2008 North American Debate Championships

Nov. 21 to 24, 2008

Manitoba hosted the fourth annual "North American Debate Championships" which took place at St. Johns-Ravencourt School in Winnipeg, Manitoba from November21 to .November 24. The event was once again held in British Parliamentary Style (Two Affirmative and two Negative teams). This was to ensure that neither Canadian nor American teams got an unfair advantage from their National Style. It is also a good preparation for those debaters that will go on to University Debating at the World Level. British Parliamentary Style has four teams debating in a round. Teams are ranked first to fourth, and given 0, 1, 2, or 3 points. Teams are bracketed based solely on number of team points, ignoring speaker points. Every effort is made to give all teams all four table positions.

All topics were impromptu, and teams were given 20 minutes to prepare. Students found the topics to be on substantive and broad based issues, and were expected to prepare without assistance from coaches. No electronic devices were allowed. Teams could not prepare with other teams even if they were from the same school.

There were over 100 debaters registered for this event. Alberta's delegates for this tournament were chosen at the NA Qualifier which took place at Wm. Aberhart on May 24, 2008. Alberta sent 8 delegates:

Chaperone was Siobhan Kirkland from the U of C Debate Society.

Top 10 Speakers

Top 10 Teams

Alberta Placing: Individual – Veenu Goswani (10th), Connor Farrer (12th), Lyndsay Chapman (18th), Pardeep Dhaliwal (20th), Taylor Steele (21st), Jay Hennenfent (24th), Tyson Geib (32nd), Cameron Climie (33rd). Team: Veenu Goswani & Pardeep Dhaliwal (10th), Lyndsay Chapman & Connor Farrer (13th) and Taylor Steele & Jay Hennenfent (14th).

The top two Canadian teams coming from different provinces will advance to the Oxford Union Schools Tournament. Teams must advance as they were entered at this event - no substitutions allowed. The coach of the winning team has first right to chaperone the teams, and is provided with a sum of money to offset expenses. The Oxford Schools event is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, March 14 / 15, 2009.

2009 Oxford Cup Debate (North American) Championships

Will be hosted by Gray Academy, Winnipeg on November 22 / 23, 2009

The event will once again held in British Parliamentary Style (Two Affirmative and two Negative teams). This is to ensure that neither Canadian nor American teams got an unfair advantage from their National Style. It is also a good preparation for those debaters that will go on to University Debating at the World Level. British Parliamentary Style has four teams debating in a round. Teams are ranked first to fourth, and given 0, 1, 2, or 3 points. Teams are bracketed based solely on number of team points, ignoring speaker points. Every effort is made to give all teams all four table positions.

All topics will be impromptu, and teams will be given 20 minutes to prepare. Students will find the topics to be on substantive and broad based issues, and will be expected to prepare without assistance from coaches. No electronic devices will be allowed. Teams can not prepare with other teams even if they are from the same school.

Alberta's 4 teams were selected at Wm. Aberhart on May 9, 2009.

These 4 teams will now move on  to the Oxford Cup. The coach will be David Miko from U of C.

Pictured below are the Top 2 teams

2010 Oxford Cup (North American) Debate Championships

Will be hosted by Country Day School, Ontario in November, 2010

The event will once again held in British Parliamentary Style (Two Affirmative and two Negative teams). This is to ensure that neither Canadian nor American teams got an unfair advantage from their National Style. It is also a good preparation for those debaters that will go on to University Debating at the World Level. British Parliamentary Style has four teams debating in a round. Teams are ranked first to fourth, and given 0, 1, 2, or 3 points. Teams are bracketed based solely on number of team points, ignoring speaker points. Every effort is made to give all teams all four table positions.

All topics will be impromptu, and teams will be given 20 minutes to prepare. Students will find the topics to be on substantive and broad based issues, and will be expected to prepare without assistance from coaches. No electronic devices will be allowed. Teams can not prepare with other teams even if they are from the same school.

2009 Oxford Debates

March 14 / 15, 2009

Founded in 1995 by Sam Greenland, the Oxford Union Schools Debating Competition also uses the British Parliamentary format. In contrast to the Cambridge competition, there is only one preliminary round, after which a large number of teams are invited to a university-style finals day at the Oxford Union in March. This often makes it possible for internationals teams to attend. This debate competition now involves over 220 schools with about 88 teams qualifying for Finals Day.
Canada sends two teams to this competition. These two teams were chosen at the North American Debate Championships which took place at St. Johns - Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg on Nov. 21 to 24, 2008. The top two Canadian teams must come from different provinces. Teams must advance as they were entered at the North American Championships - no substitutions allowed. The coach of the winning team has first right to chaperone the teams, and is provided with a sum of money to offset expenses.

