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

29 August 2008

World Schools 2008 Blog

With World Schools less than a week away the organisers have set up a new blog which they plan to use keep the world informed of progress at the event.

You can find the blog at http://wsdc2008.blogspot.com/

Judge at the World Championships

WANTED – JUDGES FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

This September the World Schools Debating Championship will be held in and around Washington, DC. The dates are September 6-14 2008. Thirty-eight nations will each be sending one team to the competition, and one team will be named world champion. Last year the tournament was in Seoul, Korea and Scotland defeated Singapore in the final round.

Each debate has three judges, and we are recruiting judges to add to those already assembled. We hope that you can judge one or more of these debates. You can indicate when you are available when you come to judge training.

The contest takes place in the World Schools format. The format is easy to understand and the evaluation criteria are fairly straightforward. We will be providing basic judge training and orientation. You can find the rules at http://www.schoolsdebate.com/guides.asp .

All judges must attend the Judge Training session that will be held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia 22202 on Saturday September 6 starting at 9 AM. The training will be completed in the early afternoon.

Preliminary debates will then take place on Sunday September 7, Monday September 8, Tuesday September 9 and Wednesday September 10. The octafinals and quarterfinals will be held on Friday September 12, the semifinals on Saturday September 13 and the finals on Sunday September 14.

Preliminary debates are usually staged with one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch will be provided on debating days. We will provide transportation from the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in the mornings of each debating day and you will be returned to the Hyatt after the debates.

The debates themselves are of unusually high quality and should provide a stimulating academic experience. New judges will be assigned to “shadow judge” and then will be used in a formal judging capacity. While we are unable to compensate you, we can promise some excellent debates.

If you have debate experience as a coach or student and would like to take this opportunity to judge at a world-class event, please contact our chief adjudicator, Aaron Maniam, at aaronmaniam@gmail.com . Please provide him with some brief information about your debating experience. He will then be ready and waiting for you when you arrive at judge training.

Best wishes,
Alfred Snider
Director of Tournament Operations
World Schools Debating Championships 2008

WSDC Directors

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, at 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 candidates for 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 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 needn’t 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 candidacies 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 Probert (chair, incorporation working group).

26 August 2008

The Cleary Gottlieb Cambridge IV 2008

We are pleased to announce details of this year's Cambridge IV, sponsored by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. The competition will take place on Friday 14th November and Saturday 15th November.

We will have five preliminary rounds breaking to quarter-finals with open motions and there will be an ESL break for the first time. The team cap this year will be one hundred teams with an institution cap of three teams.

Our chief adjudicator is Mr James Dray, who is the current EUDC 2008 champion and was a finalist of Worlds 2007 and our deputy chief adjudicator is Mr Bob Nimmo, who was EUDC champion 2005 and Worlds finalist 2007. The Cambridge IV has always had one of the best judging panels of any competition and this year will be no different with adjudicators including Mr Nick Long (Worlds 2008 semi-final judge), Ms Mhairi Murdoch (Worlds 2008 finalist), Mr Ranald Clouston (Worlds 2007 finalist) and Mr Adam Bott (two-time Oxford IV winner).


We are very proud to be the largest open motion, British Parliamentary competition in this country. The competition allows teams to react to unusual definitions and to practise difficult positions in the British Parliamentary format – skills which are becoming increasingly important in order to do well at international competitions. You will also gain experience through competing against other international institutions and receiving feedback from some of the best judges on the circuit. All in all, it's a great way to prepare for this year's Worlds.

The registration fee will be £75 per team. Included in this registration fee will be food and alcohol on both Friday and Saturday nights, breakfast on the Saturday morning, accommodation for both nights and our famous black-tie social on the Saturday night, held after the Grand Final. There will be no registration fee for judges and n-1 will be enforced for IONA institutions.

