This Blog has now moved to idebate.org/worlddebating - all future posts will be made there!

2 September 2011

Call for Host of 2012 IDEA China Open Debate Tournament

IDEA would like to remind everyone about the open call to host the 3rd annual IDEA China Open Debate Tournament in 2012. Previously Xi'an Jiaotong University (2010) and Northeast University of Qinghuandao (2011) graciously served as hosts for the tournament. As the tournament has grown in size and popularity, IDEA has been approached by various schools wishing to host the tournament going forward. In order to choose among these offers fairly, we feel that it is important to have an open bidding process.

We therefore request that any school interested in hosting the 2012 IDEA China Open Debate Tournament submit the following information to this year's tournament director, Robert Trapp (trapp@willamette.edu ) and the executive director of IDEA-US, Alex Dukalskis (adukalskis@idebate.org ):

1. A letter of application from the applicant detailing the reasons for wishing to host the tournament, the facilities available for the tournament, and tentative budget.

2. The name, background and qualifications of the person who will serve as Tournament Host.

3. A letter of support from the university from a person at least as high-ranking as a dean.

Please submit by email to Robert and Alex. We are extending the deadline to September 15, 2011. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

International Public Policy Forum

The International Public Policy Forum, co-sponsored by Bickel and Brewer, and the NYU Law school,. ss a free competition open to high school students from anywhere in the world, with over $50,000 in prize money for the winners. Additionally, teams advancing to the "elite 8" (octofinalis) win an all-expense paid trip to New York City to compete in oral arguments.

This year's topic has just been announced- Resolved: Human missions should be a significant focus of space exploration. Teams can register at www.bickelbrewer.com/ippf. Teams qualify by writing an essay in proposition or opposition to the motion and must be submitted to ippf@bickelbrewer.com by October 26, 2011.

The competition is a great opportunity for high schools to get to compete on an international level, especially those which don't have budgets to travel.

30 August 2011

Hart House IV Registration

On behalf of the Hart House Debates Committee, it is my pleasure to formally invite youto the Hart House IV, taking place on October 14th – 16th.

Debating

All debates will be in standard British Parliamentary format, using Worlds speaking times (7 minutes per speech). All resolutions will be tight-link, with our very capable CAs ensuring a wide variety of topics are debated. There will be a hard cap of 80 teams.

There will be five preliminary rounds, with rounds 1-3 being open adjudication. If there are 80 registered teams, then we will break to quarter-finals. Otherwise, the top 8 teams will break to semis.

Awards will be given to the top 8 teams, top 10 speakers, top novice team, and top novice speaker.

Adjudication

The Chief Adjudicators of this year’s tournament are Steven Penner and Sam Greene. In the past year alone, Steven was the CUSID National Champion and British Parliamentary Champion. Steve has twice won the Seagram Cup, and has been a Chancellors semi finalist and Winter Carnival quarter finalist. Sam’s accomplishments include CUSID British Parliamentary Champion, Central Canadian (Leger Cup) Champion, Nationals Semifinalist, National, North American and Central Novice champion, Guindon and Chancellors semifinalist.

In addition to our highly qualified Chief Adjudicators, Hart House has access to an incredibly deep judging pool. Between the Hart House debating club, Hart House alumni and other debaters in Toronto, we have multiple National and North American debating champions, as well as numerous members who have broken as judges or adjudicators at previous worlds. We're confident that we can provide quality judging in every room.

The judging requirement will be n/3, rounded down. If a team is unable to fulfill their judging requirement then this can be waived at the discretion of the Chief Adjudicators. We strongly encourage those teams who feel like they need a waiver to contact us, rather than sending an adjudicator who may be uncomfortable judging.

Equity and Accessibility

The equity officer for this year's tournament is Gemma Stanton-Hagan. An equity policy will be posted by October 1st.

Food and Socials

Debaters and judges will be provided with a bag dinner on Friday evening, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and brunch on Sunday. Our traditional formal banquet will be happening on Saturday evening. If you require special dietary requirements (veggie, vegan, halal, kosher, allergies) then we can make arrangements for you if we're notified by October 9th.

There willbe socials on both Friday and Saturday night, as well as an informal social for those arriving on Thursday. Every effort will be made to make the socials novice friendly.

