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

23 September 2010

New reason to join your local debating society

Sometimes the news here is a little dry (no smart comments) with lots of announcements, results etc. That's mainly because "interesting" articles about debating don't pop up on my google reader.  Then this story appeared in several newspaper feeds. 


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

All jokes aside it shows one way you can boost the benefits for membership of your debate club/society.  In the current economy it can be hard to get sponsorship from local companies.  However if they turn you down for money why not ask if they are willing to offer your members a discount on their services.  It mightn't help pay for your activities this year but it might help increase your membership numbers which in turn will make you more attractive to sponsors next year.

22 September 2010

Botswana Worlds 2011 : ALL teams on Wait List APPROVED!

Greetings!

We are promoting all teams on the wait list. So every institution on the waiting list, regardless of your order, can now get more teams into the tournament.

This means
- Institutions waitlisted with no teams approved now have all their teams approved
- Institutions who were allowed one team are now allowed to send more
- Institutions who have fully paid for 3 teams but want to send more can apply - by writing in and indicating an interest to do so (see below)
- Institutions who have not yet registered for the tournament but want to now can do so - by writing in and indicating an interest to do so (see below)

Instructions

1. All institutions who want to send teams should send an email to grahamsowa @gmail.com. You should tell him
a) who you are and how many teams you currently have paid for (which we will verify)
b) how many extra teams you want
c) when you can pay for them

He will then let you know how many additional teams you can bring and after that you should initiate payment. You will be given one week from the date of approval to send money. If you don't, we will offer your spot to someone else. Do not initiate payment until Graham tells you that you can - else you may be paying for a slot that does not exist. We will not be refunding or honoring unrequested and unapproved payments.

You MUST activate your online account and upload your proof of payments there or email scanned copies to finance @botswanaworlds.com. Payment information is available here : http://botswanaworlds.com/node/35

When allocating extra teams we will
a) prioritize institutions who have fewer teams in the tournament over institutions with more. So those of you who were on the wait list or those of you who do not have any teams in the tournament will be prioritized. We will you a one week head-start to grab these spots - after the 29th of September institutions who already have 3 teams will be given more teams.
b) try to distribute remaining spots evenly among those who want them. So rather than giving 3 teams to one institution who already has 3 teams, we will give 1 team to 3 institutions who already have 3 teams.
c) use first come first serve. We will also be super strict with payments. The reason why we are behind our deadlines is we've been very lenient with giving extensions. But if we do not get proof of payment within a week, we will drop your team and offer that spot to another. If you pay later, that money will not be refunded to you. Neither will deposits.

2. From the 5th of October, institutions that have not registered at all for Botswana Worlds will be able to register to attend. The registration website will be opened for new registrants. The online system will tell you how many teams you have or if you are on the waiting list. If you have teams accepted, you have one week from that point to initiate payment. 

Hope this is clear. If you have questions, please email grahamsowa @gmail.com or finance @botswanaworlds.com

Cheers
Logan

--
Chief Adjudicator
World Universities Debating Championships 2011

21 September 2010

Guest judges at PAUDC

This is a reminder about the guest judge spots available at this year’s Pan African Champs, to be held in Windhoek, Namibia from 4-10 December. If you’re an experienced judge heading to Worlds in Botswana, and you’ll be in the area in early December, we encourage you to think about coming through to our tournament.

PAUDC is a relatively new tournament, aimed at spreading debating in Africa. It’s close to being the largest tournament on the continent (SA Nats is about the same size), and has by far the widest range of teams. The programme is heavy on training and development, but PAUDC also acts as a prep tournament for African teams going to Worlds.

The Org Com has given us a small budget to waive reg fees for suitably experienced judges. If you’re interested, send a mail and CV to Joe Roussos (the CA) at joe.roussos AT gmail.com.

Cheers,
The PAUDC Adj team

Binghamton Results

The season opener for the new US WUDC circuit took place at Binghamton this weekend. There were 60 teams in the competition which is excellent for any competition never mind such a new circuit.


Winners Vermont-NA
Runners UP: Cornell-BS
Finalists: Colgate-TM, HWS-KM
Final Judges: Chris Croke, Lewis Iwu, Mary Nugent

Motions
1. THW ban for-profit universities
2. THW allow wildlife park officials to sell parts of animals who have died natural deaths
3. THB that the parents of morbidly obese children should be charged with child abuse
4. THW reduce prison sentences in exchange for convicts gaining educational qualifications.
5. THW allow people to sell their votes.
6. THW require independent professional accreditation of all individuals who receive compensation for providing political commentary in the media.
Quarters: THW grant dolphins, porpoises and whales rights equivalent to those of human children.
Semis: THW ban the creation of artificial life.
Finals: THW make all middle schools and high schools single gender

The Chief Adjudicator was Alfred Snider, University of Vermont and Tab Director was Steve Llano, St. John’s University

The tab can be found at: http://debate.uvm.edu/usudc/usudctab0809.html

Source: USDEBATE@LIST.UVM.EDU

20 September 2010

UCTI Open results

The 1st UCTI Open tournament was held at the weekend. The champions are Team BATIN consisting of Suthen "Tate" Thomas and Praba Ganesan. 1st runner ups are UT Mara 1 consisting of Mohd Shafiq Ahmed Bazari and Mohammad Syafiq B. Bahtiar "Stiffler". The finalists were team Matriachs (Ain Aissa Mohamad and Nur Atiqah Mohd Zaki) and UT Mara 3 (Nor Emellia Mohd Shariff and Mohamed Abdullahi).


Tate won the "Overall Best Speaker" and "Best Speaker For Finals" award.
The motions were:
Round 1 THW Not Build The "Ground Zero Mosque"
Round 2 THW Abolish Drug Trafficking in Malaysia
Round 3 THBT Social Disgust is Legitimate Grounds for the Restriction of Artistic Freedom
Round 4 THW Have Quotas for Female Representation in Politics
Round 5 THBT the Pope Should Get Laid
Quarter Finals THW Abolish All Single Sex Schools in Malaysia
Semi Finals THBT the OIC Should Unconditionally Recognize the State of Israel
Grand Finals THBT Former Colonial Powers Should Pay Reparations to Their Former Colonies

There was a tie for 16th and 17th place for the break. Both teams debated against each other in an opening half BP debate on the motion "THW remove all US bases in Asia"