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3 January 2009

2009 World Debating Champions

The 2009 World Debating Champions are:

On a 5 4 split in the final vote after over 2 hours

Oxford A (Will Jones and James Dray)

ESL Winners

The winners of the english as a second language competition at the 2009 world debating championships are:

BBU A

EFL winners

The winners of the English as a foreign language competition at the 2009 world debating championships are:

Villinus A

Best speaker at worlds

The overall top ranked speaker at the 2009 world debating championships

Naomi Oreb from Sydney

ESL top speaker

The top ranked ESL speaker at the 2009 world debating championships

1 Leela Koenig (Leiden A)

EFL best speaker

The top ranked EFL speaker at the 2009 world debating championships

AistÄ— DumbrytÄ— (Villinus A)

Here we go again

Judges are back.

There will be a slight delay.

The judges still are not back so we wait for further results.

As a side does anyone remember where "there will be a slight delay" came from......

World public speaking champion

The 2009 world public speaking champion at the 2009 world debating championships is:

Patrick Bateman (Sydney)

World masters winners

The winners of the Masters competition at the 2009 world debating championships are:

Team: Ireland (Ross McGuire & Greg ONeill)

Individual: Barry Glynn (Ireland)

Comedy Public Speaking Champion

The winner of the comic public speaking competition at the 2009 world debating championships is:

Willard Foxton

Final over

The Final is over. Now we are waiting for the adjudication.

Worlds Final and Motion

The draw for the final of the 2009 world universities debating championships is:

1st Gov - Monash B
1st Opp - Oxford A
2nd Gov - Harvard A
2nd Opp - Oxford C

The motion is:

This house would ban abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

World Championships Finalists

The 2009 World Debating Championship Final will be contested by:

Oxford C
Harvard A
Oxford A
Monash B

Update from final day

I have posted the EFL final and main semis motions. The ESL motion is something along the lines of This House would have domestic quotas in football. I was judging the EFL final so missed the exact wording and positions.

The finalists will be announced in a few minutes.

I believe Jens is posting a script of each speaker if you want to check that out.

Tuna has had a team of people recording the various debates. He has posted some of those on his blog and I'm sure he you keep an eye on the site over the next few days they will all appear.

Worlds Semi Final and Motion

The motion for the semi finals of the 2009 world debating championships final is:

This house believes governments should subsidise private home ownership.

The motion for the EFL final is

This house would prohibit all private health care.

Today at Worlds 09: Day 8

The agenda for today (Jan 3rd) at Worlds in Cork is:
  • Breakfast
  • Semi-Finals
  • EFL Final
  • Lunch
  • ESL Final
  • Grand Final
  • Championship Dinner
  • Black-Tie Ball

2 January 2009

ESL final

The Finalists in the English as a second language competition at the 2009 world debating championships are:

Leiden A
Bonapart B
BBU
Hertie

Semi Finalists

The Semi Finalists are:

Monash B
Manchester A
Oxford A
Oxford B

Oxford C
Queensland A
Harvard A
Vic Wellington A

Worlds Quarter Final and Motion

The motion for the qtr finals of the 2009 world debating championships AND the ESL semi is:

This house believes that the international criminal court should prosecute crimes against the democratic process.

Qtr draw:

  • Princeton A 1G
  • TCD Phil B 1O
  • Manchester A 2G
  • Monash B 2O

Judges: Erin O'Brien, Doug Cochran, Samir Denger Senm Jason Roberts, Steve Johnson, Shamila Parmamail, Andrew Marshall

  • Oxford A 1G
  • UCD L&H A 1O
  • Nottingham A 2G
  • Oxford B 2O

Judges: Rory Gillis, Chris Bishop, Elizabeth Ames, Colm Flynn, Anna Garcia, Tim Jeffrie, Sayqa Islam

  • Queensland A 1G
  • Oxford C 1O
  • MIT A 2G
  • Hart House B 2O

Judges: Ivan Ah Sam, Sam Block, Ciaran Lawlor, Tony Murphy, Kirsty Russell, Tiernan Fitzgibbon, Chris Croke.