Going to Oxford were: Northern Secondary School, Toronto (Emilio Comay del Junco & Alexander Saxton) and  St. John’s-Ravenscourt School, Winnipeg (Davis Daumler & Starry Peng)

Results:

The Top 20 teams were:

 1 - ST PAUL'S A
2 - ST OLAVES                                                                                      
3 - TWGGS
4 - GSAL A
5 -  LATYMER EDMONTON
6  - DULWICH COLLEGE
7 -  HIGH SCHOOL OF DUNDEE A
8  - WESTMINSTER B
9  - ST FRANCIS XAVIER A
10 -  AYLESBURY GRAMMAR A

  How did the Canadians do? (Complete tabs on) - http://www.oxfordschools.org.uk/  (88 Teams / 176 Individuals)
                                   

For more info - see: http://www.oxfordschools.org.uk/ or http://www.oxford-union.org/

2009 Durham Union Debates

March 21 / 22, 2009

The Durham Union Debates are usually 1 week after the Oxford Debates. As a result, the two Canadian teams that attend the Oxford Debates also attend the Durham Debates (Other Canadian teams are welcome as well). The initial team cap for Durham Schools 2009 was 100 teams, but eventually expanded to 112.
Attending Schools from Canada were: Lower Canada College, St. John’s Ravenscourt and
West Point Grey.
Durham Schools 2009, like previous competitions, consisted of 5 rounds of British Parliamentary debating, with speeches of 5 minutes in length.The pre-released motion for the first round was: THW not allow BNP members to teach in schools. After the 5 preliminary rounds, the standings were:

Complete Tabs can be found at: http://debsoc.weebly.com/uploads/5/4/8/1/548174/durham_schools_2009_full_tab.xls

The top eight teams broke to Semi-Finals

The Grand Final:
The Canadian Team of Cohn and Hajifattahi qualified for the final. The Grand Final motion was THW ban the embedding of journalists in the military during armed conflicts. After an hour of brilliant speaking and fantastic analysis, the win was given to the British (later it was revealed that the decision had gone back and forth between the British and the Canadians until the last moment). The second place finish marked the first time a Canadian team had broken to senior finals and grabbed two top ten speaker positions, including top individual speaker.

Ben Martin and Ben Woolgar (St. Paul’s Boys) won the Durham University Schools Debating Competition.

For more details, see the Durham Union website - http://www.dus.org.uk/ or http://www.britishdebate.com/

2009 CanWest National Championships

February 7 / 8, 2009

John Robinson and St. John's-Ravencourt School again hosted this tournament. This tournament selected the six students who will attend the 2009 World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships which will take place in Reading Blue Coats School in Reading, England.

Alberta sent 4 delegates to the CanWest Nationals. They were chosen at the 2008 Provincials which took place at Strathcona-Tweedsmuir on Feb. 23, 2008.

At the end of the regular tournament, a national "speak-off" takes place to determine the four delegates to represent Alberta at the Sr. National Public Speaking Championships to be held at St.  Johns-Ravenscourt School, Winnipeg in February, 2009. The participants in this speak-off are the top ranked Grade 10 or 11 student in each Sr. High Speech Category. They each present an Original Oratory speech of not more than five minutes long which had not been given in any other ADSA sponsored event (including this Provincial Speech).

The winners of the "Speak-off" are awarded the Bev Dayan Trophy. This year's competitors were:

• Ken Hunt (Rundle College) - Poetry
• Quentin Genuis (Old Scona) - Impromptu
• John Lambert (Strathcona) - Prose
• Harrison Fleming (Bishop Carroll) - Original Oratory
• (No Grade 10 or 11) - Duet Acting
• Jennifer Croden (Archbishop MacDonald) - Solo Acting

The panel of judges chose: John Lambert, Quentin Genuis, Ken Hunt & Harrison Fleming as the winners of the Bev Dayan Award - they went to Winnipeg in February, 2009.