Accommodation

We will benegotiating a hotel deal in the next few weeks. Details to follow.

For those who wish to billet, billeting is allotted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Registration

Registrationis $150 per team, and $70 per adjudicator, all prices in Canadian dollars. Registration begins September 1st, and ends October 5th. All schools must have paid in full by October 7th.

Registration and payment will be done online. 
 
Beginning September 1st, each school can register up to six teams by emailing harthousedebate@gmail.com with the following information:

- school name
- number of teams
- number of judges
- billeting requirements (number and sex of those requiring billeting)
- payment type (cheque or credit card)

Credit card is our preferred form of payment, and due to policy constraints is the only type of payment we can accept from American and international participants.

More detailed information and payment will be collected through an online form at a later date as the second step of registration. Details to follow.
 

Teams who must travel a significant distance (ie. those outside of North America, or those with abnormally high travel costs) can request that their registration be waived. We will consider these requests on a case-by-case basis. Please make this request during registration.

There is an initial school cap of 6 teams, which will be lifted on October 1st.

Hope to see lots of you there! If you have any questions, please contact the Tournament Directors, Deirdre Casey and Allie Allison, at harthousedebate@gmail.com.

29 August 2011

Joynt Scroll (NZ Universities' Prepared Champs) Results

Here are the results from the 109th Joynt Scroll tournament in New Zealand (the NZ Universities' Prepared Debating Champs), hosted by the University of Canterbury from 26-29 August.

Winners: Victoria University of Wellington 2 (Nick Cross, Holly Jenkins, Duncan McLachlan)

Runners-Up: Victoria University of Wellington 1 (Asher Emanuel, Richard D'Ath, Paul Smith)

Semi-finalists: University of Canterbury 1 and University of Otago 1

President's Cup for Best Speaker: Paul Smith (Victoria)

Members of the NZ Universities Team: Paul Smith (Victoria), Richard D'Ath (Victoria), William Cheyne (Otago)

Reserves to the NZ Universities Team: Asher Emanuel (Victoria), Louis Chambers (Otago)

Highly Commended: Josh Baxter (Auckland), Stephanie Thompson (Auckland), Aria Newfield (Auckland), Duncan McLachlan (Victoria)

Russell McVeagh Cup for Most Promising Speaker: Kieran Bunn (Otago)

Centennial Cup for Best Adjudicator: Seb Templeton (Victoria)


28 August 2011

Cambridge IV 2011 details

The Cambridge Union Society is proud to present one of the highlights of the debating calendar, one of the most celebrated debating tournaments in the world; and the largest Cambridge IV.
It will take place this year on the 18th and 19th of November 2011.

Registration Details:

- Registration will open on our website and on our Facebook group on the 1st September at Midday (GMT).
- £85 Registration Fee; to include a Black Tie social, with further details to be announced.
- Supplementary Package available to all for £25 per team. For £25 we offer entry into the Thursday night Union debate, Debating Workshops run by top Cambridge Debaters, guaranteed crash Thursday night, and tours on Friday morning before the IV begins.
- A 120 team cap, with an initial 4 teams per institution cap. N-1 judges for UK teams.

Highlights of the tournament include:
- 5 Preliminary Rounds of Closed Motions, 7 minute speeches. Open break to Quarter-Finals, ESL break to Semi-Finals.
- A prestigious CA Team, featuring:
CA Fiona Prowse (2011 World Champion, 2010 Cambridge IV Winner, 2009 Australs Champion)
CA Harish Natarajan (2010 Worlds Semi-Finalist, 2010 and 2011 Euros Finalist)
DCA Nathalie Smith (2011 Worlds Octo-finalist, 2010 Euros Quarter-finalist and DCA of the Nottingham Open)
- Expert tabbing from Bob Nimmo
- One of the best judging pool available; to include Art Ward, Andrew Tuffin, Sam Block, Jack Gamble, Joe Roussos, Richard Lau, Tom Hosking, Daniel Warents, Simone Van Elk and many others.
- A Hog Roast Dinner
- A Black Tie Champagne Social
For more information, contact the OrgCom, at iv@cus.org

Maria English (Convenor)
James Hardy (Convenor)
Rebecca Meredith (Deputy Convenor)
Craig Docherty (Deputy Convenor)
See www.cambridgeiv.com for more details