  • Loyola A 1 G
  • Harvard A 1O
  • Helsinki A 2G
  • Vic Wellington A 2O

Judges: Bob Nimmo, Derek Lande, Gavin Illsey, Julia Bowes, Sutheren Thomas, Daniel Warrents

ESL Semis:

  • Galatarasay A 1G
  • Bonapart B 1O
  • Tallin A 2G
  • Leiden A 2O

Judges: Ian Lising, Safia Shabab, Nicole Lynch, JEns Fischer, Beth Connor, Erin Fitzgerald, Ben Jasper.

  • Haifa A 1G
  • BBU 1O
  • Hertie 2G
  • Tel Aviv 2O

Judges: Neil Harvey-Smith, Isabelle Loewe, Daniel Tait, DAniel Wodak, Kathering Connolly, Coran O'Brien, Catherine Richardson.

I have to go judge so will post the ESL semi positions and the list of judges later on.

Qtr finalists

Qtr-Finalists at the 2009 World Debating Championships,

16 Monash B
17 Manchester A
8 Princeton A
9 TCD Phil B

13 UCD L&H A
29 Nottingham A
5 Oxford A
12 Oxford B

14 Hart House B
19 MIT A
6 Oxford C
22 Queensland A

15 Harvard A
31 Loyola A
10 Helsinki A
23 Vic Wellington A

All three Sydney teams are out. Cambridge is also out.

Octo Final Draw

The Octo Final lineup:

16 Monash B 1st Gov
17 Manchester A 1st Opp
1 Sydney B 2nd Gov
32 Stanford A 2nd Opp
Judges: Jason Rodgers, Rory Gillis, Kirsty Russell, Tiernan Fitzgibbon, Ross MaGuire

24 Queens Uni A 1st Gov
8 Princeton A 1st Opp
25 Yale A 2nd Gov
9 TCD Phil B 2nd Opp
Judges: Anna Garcia, Ivan AhSam, Ian Lising, Morgan Shelly, Adriaan Andringa


20 Brandeis A 1st Gov
29 Nottingham A 1st Opp
4 Monash A 2nd Gov
13 UCD L&H A 2nd Opp
Judges: Steve Johnson, Gavin Illsey, Bernadette Angungio, Lweis Chisom Iwu, Willard Foxton


5 Oxford A 1st Gov
28 Yale B 1st Opp
12 Oxford B 2nd Gov
21 Swarthmore A 2nd Opp
Judges: Sayeqa Islam, Tim Jeffrie, Josh Martin, DAvid Middlemiss, Sani Ismail

3 Cambridge C 1st Gov
30 McGill A 1st Opp
19 MIT A 2nd Gov
14 Hart House B 2nd Opp
Judges: Julia Bowes, Derek Lande, Sasha Bodero-Smith, Yauhemi Akulich, Chris Bishop

27 Sydney C 1st Gov
22 Uni Queensland A 1st Opp
6 Oxford C 2nd Gov
11 Canterbury A 2nd Opp
Judges: Can Okar, Bob Nimmo, Shamila Parmamail, Michael Clark, Gregg O'Neill

2 Sydney A 1st Gov
15 Harvard A 1st Opp
31 Loyola A 1st Gov
18 Hart House A 2nd Opp
Judges: Samir Deger Sen, Erin O'Brien, Derek Doyle, Claire Lindsey, David Tait.

26 Auckland A 1st Gov
10 Helsinki A 1st Opp
7 Seattle A 2ng Gov
23 Vic Wellington A 2nd Opp
Judges: Sam Block, Elizabeth Ames, Steph Paton, Suthen Thomas, Neil Harvey-Smith.

Octo final motion.

This house would arm local militia to fight the taliban in Afghanistan.

Draw to follow in a few minutes

Today at Worlds 09: Day 7

The agenda for today (Jan 2nd) at Worlds in Cork is:
  • Breakfast
  • Octo-Finals
  • Lunch
  • ESL Quarter-Finals
  • Quarter-Finals
  • EFL Semi-Finals
  • ESL Semi-Finals
  • Irish Night

1 January 2009

Botswana to host worlds in 2011

I have just heard that Botswana have been awarded the right to host Worlds in 2011.

Congrats to Justice and his team. They lost out twice before but came back the following year to bid again and it turned out to be third time lucky. Having spoken to them this week I'm sure they will do a great job.

Today at Worlds 09: Day 6

The agenda for today (Jan 1st) at Worlds in Cork is:
  • Breakfast
  • Excursions
  • Worlds Council
  • Public Speaking Final
  • Masters Final
  • Social - Clubnight

Looking at the break

Sydney did well breaking the top two teams and 3 overall (Oxford also broke 3).