Competitors may not use speeches or readings that they have presented at any interschool competition before this school year. If they qualify for the World's, they may use the same speech or reading that vthey use in the Nationals UNLESS they presented that speech or reading prior to January 1, 2009, in which case they would have to come up with a new speech or reading. Each participant will have to take part in four events: debating, impromptu speaking, persuasive speaking and interpretive reading. A single card will be allowed for the persuasive speech.

This tournament selects the 6 students who will attend the 2009 World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships which will take place in Reading Blue Coat School, England.

Results – Top 10:

World Delegates – Top 6 individuals, but no more than 2 per school.

The website for the Nationals is: www.sjr.mb.ca/debate/natlPSgeneral.htm.

2010 CanWest National Championships

February , 2010

Alberta sends 4 delegates to the CanWest Nationals. They were chosen at the 2009 Speech Provincials which took place at Strathcona School on Feb. 21, 2009.

At the end of the regular tournament, a national "speak-off" takes place to determine the four delegates to represent Alberta at the Sr. National Public Speaking Championships to be held at St.  Johns-Ravenscourt School, Winnipeg in February, 2010. The participants in this speak-off are the top ranked Grade 10 or 11 students in each Sr. High Speech Category. They each present an Original Oratory speech of not more than five minutes long which had not been given in any other ADSA sponsored event (including this Provincial Speech). The winners of the "Speak-off" are awarded the Bev Dayan Trophy. This year's competitors were:

• Hyun-Soo Lim – Old Scona – Original Oratory
• Rollend Scherger – Rundle college – Impromptu
• Arun Thomas – Old Scona – Poetry
• Karen Li – Sir Winston Churchill – Prose
• Sarah Amiry – Crescent Heights – Solo Acting
• Jason Bickert – Webber Academy – Duet Acting

The panel of 5 judges chose: Hyun-Soo Lim, Rollend Scherger, Arun Thomas and Jason Bickert as the winners of the Bev Dayan Award – they will go to Winnipeg in February, 2010.

2008 IISPSL Competition

Oct. 22 - 27, 2008

Trinity College, Port Hope, Ontario was the site of this year's competition. There were 49 competing countries from Canada, USA, Australia, Bermuda, Cyprus, Scotland and England in the competition and well over 150 competitors. Each school may send 3 participants. From Alberta, Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School is the only member of the League. Representing Strathcona-Tweedsmuir were: Katharine Wynne, Peter Sykes and Cloe Fan.
Results:

The students are competing for the right to go to the World Individual and Public Speaking Championships to be hosted by Reading Blue Coat School, England. Half of the Canadian team for the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships are selected at this event, based on the sum of their scores in their three events and subject to the condition that no more than one student per school may be chosen. So, eligible to go to Reading Blue Coat will be: 1st – Guy Pawson – Reading Blue Coat A;  2nd – Zeena Framoze – Branksome Hall;  3rd – Sonya Levitova – Winsor;  4th – Cameron Ewing – The Hotchkiss;  5th – Thomas Prendiville – St. John’s-Ravenscourt and  6th – Genevieve Laurier – The Country Day.

The other half of the Canadian team is selected at the Canwest National Public Speaking Championships, which will take place in Winnipeg in Feb..

2009 IISPSL Competition

The site of the 2009 competition will be Deerfield Academy, Massachusetts.

Deerfield Academy is a private, coeducational boarding school located in Deerfield, Massachusetts. It is a four-year college-preparatory school with approximately 600 students and about 100 faculty, all of whom live on or near campus.

2009 World Individual Debate and Public Speaking Championships

March 28 – April 3, 2009

The 2009 World Individual Debate and Public Speaking Championships were held in Reading Blue Coat School, Caversham, England.

Over 110 competitors from more than a dozen countries competed at the National or International level of competition to qualify for the World Championships. Participants were from: Canada, Germany, Israel, South Africa, Peru, Lithuania, Cyprus, England, Scotland, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Botswana, Argentina, Russia and the United States. This is truly a global list. Canada sent a team of 12 students to this competition. Half of the Canadian team for the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships were selected on Oct. 27 at the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Championships @ Port Hope, ON, based on the sum of their scores in their three events and subject to the condition that no more than one student per school may be chosen. So, eligible to go to Reading Blue Coat were: 1st – Guy Pawson – Reading Blue Coat ;  2nd – Zeena Framoze – Branksome Hall;  3rd – Sonya Levitova – Winsor;  4th – Cameron Ewing – The Hotchkiss;  5th – Thomas Prendiville – St. John’s-Ravenscourt and  6th – Genevieve Laurier – The Country Day. The other half of the Canadian team was selected at the Canwest National Public Speaking Championships, which took place in Winnipeg in Feb, 2009.Chosen at Winnipeg were: Starry Peng, Victor Li, Quentin Genuis, Elizabeth Stratton, Alysa Remtulla and Sophie Bird.

