The Inaugural DC Maverick - Open Singles!!

The Debaters' Council of Sri Lanka wishes to invite you for the Inaugural DC Maverick (Open Singles) - The DC's newest and most innovative venture yet- held on the 06th and 07th of February 2010 at the Law Faculty premises of the University of Colombo.

This tournament defers greatly from all past open tournaments organized and we assure you that things just keep getting spicier.

Ever wondered how it would be to judge a debate? Ever wondered how it would be to be judged by a school debater? Ever wonder how it would be if debaters started to judging adjudicators? Ever wonder how it would be to debate with a novice/guru? Well here's your chance to find answers to all your questions in a matter of a mere 2 days.

The DC Maverick will defer from standard tournaments in the following ways.

· Forget teams. All entries are on an individual basis. [Rule 1]
· Its all random. Positions in teams of 2 or as adjudicators are assigned randomly for BP style debates (4 teams per debate). Based on the draw you could either end up debating or judging. [Rules 3, 9]
· Everybody scores everybody. Even the debaters mark the judges based on their adjudication speech. [Rules 11]
· The best break and pick their partner. After 3 prelim rounds, the top 14 scorers break and may choose to pick a partner from outside the top 8 and debate, or to adjudicate. Teams are fixed from this point and go on to the Semi Finals and Grand Final. [Rules 13, 14, 16, 20]

The goals of the tournament are:

· opportunity for older debaters to debate instead of just judging
· opportunity for school debaters to debate with past gurus
· opportunity for school debaters to gain adjudication experience and also to get a chance to judge people who are constantly judging them
· a chance for experienced debaters to debate in teams/judge with newer debaters and possibly pass on some practical training
· to break the monotony of the same teams going around in the same tournament forma

Another spicy twist will be that the format of debate will be of the purest British Parliamentary style. Wondering what that is? It's a 4 team debate. Two proposition teams, two opposition teams. Don't know what that is? We'll teach you on opening day.

We encourage all member schools, universities and other past debaters to participate at this event as it will be a one of a kind experience to all participants concerned. Past debaters can have a great time reliving the 'old days', whilst School Debaters will gain much in the form of adjudication experience as well as debating with some of the best debaters in the country.

So please do join us this weekend for an opportunity to meet and debate with past and present debaters in an informal atmosphere. No hassle of finding team mates, just come along and we'll do the needful. If you wish to just come and watch, you're more than welcome. Even if you only want to heckle and make a nuisance of yourself, we'll be there to encourage you further.

There is however something slightly tedious you must do. You must register! We already have high demand for participation from debaters both past and present, but due to resource constraints we may not be able to accommodate all registrations. Hence please be kind enough to send in your registrations to Anisha at anishay@gmail.com by the 30th of January 2010 to avoid disappointment. Registrations need to include your name, age, institution (if applicable) and a short writeup detailing your past debating experience. You can also contact Anisha on 0777 268789 for further details about the tournament.

Please be there to support debating in Sri Lanka!

Video of the Grand Final Debate at WUDC 2010

Please Click Here

Sydney A wins WUDC 2010

University of Sydney A won the Grand Final of the World Universities Debating Championships 2010, held at Koc University, Turkey yesterday.

The draw for the Final of the 2010 World Universities Debating Championships was:

OG Harvard University A (Adam Chilton and Cormac Early)
OO London School of Economics (Art Ward and Rushabh Ranavat)
CG Oxford University A (Jonathan Leader Maynard and Shengwu Li)
CO University of Sydney A (Steve Hind and Chris Croke)

The Grand Final of the motion was: THB that the media should show the full horror of war

Shengwu Li was awarded the most outstanding speaker of the competition.

Moscow State Institute of International Relations A won the English as a Foreign Language competition, while Tel Aviv A won the English as a Second Language Competition.

De La Salle University in Manila won the right to host the 2012 tournament.


Courtesy: http://worlddebating.blogspot.com/

World Debating Website: WUDC 2010 Break details

World Debating Website: WUDC 2010 Break details

Wesley College WINS Inaugural Debaters' Council Schools League

The Grand Final of the Asian Alliance Insurance DC Schools League 2009 was held on the 15th of December at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH).

Attorney General, President's Counsel Mr. Mohan Peiris, graced the occasion at the Chief Guest, while Ms. Nadi Dharmasiri, AGM - Marketing at Asian Alliance Insurance PLC (the title sponsor of the tournament) graced the occasion as Guest of Honor.

The Final, between Wesley College and Bishop's College turned out to be a hotly contested affair with the debate being of the highest quality. The motion for the final was "This House Believes that 'Responsibility to Protect' should be the base principle of the modern United Nations." Bishop's College proposed the motion while Wesley College opposed.