North America dominate with 14 teams. Australia/New Zealand have 9, Ireland/UK 8 and Europe 1. Earlier today some American coaches and judges were predicting the reverse and that Ireland/UK would break around 16.

The highest points were 22 with three teams on that. The cutoff was 18 points with ten teams breaking on that. No info on how many missed it on speaks

I'm waiting for the judge break. I got a telephone call to tell me I'm in but don't have many details beyond that.

Update: Jens has a list of the breaking judges but as he points out there are some missing and some misspelled. I've also spotted what I think is one sex change :-) I'll get the official (correctly spelled) list and post it but in the meantime check his blog for the almost correct list.

Well done to Jens on the quick updates. I'll be posting live from the break rounds and the finals so we'll have to have a little competition........

Main Break

The main break:


1 Sydney B
2 Sydney A
3 Cambridge C
4 Monash A
5 Oxford A
6 Oxford C
7 Seattle A
8 Princeton A
9 TCD Phil B
10 Helsinki A
11 Canterbury A
12 Oxford B
13 UCD L&H A
14 Hart House B
15 Harvard A
16 Monash B
17 Manchester A
18 Hart House A
19 MIT A
20 Brandeis A
21 Swarthmore A
22 Uni Queensland A
23 Vic Wellington A
24 Queens A
25 Yale A
26 Auckland A
27 Sydney C
28 Yale B
29 Nottingham A
30 McGill A
31 Loyola A
32 Stanford A



This should make the team draw:

source of teams: yourgermancorrespondant

Break announcement: ESL

The ESL Break:
1 Leiden A
2 Tel Aviv A
3 BBU A
4 Bonaparte B
5 Tallin A
6 HSG A
7 Haifa A
8 Galatasasay A

I believe that makes the semi-final lineup on the second:

1 Leiden A
4 Bonaparte B
5 Tallin A
8 Galatasasay A

2 Tel Aviv A
3 BBU A
6 HSG A
7 Haifa A

Source of teams: yourgermancorrespondent

Break Announcement: EFL

The EFL Finalists are:

  • Vilnius A
  • Zagreb A
  • Bucharest A
  • Zagreb B

The Final is on the 3rd January.

Source: yourgermancorresponent

Break announcement 1

The Finalists in the public Speaking competition are:

  • Patrick Bateman
  • James Akron
  • Michael Emerson
  • Sarah Ingelman
  • Willard Foxton

The Final is tomorrow

Source: yourgermancorresponsant

31 December 2008

Happy New Year 2009

I would like to take this chance (before the break comes in) to wish all visitors to this site a very happy, peaceful and prosperous 2009.

Worlds Round 9 motion

The motion for round 9 of the world debating championships is:

This house would ban the publication of political opinion polls.

Worlds Round 8 Motion

The motion for round 8 of the world debating championships is:

This house would apply a lower rate of income tax to women.

Worlds Round 7 motion

The motion for round 7 of the world debating championships is:

This house believes that the west should recognise the independence of Abkhazia.

Note that today all rounds are closed adjudication so no results will
be announced until the break announcement just after midnight Irish
time.

Worlds Round 7 motion

The motion for round 7 of the world debating championships is:

This house believes that the west should recognise the independence of Abkhazia.

Note that today all rounds are closed adjudication so no results will
be announced until the break announcement just after midnight Irish
time.

ESL qtrs cancelled

There are only 77 ESL or EFL teams at Worlds. The constitution
requires at least 80 teams in order for qtr finals to be held.
Therefore the ESL break will be only 8 teams.

Today at Worlds 09: Day 5

The agenda for today (Dec 31st) at Worlds in Cork is:
  • Breakfast
  • Round 7
  • Lunch/Equity Forum
  • Round 8
  • Round 9
  • Dinner
  • Break Night

30 December 2008

Worlds on RTE News

We were on the Irish news today. To see the slot visit http://www.rte.ie/news/6news/ and the segment is towards the bottom of the list.

In case you are reading this after December 30th looking at the RTE website I think the link will change to http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1230/6news.html from tomorrow.

Worlds Round 6 motion

The motion for round 6 of the world debating championships is:

This house would criminalise adultery.