The speakers at the World Championships compete as individuals in four separate categories: Debating, Impromptu Speaking, Interpretive Reading, and Prepared Speaking.

Results:

The tournament usually takes five to six days, with two to three rounds of events daily. The opening day of the tournament involves the opening ceremonies and a guest speaker. The last two days do not involve any regular competition, except for those advancing to the final rounds. These days are occupied by a full day excursion or activity, and a formal closing banquet that involves the grand finals and awards ceremony.

Students compete in two preliminary rounds for each event. The top seven to twelve competitors in each event advance to final rounds, and the top two (or four for debate) competitors in the finals advance to the Grand Finals. Categorical rankings are decided on performance in the grand finals and finals. The final rounds are judged by coaches whose students are not in the category they are adjudicating. The grand finals are judged by invited guests, often media personalities, political officials, and other individuals prominent in their respective fields. An emphasis on the diversity of judges means the tournament has more judges than competitors. The overall ranking, usually regarded as the most significant as they indicate the World Champion, is based solely on the combined results of the preliminary rounds.

I DO NOT have a complete list of the Tabs from this tournament. I contacted the event organizer – Paul Holleley several times, but NO TABS yet. What follows are some of the results that I have been able to find on some other Websites:

2010 World Individual Debate and Public Speaking Championships

• 2010 - To be hosted by the Lithuanian Debating Society, Druskininkai, Lithuania

2010 Worlds Debating Team Selection Tournament

November 25 / 26, 2008

After the CSDF Calgary Seminar, the CSDF held a 2 day competition to choose the 9 students who will compete to be the Canadian Team that will attend the 2010 Worlds Debating Championships (Qatar ) and the 2009 Pan American Championships.

Each province and territory is entitled to send 3 students who are currently in Grade 10 or 11 to this tournament. The stipulation for those students is that they will be spending the 2009/2010 school year in a high school in Canada and will not have reached their 19th birthday by the first day of the tournament. These stipulations are to ensure our compliance with World School Debating Council rules.

The selection tournament consists of a morning seminar in which the students are introduced to Worlds Style Debate - three-a-side debating. They also watch a complete debate on video. They then compete in six rounds of impromptu debating with an hour's preparation time before each debate. Each student has an opportunity to debate in each of the six debate positions. The debaters are judged by judges with considerable Worlds experience. There was one judge in each room and the Worlds style judging forms were used, which are explained to the students prior to the debates.

All students also had an interview with a member of the selection committee. Final selection is based on three critiera: performance during the six rounds of debating, the student's resumes submitted prior to the competition and the interview. Here is the list of debaters that have been selected for the National Team
The 9 debaters are from West to East:
Iqbal Kassam from West Point Gray Academy in Vancouver(re-apointed from the 2009 team)
Jonny Carson from West Point Gray Academy
Sophie Bird from Mulgrave School in Vancouver
Keenan MacNeal from William Aberhart in Calgary
Veenu Goswani from Webber Academy in Calgary 
Sarah Levy from Gray Academy in Winnipeg
Andrew Morrison from Sacred Heart in Halifax
Lyle Dobbin from Citadel School in Halifax
Vinayak Mishra from Halifax Grammar School in Halifax

All of them will be going to the training camp in Vancouver in July, and then competing in the 5 Nations cup in Scotland in Sept. The top 5 after the training camp will be representing Canada at the Worlds in Qatar in Feb 2010
The other 4 will be representing Canada at the Internationals in Slovenia in Nov 2009. All candidates selected in Calgary will also attend the 2009 Pan American Championships. The members not selected for the World Team will be invited to represent Canada at the European Debate Championships and will be kept as reserves for the World Team.

The Coach of the 2010 Worlds Debating Team will be: Ms. Tracey-Ann Lee from West Point Grey Academy, Vancouver.

