to the WSDC Rules. See WSDC Rules

4. COMMUNICATION WITH CONVENOR.
All communication with WSDC 2008 convenor Phyllis or any other member of the Org Comm should be through your nation's team manager. With over 300 people registering, it gets a bit much if every individual emails Phyllis with his or her own questions or needs and what's more, expects a prompt answer.

So please, debaters and your families, friends and supporters, forward all your queries, comments and suggestions to your team manager and let that person send one email to Phyllis who can then send one email in reply.

Adjudicators are a bit different as many of them have registered individually and not with their team delegation. But for the rest of you descending on Washington, please do use your team manager as your first port of call before dashing off several emails to Phyllis.

I hope that all makes sense. Have a good day and see you in 2 months!

Claire Ryan
Secretary, World Schools Debating Council Executive Committee

Excellence-Understanding-Freedom

We've moved!

Consultation Part 2

Consultations & changes at WSDC Ltd

Vote now!!!

PREPARED MOTIONS FOR WORLD SCHOOLS DEBATING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011 IN DUNDEE

Registration for WSDC 2011 now open. Closing date 10 February 2011

Happy New Year and happy newsletter!

International tournament in New Zealand, February 2011

This blog has moved

ESL awards

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And the winner of WSDC 2010 is......

Semi final results!!!!!

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It's getting very interesting in Doha.....

Round zero

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WSDC 2010, 8-18 February 2010.

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Dan the man

And the winner is.........

The final count down

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YES!!!! It's the break

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Acropolis Now....

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WSDC Ltd Executive Committee 2008/2009

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More international debating... without leaving home

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Rule Britannia!