Worlds Round 5 motion

The motion for round 5 of the world debating championships is:

This house believes that China and India should bear the same obligations as the West in fighting climate change.

Koc Worlds 2010 DCA

The DCAs for worlds next year are:

Will Jones from Oxford
Julia Bowes from Sydney
Sutern Tate Thomas from MMU
Josh Bone from Yale

Europeans 2010 bids

Yeditepe from Istanbul and Amsterdam from Holland have both announced they are bidding for Europeans in 2010.

Future worlds

Botswana are the only bidders for Worlds in 2011.

They still have to be confirmed at council on New Years day.

DLSU are going to bid for 2012

Update between rounds 4 and 5.

I had an reasonably good round in terms of the quality of the teams but they hadn't done enough research on Northern Ireland before coming here so the quality of the debate and the analysis suffered a bit. There aren't that many possible "Irish topics" and the north is right at the top of the list so they should have known better.

Moment of the tournament so fas has to be Derek standing up to explain the motion in the adjudicators only to have a committee member burst through doors to the side of the stage, sprint to the podium and grab the mic which was transmitting Derek's "definition" to the debaters in the other rooms.

I have discovered that there is an official blog from the org comm. Corkworlds.blogspot.com. You should add this to your list of sites to check.

Also I'm posting from my phone so the line and paragraph breaks are a little off. I'll tidy them up when I get home.

Worlds Round 4 Motion

The motion for round 4 of the world debating championships is:

This house would force the religious desegregation of Northern Irish schools.

Waiting for round 4

We are waiting for the start of round 4. The last few stragglers are being rounded up and the org comm are making a series of announcements.

Today at Worlds 09: Day 4

The agenda for today (Dec 30th) at Worlds in Cork is:
  • Breakfast
  • Round 4
  • Lunch/Women's Forum
  • Round 5
  • Round 6
  • Public Speaking Round 2
  • Dinner
  • Comedy Night

29 December 2008

Worlds Round 3 Motion

The motion for round 3 of the world debating championships is:

This house would allow soldiers to sue their government for negligence.

Round 2 update

We are now waiting for round 3. Dont know the current rankings of teams but I will try to find out.

I had a very good debate. I would not be surprised to see 3 of the teams in the break. It was very tight and the panel all had slightly different results but after discussion we came to agreement which is why we have more than one judge per panel. Tabbie really shafted the
teams with that draw but thats the dangers of 3 point rooms at round 2 at worlds.

Worlds Round 2 Motion

2pm and The motion for round 2 of the world debating championships is:

This house would fire the senior managements of all corporations which receive government bailouts.

Round 1 over

We are now waiting for round 2.

Round 1 motion was announced at 10:30 which was apparently just 20 minutes behind schedule so well done Cork. I've been at worlds in the past where we were still waiting for round 1 at lunch time.

Speaking of lunch there were no queue when i got there. Walked straight up and got a roll and an orange. 30 seconds tops so they seem to have solved the queue problem from yesterday. Also people tend to be a bit more staggered in arriving from the oral adjudications (some are longer than others) so that helps.

My round 1 was not the best debate and was fairly easy to call.

And they have just asked people to take their seats for the round 2 announcement so we must still be close to the schedule.

Worlds Round 1 Motion

And we're off. The motion for round 1 of the 2009 world debating championships is:

This house would ban all forms of gambling

Worlds Round 1 Motion

And we're off. The motion for round 1 of the 2009 world debating championships is:

This house would ban all forms of gambling

Getting ready to start

We are just minutes from round 1 and the start of the competition. People are signing in at the moment. Once that is complete the turnaround on tabbie should be fairly quick.

Today at Worlds 09: Day 3

The agenda for key events today (Dec 29th) at Worlds in Cork is:
  • 09:00-12:00 Round 1
  • 12:00-13:00 Lunch
  • 13:00-15:30 Round 2
  • 15:30-18:00 Round 3
  • 18:00-19:30 Public Speaking Round 1
  • 20:00-02:00 Comedy Night

28 December 2008

Worlds Day 2 overview.

Today seems to have gone well at worlds. In fact they were running well ahead of schedule at one point. Everyone seemed happy with the way things went.

The only time I heard grumbles were at lunch. There were long queues for food but it wouldnt be worlds without queues for food and impatient people complaining as they wait. It is just that too many people arrive out of debates or briefings and want to be fed at the same time. But the queues moved at a reasonable pace.