2011 Worlds Debating Team Selection Tournament

October 19/20 , 2009 in Winnipeg

Jordan Burg & Allison Stefanyshyn of St. Mary's Academy will host this event.

After the CSDF Seminar, the CSDF will hold a 2 day competition to choose the 9 students who will compete to be the Canadian Team that will attend the 2011 Worlds Debating Championships (Scotland) and the 2010 Pan American Championships.

Each province and territory is entitled to send 3 students who are currently in Grade 10 or 11 to this tournament.

The selection tournament will consist of a seminar, at least six rounds of impromptu style debating with an hour’s preparation time before each debate. Every student will have an opportunity to debate in each of the six debate positions. The debates will be judged only by people with considerable Worlds experience. As an innovation this year we are going to have one round of prepared debate. Students will be given the resolution and the position in which they will debate as soon as we receive their registration forms. 

All students will also have an interview with a member of the selection committee or our designate. The committee reserves the right to reappointed to the team members of the current team who are still eligible. We will select about 9 team members who will be all invited to the Pan American Debate Championship. 

We will make the final selection of the World Team during the summer camp that we will probably host at the end of July. The members not selected for the World Team will be invited to represent Canada at the European Debate Championships and will be kept as reserves for the World Team.

Newly selected team members are required to commit themselves in writing to a number of requirements including a code of conduct and making themselves available for a week long summer camp and for the week immediately prior to the tournament. The coach may try to get the team together at other points during the year. In addition, the coach will give the team regular assignments designed to broaden their knowledge and to keep them on top of current issues.

Our only stipulations are that they will be spending the 2010 – 2011 school year in a high school in Canada and they will have reached their 14th birthday but not their 19th birthday by the first day of the tournament.

How Alberta Chose their 3 Delegates

ADSA decided to choose their 3 candidates by having each student complete an Application Form and then having the candidates compete in a Tournament at Wm. Aberhart, Calgary. Only Grade 9 & 10 (Grade 9 & 10 this school year, Grade 10 & 11 next) debaters were eligible. The selection committee was composed of coaches\Judges that have judged at the World's and/or Alumni of the National Team. The candidates participated in a selection tournament where they were judged by members of the committee. Each candidate was also interviewed by members of the committee. After the tournament, the committee made its final decision based on scores of the selection tournament, the applications & the interviews. As is customary in the other provinces, and countries using this system, the score of the tournament will not be released. The candidates were:

The Selection Committee consisted of; Jennifer Kenyeres, David Miko, Kees de Ridder, Janet Wees, Debra Miko, Elisa Frank and Martin Poirier.

The Committee had a discussion, following the selection, to chat about the resumes and interviews, and the Committee decided to recommend that these 3 great debaters:

Sam Kerr from Western Canada
Trevor Davis from Western Canada
Neesha Chhina from Western Canada

2008 Fall Pan American Debate Championships

Oct. 11-13, 2008

Halifax was to host a fall version of the Pan Americans. Canada was going to send the 9 debaters selected at the Team Canada tryouts in Vancouver in November 2007 ( Tim Abdulla, Manitoba (re-appointed from the 2008 team); Sam Greene, Newfoundland and Labrador (re-appointed from the 2008 team); Deidre Casey, Nova Scotia; Pamela Cohn, Ontario; Aidan Fishman, Manitoba; Iqbal Kassam, British Columbia; Daniel Lewis, Nova Scotia; Johnny Lomond, Newfoundland and Labrador and Maureen MacIsaac, Nova Scotia).

Unfortunately, it was a disastrous year for the Pan-Ams inasmuch as they didn't happen. It became apparent in Washington at the world tournament that Peru and Argentina would not be able to attend. Having two world tournaments in the same academic year put a severe strain on everyone's budgets.

It was still hoped that we might be able to arrange a mini-tournament with the US, but after much sharing of calendars, it was reluctantly decided that it couldn't happen.

There will be more about this in the world report to be presented at the CSDF Seminar that takes place in Calgary in November.

2009 Fall Pan American Debate Championships

Fall, 2009

It is being reported by the WSDC that this tournament will take place in Vancouver, BC.

2009 World Schools Championships

Feb. 10 to 18, 2009 @ Athens, Greece

Team Canada for this World's were chosen at Vancouver on Nov. 20/21, 2007.