We will also be providing a free international package for non-IONA institutions, which includes training on Thursday 13th November from our excellent debating coaches, entry to the famous Cambridge Union debate that night (subject to availability) and accommodation for the Thursday night. There will also be time for sightseeing around Cambridge.

We recognise that the registration fee might seem too high for some institutions and we believe that this should not prevent access for small debating societies and those who truly cannot afford it. Consequently, there is a possibility of a few registration fee discounts to institutions which did not attend last year's Cambridge IV and can prove that they have substantial financial difficulties. To apply for such a discount, please e-mail us at iv@cus.org and we will deal with each individual case sensitively.

Registration for teams and judges will open on Friday, August 29 at 1200 BST. A representative from your institution should complete our registration form which will be available on the 'IV Tournament' section of the Cambridge Union website: http://www.cus.org/. After you register, a reply will be sent back within a day asking you to confirm your details. If you have any problems with the application process, please e-mail us at iv@cus.org. This year, places at the Cambridge IV will only be guaranteed after payment. You can choose to pay by Paypal (with standard debit or credit cards) or by cheque in British pound sterling. Instructions for payment will be sent to the institution representative after they have registered.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about the competition, please contact us through our e-mail address: iv@cus.org. Please join our Facebook group 'The Cleary Gottlieb Cambridge IV 2008' to be kept informed of the latest announcements.

We looking forward to seeing you all at the Cambridge IV,

Richard Lau & Sam Block
Convenors of the Cambridge IV 2008

Qatar WSDC 2010 Bid Booklet released

From WSDC mailing list:

In preparation for QatarDebate's bid at WSDC Washington DC to host the World Schools' Debating Championships in Doha in 2010, we have released a promotional bid booklet which we hope will answer your questions about Qatar, QatarDebate and our bid to host World Schools.

This bid booklet and supplementary technical information about the bid will be presented to the WSDC Council in Washington DC.

We will also be releasing a promotional video in the run-up to WSDC Washington to give you more information about Qatar and debating in Qatar.

The Qatar WSDC 2010 Bid Booklet can be found at: www.qatardebate.org

We look forward to seeing you all in Washington shortly!
Best wishes,
Dr Hayat Maarafi, Alex Just and Andrew Goodman
QatarDebate WSDC 2010 Bid Committee

25 August 2008

7th NLS Debate

Hello All!
The 7th NLS Debate will be held from 29th October to 2nd November, 2008.This is a 3 on 3 debate similar to the Asians format. The NLS Debate hasgained much popularity in the subcontinent with 42 teams participating in2007.

We hope you can come to Bangalore and attend this event! Since the filedid not get uploaded the last time round, the invitation for the same anda few details are pasted in this email itself.
If any team needs a word/ pdf document, please email me atdebate@nls.ac.in and I will send you the invite!

Registration for the debate is now open. Kindly register by sending usan email at debate@nls.ac.in. Please tell us the number of teams andadjudicators your institution will be sending.

Registration will close on September 15, 2008.

Looking forward to your participation!

INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE 7TH NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL DEBATE, 2008
The Literary and Debating Society of the Student Bar Association of theNational Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, one of theforemost legal educational institutions in South Asia, is proud to bringto you its seventh edition of the National Law School Parliamentary Debate(‘NLS Debate’).
The debate will be held from 28th October to 2nd November, 2008.

ABOUT THE DEBATE
Over the last five years, the NLS Debate has grown in size as well aspopularity and is now South Asia’s most prominent parliamentary-styledebating competition. From a truly national event in 2002 where St.Stephen’s College (New Delhi) took top honours, it evolved into aninternational one with active participation from universities fromPakistan and Sri Lanka in subsequent years. IIT Delhi, University CollegeLahore and Colombo Law Faculty are amongst the winners in the pasteditions. The NLS Debate sees participation from institutions in NewDelhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, Mohali,Bhopal, Cochin and Trivandrum. This year we hope to establish theinternational flavour of the debate by expanding the tournament from itssub-continental editions, to a truly Asian debate, by inviting teams fromacross Asia to participate.