The adjudication test was interesting. Lets just be kind and say one of the teams wasnt exactly balanced (which made calculating the speaker points, to avoid "low point wins", fun). From the laughter in the crowd i think people enjoyed the bad speech while they also got to judge some really good speeches.

Tomorrow the real business starts.

Adjudication test

The adjudication test is ongoing.

There was a mini exam then form on experience.

Now a live debate is about to start on the motion

TH would allow insurance companies to view genetic test results in assessing potential customers.

Common Briefing

The common briefing is now on.

The rules are the standard Worlds rules. Check my tutorial section for more details.

Some other facts are:

Outside the main break there will also be a break of 16 teams to ESL qtrs and 4 teams to an EFL final.

Tabbie will be the tab system. It has been used at a number of worlds

Feedback (good and bad) on judges is compulsory from both the teams and their fellow judges and will be the primary criteria determining the break. Forms will be widely available. Looks like the adjudication team are again in for some long nights reading bad hand writing (oh the memories)

Interviews are being held to confirm ESL or EFL status based on the new rules from council. Sam Greenland and his team are thanked for their hard work doing interviews. Any changes or challenges to status will be confirmed at the per council meeting.

Speakers from mixed teams (ie ESL and non-ESL) are traditionally not eligible for the ESL/EFL speaker awards. However that is being reviewed by council and may change.

Prep time is 15 minutes. Some teams like to stretch that especially if they can use the walk to the venue as an excuse. They are cracking down hard on this. If you are not there after 20 minutes a swing team will be slotted in. If the debate has started with a swing team and the original team arrives it is too late. They will not be allowed in.

Rory is now going through prep time, electronic equipment limitations, timing of debates, definitions etc. Basically he is going through the rules (again see my tutorial and part worlds briefings).

When things calm down for them (later in the championships) I will ask the adjudication team for a copy of the presentation for the site.

Ivan is now talking about extensions, roles in a debate, rebuttal, POIs, conduct.

"extensions are like hard core porn. You know it when you see it"

They are thankfully cracking down on offering poi with things like "on iraq" "on single mothers"

If judges see a rule infraction (eg electronic equipment, offensive behaviour etc) the debate should be judged as normal and then all 3 judges go to the adjudication team for them to decide the sanction.

Erin is now speaking on adjudication process.

Judges are expected to do 3 things: judge the debate, give the result and reasons why, give constructive feedback.

If no agreement can be reached between the judges after 15 minutes then they should vote. If still tied them the chair has the casting vote.

Take into account matter manner structure and roles. Be aware that styles vary around the world.

Rank teams 1 to 4. Allocate speaker points. No ties or low point wins. Speaker points are the standard at worlds. Only 50 to 100 etc (see my tutorial). Top speaker last year averaged 87.8. Median speaker averaged 73.88. Bottom speaker 60.8.

Answers to questions:
Speakers should try to take 2 poi, at least 1. But judges should bear in mind how many were offered before marking down.

Points of clarification are allowed but no obligation to take them. They are basically poi at worlds.
Video taping a debate is ok if everyone there agrees.

You cant say I'll take you in a minute to a speaker at 5:55 and them try to take the poi at 6:20. If the poi hasnt started at 6 min it cant happen. If it is in progress at the bell then that is ok.

I lost track of the other questions.

Lunch! Or in my case Breakfast!

Briefings are on

The tournament briefings are currently on. Typical stuff. Well typical
for me but I have seen 8 of them.

The motion for the womens debate in a couple of days has been announced:

TTHW ban all forms of religious gender discrimination.

The tradition is to hold the masters competition in the local debate
format. This is Irish Times format. It has a mix of teams and
individuals in the same debate. For more guidance check out my
tutorial section.

The largest section of the first tournament briefing was on social
events. Welcome to Ireland :-)

Today at Worlds 09: Day 2

The agenda for today (Dec 28th) at Worlds in Cork is:
  • 07:00-08-15 Breakfast
  • 09:00-10:00 Tournament Briefing
  • 10:00-11:30 Common Briefing
  • 12:00-13:00 Lunch
  • 13:15-15:30 Adjudication Test
  • 15:45-19:30 Masters Prelim Rounds
  • 19:45-21:40 Pre-Council
  • 20:00-02:00 Social