World's rules stipulate that students must have reached their 14th birthday but not yet reached their nineteenth birthday by the first day of the Athens tournament which is February 10th, 2009. Students must also be in full time attendance at a secondary school or, in Quebec, in their first year at a CEGEP.. Students must debate for the country in which they go to school. Students do not have to be Canadian citizens in order to debate for Canada.

The seven students selected at the tryout tournament in Vancouver are (from east to west) Johnny Lomond (Newfoundland + Labrador), Deirdre Casey (Nova Scotia), Daniel Lewis (Nova Scotia), Maureen MacIsaac (Nova Scotia), Pamela Cohn (Ontario), Aidan Fishman (Manitoba), Iqbal Kassam (B.C.). They will be joined by Sam Greene of Newfoundland and Tim Abdulla of Manitoba from the 2008 team.

Coach of Team Canada for 2009 will be: Ms. Tracey-Ann Lee from West Point Grey Academy, Vancouver.

Team Canada 2009 Announcement! We can now announce the delegations to the 2009 Worlds Schools Debating Championships and the International High School Debate Tournament. Tim Abdulla, Sam Greene, Daniel Lewis, Pam Cohn and Iqbal Kassam will represent Canada in Athens, Greece in February, 2009 for the World Schools Championship. Aidan Fishman, Deirdre Casey, Jonny Lomond, and Maureen McIsaac will represent Canada in Ljutomer, Slovenia in November 2008 at the International High School Debate Tournament. Congratulations!!

The four prepared motions that will be debated at the tournament in Athens, and the motion for the final are:

Prepared preliminary round 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

Final motion

• This House believes that governments should grant amnesties to all illegal immigrants

Over 41 countries competed at this Worlds: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Botswana, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Kuwait, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Philipines, Romania, Scotland, Serbia & Montenegro, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, United States and Wales
 

Round # 1 – THBT cultural treasures should be returned to their areas of origin. - Canada vs New Zealand - 3-0 in favour of New Zealand.
Round # 2 - THW not eat red meat.  Canada vs Wales - 2-1 in favour of Canada.
Round # 3 - THW encourage the expanded use of civilian nuclear energy. Canada vs USA - 3-0 in favour of Canada.
Round # 4 – TH believes that terrorism can never be justified. Canada vs Qatar - 3-0 in favour of Canada.
Round # 5 – TH would legalize current technologies for choosing human embryos on the basis of their genetic characteristics. Canada vs Namibia – 3 - 0 in favour of Canada.
Round # 6 – THW ban smoking in public places. Canada vs Sri Lanka - 2-1 in favour of Canada
Round # 7 – TH believes that public services are best run by private companies. Canada vs Singapore – 2 - 1 in favour of Canada.

Round # 8 - THW pursue minor crimes with the same vigor as major crimes. Canada vs Sweden. 3-0 in favor of Canada

 So, after 8 preliminary rounds, the standings for the breaking teams was:
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

WSDC Octo-final Results

Motion: This house would require people to work in return for welfare payments.
Winning teams in bold plus and margins where known. Numbers in (brackets) are where the team broke.
Philippines (16) v England (1) - Margin 2-1
Australia (2) v Netherlands (15) - Margin 3-0
New Zealand (3) v Wales (14) - Margin 3-0
South Africa (4) v Scotland (13) - Margin 3-0
Peru (5) v Greece (12) - Margin 3-0
Canada (6) v Ireland (11) - Margin 2-1
Slovenia (10) v Singapore (7) - Margin 3-0
Korea Republic (8) v Pakistan (9) - Margin 2-1

WSDC Quarter Results

Topic: This House would lower the voting age
England (1) v Pakistan (9)
Australia (2) v Singapore (7) - by 3-2 margin
New Zealand (3) v Canada (6) by 4-1 margin.
Greece (12) v Scotland (13)

WSDC Semi Final Results

Topic: That dictatorships should not receive international aid
England, proposing. defeated Greece by 4-1
New Zealand, proposing, defeated Singapore by 3-2

New Zealand are new World Schools Champions

New Zealand are the new World Schools Champions after defeating England by 6-1 in the Grand Final in Athens. Topic was THBT all illegal immigrants should receive amnesty.
It is New Zealand's first victory since 1995 and fourth overall since 1988.

The top 10 speakers for WSDC 2009 are :

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)

For complete results, see: http://www.Schoolsdebate.com/.