The underlying ethos of NLSD has been to promote Parliamentary styledebating, and we undertook this endeavour by focussing in past years, onSouth Asia. As we welcome the growing trend of newer institutions adoptingthis format, we find it essential to grow and bring competition from otherAsians countries within our tournament.

The NLS Debate has built its reputation largely on its internal pool oftop notch adjudicators, some of who have adjudicated in the break roundsat the All Asian Inter-varsity Debating Championships and the AsianUniversities Debating Championships. Teams from NLS have consistentlytopped national debates in India, and have also shown consistentperformances on the Asian debating circuit, with two of our teams havingfaced each other at the Grand Finals of the All Asians IntervarsityDebating Championship 2008, Dhaka this year.

FORMAT
At this year’s tournament, we will follow the parliamentary-style formatlargely similar to the one followed at the All-Asian Championships. Weplan to have 6-7 preliminary rounds (depending on the number of teamstaking part) where each team will face opponents in the ‘3-on-3’ style,with reply speeches, on the basis of power-matching. The top 8 teams willprogress to the knock-out stage culminating in the Grand Finals. Besidesbeing a test for the speakers, accompanying judges are also continuouslyunder scrutiny with an individualised feedback system in place. To requestthe rules document, kindly send us an e-mail at debate@nls.ac.in.

REGISTRATION
Every institution can register up to 2 teams, each team consisting of 3speakers and an accompanying adjudicator (n=1). Institutions may beallowed to register a third team if the total cap of teams in not reachedby the first deadline for registration. Though we encourage more studentadjudicators to participate, it is open to faculty, alumni, trainers andfriends to register as accompanying adjudicators. Formal Registration willbe opened shortly.
Registration for the NLS Debate is now open. Kindly register by emailingus at debate@nls.ac.in and telling us the number of teams and adjudicatorsyour institution will be sending.
Registration will close on September 1, 2008

INTERNATIONAL TEAMS
NLS is committed towards introducing more and more Asian universities tothe tournament. The NLS debate is an ideal platform for spreading thedebating movement in South Asia and experienced international teams willbe giving us a great boost by taking part in our tournament.

Hoping to see you at the 7th National Law School Debate!

With Warm Regards,

Uttara Gharpure
Convenor, Literary and Debating Society 2008-2009
Student Bar Association,
NLSIU, Bangalore

Contacts: e-mail: debate@nls.ac.in
Tournament Director: Uttara Gharpure: +91 98860 54996, lnd@nls.ac.in

Postal Address:
The Literary and Debating Society 2007-08,Student Bar Association,National Law School of India University, PO Bag 7201,Nagarbhavi, Bangalore – 560072, Karnataka, India.(Mark envelope as ATTN: Ms. Uttara Gharpure, 5th year)

Update on Worlds Rego

Dear All,
I am now delighted to announce that following the offers that were made that we now have 308 teams registered for Cork Worlds 2009. As such a list of registered institutions is now available on the registration section of our website (www.corkworlds2009.com) and in addition we are now in a position to publicise the waiting list for the Championships which is also available in the registration section of our website.

In addition I would also like to remind everyone that Stage 2 of Registration i.e. payment will open on September 1st 2pm (BST/GMT+1) and close on October 9th 6pm (BST/GMT+1) by which time the full amount due by each institution must have been received in our account. All details regarding EFT (wire transfers) can be found on the registration section of our website, and I would recommend that all transfers are made at least 10 working days in advance of October 9th at the latest. Furthermore I would like to note that when the transfer is initiated you must opt to accept all charges. For those who wish to pay by credit card, I would like to highlight that as is standard, there will be a 2.4% processing fee levied on the total amount of the transaction.

If anyone has any questions or queries please do not hesitate to get on to me and I will give every assistance possible.

Best wishes,
Mark Collins
Director of Registration & Communications,
29th World University Debating Championships.
Cork 2009.