The adjudicators considering both sides, decided on a 4-1 split in favor of Wesley College. Hence Wesley College became the CHAMPIONS of the League.

The adjudicators at the grand final were Mr. Mohammed Adamaly, Mr. Thushara Hettihamu, Mr. Anisha Yasaratne, Mr. Kumaravadivel Guruparan & Ms. Shamalie Jayatunga.

The two finalist teams were represented by

Wesley College
Maleen Jayasuriya (Captain)
Sithira Gunasekera
Chrisjit Xavier

Bishop's College
Sandaruwani De Silva (Captain)
Charuni Pathmeswaran
Wanya Gunawardena.

The following were the top speakers at the League (In Descending order)

Sandaruwani De Silva, Bishop's College - Most outstanding speaker
Yohan Senarath, Colombo International School
Michael Mendis, St. Joseph's College
Maleen Jayasuriya, Wesley College
Sanjit Dias, S. Thomas' College.

The event, the 1st major public event organized by the Debaters' Council on account of its now flagship tournament saw an attendance of over 100 students, teachers & well wishers from all over the country.

8 long months, 57 debates later. Wesley College has been crowned, the champion of champions in school level debating.

From the final rankings, Wesley College, Bishop's College, St. Joseph's College and S. Thomas' College will gain automatic qualification for The DC Schools League 2010, while the remaining schools will be relegated to qualify again at the Sri Lanka Schools Debating Championship 2010 to be held in February.

The Debaters' Council congratulates both finalists and all other participating teams for the high standard of debating displayed right throughout.

We wish to also thank Asian Alliance Insurance PLC for their support in this herculean effort

Preview to the Grand Final - Sunday Times article

Please click here

The Hindu - Colombo team victorious in debate hosted by National Law School

Please click here

AAIC DC Schools League Grand Final

The grand final of the AAIC DC Schools League 2009 will be held on the 15th of December at Committee Room E of the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) from 3.30 p. onwards.

Wesley College and Bishop's College will battle it out for supreme honors on this day.

All well wishers are welcome to attend this final.

Faculty of Law Dominates National Law School Tournament

The teams representing the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo at the largest Parliamentary Style Debating Tournament in South Asia, the National Law School Tournament held annually in India did the country proud recently by singlehandedly dominating the same.

The A team comprising of Shamalie Jayatunga, Luwie Ganeshadhason and Sachintha Dias defeated RVCE 'A' of Bangalore in the finals and their arch rivals Ramjas College of the University of Delhi in the Semi finals to win the tournament after a lapse of 3 years.

Shamalie was ranked the 3rd best speaker and Luwie and Sachintha the 7th and 4th best respectively.

Damitha was adjudged the best adjudicator at the tournament.

The C team comprising of Galusha, Sanduni and Shanil won the NLS Novices debating champiosnhip with Shanil becoming the best debater in that tournament.

Other teams from Sri Lanka at the tournament were the Arts Faculty of the University of Colombo and the University of Moratuwa.

We wish to congratulate the Faculty of Law for their excellent performance at the tournament.

Sunday Times article on the AAIC DC Schools League 2009

Please click here

AAIC DC Schools League - Final Points Tally

After 56 grueling debates over a period of 7 months, the following is the final tally of the inaugural Asian Alliance Insurance DC Schools League.

We congratulate all the Debaters for a job well done in the first rounds.

Wesley College & Bishop's College will battle it out in the Grand Final Debate. Details of the same will be made available soon.

Chief Adjudicator rules on Controversial Debate

The controversial debate between St. Joseph's College & S. Thomas' College which ended in a non-event recently was referred to the CA by the Convenor.

After considering submissions from both teams, the CA has ruled the debate to be a NO RESULT.

As such, there will be no wins and losses awarded to the two teams. The points up for grabs will be split in half.

Colombo International School win Musaeus Debates

Colombo International School edged out S. Thomas' College in the grand final of the Musaeus College debates held recently.

The Debate was a culmination of 4 rounds of debate where over 10 teams participated.

We congratulate CIS on winning the championship and S. Thomas' College for reaching the finals.

The tournament was endorsed by the Debaters' Council

AAIC DC Schools League - Walkovers

Colombo International School provided walkovers to Methodist College and S. Thomas' College on their 2nd round debates recently.

St. Bridget's Convent provided a walkover to Colombo International School in their 2nd round debate against the latter.

AAIC DC Schools League - SJC vs STC

Both rounds of Asian Alliance Insurance DC Schools League between St. Joseph's College & S. Thomas' College were held on October 30th 2009.