2010 World Schools Championships

Feb.8 to 19, 2010 @ Doha, Qatar

Team Canada for this World's were chosen at Calgary on Nov. 24 / 25, 2008.

After the CSDF Calgary Seminar, the CSDF held a 2 day competition to choose the 9 students who will compete to be the Canadian Team that will attend the 2010 Worlds Debating Championships and the 2009 Pan American Championships.

Each province and territory was entitled to send 3 students who are currently in Grade 10 or 11 to this tournament. The stipulation for those students is that they will be spending the 2009/2010 school year in a high school in Canada and will not have reached their 19th birthday by the first day of the tournament. These stipulations are to ensure our compliance with World School Debating Council rules.

The selection tournament consists of a morning seminar in which the students are introduced to Worlds Style Debate - three-a-side debating. They also watch a complete debate on video. They then compete in six rounds of impromptu debating with an hour's preparation time before each debate. Each student has an opportunity to debate in each of the six debate positions. The debaters are judged by judges with considerable Worlds experience. There was one judge in each room and the Worlds style judging forms were used, which are explained to the students prior to the debates.

All students also had an interview with a member of the selection committee. Final selection is based on three critiera: performance during the six rounds of debating, the student's resumes submitted prior to the competition and the interview. Here is the list of debaters that have been selected for the National Team
The 9 debaters are from West to East:
Iqbal Kassam from West Point Gray Academy in Vancouver(re-apointed from the 2009 team)
Jonny Carson from West Point Gray Academy
Sophie Bird from Mulgrave School in Vancouver
Keenan MacNeal from William Aberhart in Calgary
Veenu Goswani from Webber Academy in Calgary 
Sarah Levy from Gray Academy in Winnipeg
Andrew Morrison from Sacred Heart in Halifax
Lyle Dobbin from Citadel School in Halifax
Vinayak Mishra from Halifax Grammar School in Halifax

All of them will be going to the training camp in Vancouver in July, and then competing in the 5 Nations cup in Scotland in Sept. The top 5 after the training camp will be representing Canada at the Worlds in Qatar in Feb 2010
The other 4 will be representing Canada at the Internationals in Slovenia in Nov 2009. All candidates selected in Calgary will also attend the 2009 Pan American Championships. The members not selected for the World Team will be invited to represent Canada at the European Debate Championships and will be kept as reserves for the World Team.

The Coach of the 2010 Worlds Debating Team will be: Ms. Tracey-Ann Lee from West Point Grey Academy, Vancouver.

2011 World Schools Championships

Aug. 16 to 26, 2011 @ Dundee, Scotland

Team Canada for this World's will be chosen in Winnipeg on October 19/20, 2009.

After the CSDF Seminar, the CSDF will hold a 2 day competition to choose the 9 students who will compete to be the Canadian Team that will attend the 2011 Worlds Debating Championships (Scotland) and the 2010 Pan American Championships.

Each province and territory is entitled to send 3 students who are currently in Grade 10 or 11 to this tournament. Alberta's 3 students at this event will be:

Sam Kerr from Western Canada
Trevor Davis from Western Canada
Neesha Chhina from Western Canada

The selection tournament will consist of a seminar, at least six rounds of impromptu style debating with an hour’s preparation time before each debate. Every student will have an opportunity to debate in each of the six debate positions. The debates will be judged only by people with considerable Worlds experience. As an innovation this year we are going to have one round of prepared debate. Students will be given the resolution and the position in which they will debate as soon as we receive their registration forms. 

All students will also have an interview with a member of the selection committee or our designate. The committee reserves the right to reappointed to the team members of the current team who are still eligible. We will select about 9 team members who will be all invited to the Pan American Debate Championship. 

We will make the final selection of the World Team during the summer camp that we will probably host at the end of July. The members not selected for the World Team will be invited to represent Canada at the European Debate Championships and will be kept as reserves for the World Team.

Newly selected team members are required to commit themselves in writing to a number of requirements including a code of conduct and making themselves available for a week long summer camp and for the week immediately prior to the tournament. The coach may try to get the team together at other points during the year. In addition, the coach will give the team regular assignments designed to broaden their knowledge and to keep them on top of current issues.

Our only stipulations are that they will be spending the 2010 – 2011 school year in a high school in Canada and they will have reached their 14th birthday but not their 19th birthday by the first day of the tournament.