The Debate Competition for the Lilian Nixon Challenge Shield 2011, organized by Ladies' College, was held on the 22nd and 23rd of October, with the participation of around 18 teams. At the end of the three preliminary debates worked off on the 22nd, the eight teams that broke into the knock out rounds were (in descending order) ,
1) Wesley College (A)
2) Colombo International School (A)
3) S. Thomas' College
4) Royal College (A)
5) Ananda College (A)
6) Trinity College
7) Royal College (B)
8) Anula Vidyalaya
The two teams which ultimately made their way to the final were Wesley College and S. Thomas' College. The motion for the final was "This house would conduct pharmaceutical trials on death row convicts".
Wesley College, who proposed the motion, was represented by,
Maleen Jayasuriya (C)
Sithira Gunasekera
Chrisjith Xavier
while S. Thomas' College comprised,
Sanjit Dias (C)
Sidath Gajanayaka
Shamlin Abdul Cader
At the end of it all, the five-member judging panel voted unanimously in favour of Wesley College, making them the champions of the competition and the winners of the Challenge Shield. The panel of adjudicators comprised Deshan Pushparajah, Shamalie Jayatunge, Vishaka Wijenayake, Shan Dantanarayana and Sandaruwani de Silva.
Sanjit Dias of S. Thomas' College was adjudged the Most Outstanding Speaker of the competition.
This competition also incorporated a Novice Final for new and inexperienced debaters, for the very first time, and the two teams which competed in it were Methodist College and Ananda College (B). The Novice Final was ultimately won by Ananda College.