The Impromptu debate was won comfortably S. Thomas' College on a 4 point margin.

However pandemonium prevailed in the prepared debate, with miscommunication about the timing of the debate resulting in a non-event. The Convenor has referred the verdict of this debate to the Chief Adjudicator, Mr. Nishantha De Silva, who is expected to rule on it shortly.

The detailed results of the Impromptu debate are as follows

St. Joseph's College vs S. Thomas' College - 0-3 (STC)

AAIC DC Schools League - Debates 41,42 & 43 - ...and then there were three

The three league debates held last week turned out to be crucial deciders for the teams at the higher end of the table.

In the first of the tussles, Bishop's College concluded their final debate of the season against Methodist College in their 2nd round debate at Kollupitiya. This win made Bishop's College the first qualifier for the Grand Final of the League to be held in early December, with an unsurpassable 9 wins against their name.

Both rounds of debate between St. Joseph's College & Wesley College were also held on the same day. Wesley College beat their hosts in the prepared round by a comfortable margin of 3 points on the topic "THBT China should ratify post Kyoto-Protocol." In the return debate, Wesley College again got the better of their opponents winning the debate by 2 points albeit on a split decision.

The commendable double by Wesley College now puts WC and SJC in close competition for the second spot at the Finale, while champions of the Sri Lanka Schools Debating Championships 2009, S. Thomas' College now find themselves competing for the fourth position (which guarantees automatic qualification for the 2010 edition of the DC Schools Leageu) on the table with Colombo International School, notably the runner up at the same tournament.

The remaining 5 debates would prove crucial to all the aforesaid teams as they battle to secure their respective positions in the competition.

The detailed results of the previous week's debates are as follows

Methodist College vs Bishop's College - 0-3 (BC)
St. Joseph's College vs Wesley College - 0-3 (WC)
Wesley College vs St. Joseph's College - 2-1 (WC)

Lilian Nixon Challenge Shield 2009 - S. Thomas' retain honors

The Lilian Nixon Challenge Shield 2009, organized by Ladies' College was worked off on the 17th of October 2009.

The tournament, which took place over 2 days saw the participation of 20 teams from DC member and non-member schools and exhibited keen competition amongst the participants.

After 5 rounds of debate, S. Thomas' College (the defending champions) and Wesley College were pitted against each other in the Grand Final debate on the 18th of October 2009. At the conclusion of a close debate, STC emerged victors yet again.

David Rajasingham from S. Thomas' College was recognized as the most outstanding speaker of the competition.

The other teams breaking into the Quarter Finals were as follows.

Colombo International School - Semi Finalist
Visakha Vidyalaya - Semi Finalist
Royal College
St. Joseph's College "B"
Ananda College
Methodist College

Ladies' College is a full member school of the Debaters' Council and the tournament was endorsed by the Council.

We wish to congratulate Ladies' College on a successfully organized competition

AAIC DC Schools League - Updated points table

With the inaugural Asian Alliance Insurance DC Schools League moving into its latter stages, the 40 debates thus far seen have yielded many keen tussles, upsets and vast improvements.

However, with the exit of Royal College from the tournament, only 8 more debates remain in the competition. Nonetheless, we are no closer to determining who the finalists will be with 4 of the remaining 7 teams in with the statistical chance of qualifying for the same.

Bishop's College remains at the top of the table with 8 wins out of 11 debates. St. Joseph's College and Wesley College have both enjoyed commendable winning streaks over the last 6 weeks and have moved up the rankings and now threaten to overtake Bishop's College.

It must be remembered that the 4 top teams will automatically qualify for next year's league while the others will be relegated to compete amongst other teams at next year's Sri Lanka Schools Debating Championship to qualify yet again.

AAIC DC Schools League - Debates 39 & 40 - SJC have field day

St. Joseph's College ran through Colombo International School at two separate debates held on Saturday at Maradana.

The hosts, proposing in the 1st round debate, beat the visitors in an extremely hard fought contest. The 2nd round debate however yielded better results for St. Joseph's, with the team beating their opponents by a comfortable 6 point margin.

The detailed results of the debates are as follows:

St. Joseph's College vs Colombo International School - 3-0 (SJC)
Colombo International School vs St. Joseph's College - 0-3 (SJC)

AAIC DC Schools League - Royal bow out

The Convenor of the Asian Alliance Insurance DC Schools League hereby informs that Royal College has been disqualified from the tournament over providing more than the allowed 2 walkovers per team.

All other participating teams are advised that the points table will be adjusted to reflect the position that Royal College never took part in the tournament. As such all points earned (or lost) against the school at debates will be forefeited.