This is yet another success for St. Catherine's younger speakers, after dominating the International Competition for Young Debaters regional preliminaries in Athens. The school seems quite capable of keeping up its excellent results, which include outstanding displays at the Forensics tournaments and winning finals and Best Speaker trophies at the Deree Invitational tournaments.

The Durham Schools tournament is one of the most prestigious events in the British circuit. The pre-released motion was that This House would reform the Gender Recognition Act to allow all individuals to self-certify their gender and the CA was ex-Durham debater, Colletta Smith, a former EUDC Grand Final judge and EUDC semi-finalist and top 10 speaker.

The overall tournament winners were Cheney A (Emily Fernandes and Elizabeth Romanis), while the best speaker on the tab was Matthew Handley (SFX A). For the final tab of the event, click here.

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The Panhellenic Forensics Association Tournament kicks off on Thursday night at Mandoulides. As the largest schools event that has been running for decades, it brings together students from private high schools in Athens and Thessaloniki. It features a World Schools debating tournament, Comic and Dramatic Duet Acting competitions as well as individual events (Impromptu speaking, Group Discussion, Oratory speaking and Oral Interpretation of Literature). Last year, the tournament attracted 400 students from 17 schools. For more information regarding the PFA and the participating schools, click through to our Schools page.

A few kilometers away and in the heart of Thessaloniki, the Aristotle University debating club is hosting their 6th Panhellenic Debating Championships from Friday to Sunday. The event, which was the first debating tournament for University students in the Greek language, attracts students from the Universities of Athens, Patras and Thessaloniki, as well as the National Technical University of Athens and the Athens University of Economics and Business. For more information visit their Facebook page.

Also, if you speak Greek, there's an article featured in the Vima newspaper written by debating alumna Ellie Ismailidou. We'll keep you posted on the results and motions from both tournaments. 

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The tryouts for the 2011 Greek National Schools team took place at the Hellenic-American Educational Foundation (HAEF) in Athens. All 13 students from the development team took part in what was a very competitive day-long session. After a long discussion, the WSDC Committee decided that the 5 team members and the 3 alternates are the following:

WSDC 2011 Team Greece

• Katerina Bodouroglou (Geitonas School)
• Alex Evans (HAEF)
• Nicholas Platias (HAEF)
• Nicolas Sarris (St Catherine's British Embassy School)
• Konstantinos Tarabanis (Anatolia College)

Alternates

• Amaryllis Bernitsa (HAEF)
• Daphne Lambadarios (St Catherine's British Embassy School)
• Amy Naughton Rumbo (St Lawrence College)

The WSDC Committee would like to thank HAEF for providing the venue, as well as valuable logistical support to the Schools team throughout the year.

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ESDC_2011_Team_Tab.pdf Download this file

ESDC_2011_Speaker_Tab.pdf Download this file

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Team Para and the Girl (John Paradeisiadis and Marilia Gougoulakis) from the Hellenic-American Educational Foundation won this year's Moraitis School Cup. Nicholas Platias from the same school and Nick Sarris from St. Catherine's British Embassy School were tied for the tournament's best speaker prize. The 6th Graders competition was won by Ekpedeftiki Anagenissi's The Eagles.

Motions:

R1: THB Greece should not participate in the 2012 Olympics unless the Elgin marbles are returned
R2: THBT all EU countries should have a common currency
R3: THB the state should no longer pay the medical fees for those living unhealthy lives
R4: THW compensate Guatanamo Bay detainees
Semi-final: THB governments have the right to censor what is published on the internet
Final: THW end all private political donations

The Final:

OG: HAEF A
OO: Lulu and the G-Master (HAEF)
CG: Para and the Girl (HAEF) wins unanimously
CO: Nata (Moraitis) 

 

Moraitis_2011_tab.pdf Download this file

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The two teams that will represent Greece in the International Competition for Young Debaters international final that will be hosted by the Cambridge Union Society this May will be St. Lawrence College A (Despina Karvounis and Arietta Valmas) and St. Catherine's British Embassy School B (Shlip Ronvelwala and Jason Pelecanos) which ranked as the top two teams at the final of today's Greek preliminaries.

The final was chaired by Lauren Obee of the Cambridge Union Society, the Convenor of this year's ICYD. A total of 16 teams participated in the tournament representing 4 schools that also included the Hellenic-American Educational Foundation and Ekpaideftiki Anagenissi. The tournament was hosted by the Deree Debating Club.

We wish our teams good luck for the finals!

Motions

Round 1: THBT military service should not be compulsory
Round 2: THBT high schools should block access to Facebook
Round 3: THW ban all strikes in times of economic crisis
Round 4: THBT citizens should have the right to bear arms
Final: THW build fences to prevent immigrants from entering the country

The Final

Opening Government:
St. Catherine's British Embassy School B (Shlip Ronvelwala and Jason Pelecanos)
Opening Opposition:
St. Catherine's British Embassy School D (Harry Drake and Alberto Polimeni)
Closing Government:
St. Catherine's British Embassy School C (Shajan Ronvelwala and Jason Palmer)
Closing Opposition:
St. Lawrence College A (Despina Karvounis and Arietta Valmas)

Judges: Lauren Obee (Chair), Manos Moschopoulos, Eirini Damianaki, Alex Stratis, Zenon Zambacides, Ada Tsouli, Arina Voytenko

Opening Government and Closing Opposition unanimously proceed to the International Final. 

Tabs

ICYD-greece11.pdf Download this file

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The adjudication team features Maja Cimerman (EUDC ESL Champion, WUDC ESL finalist), Manos Moschopoulos (WUDC ESL Best Speaker, EUDC ESL finalist), Milan Vignjevic (WUDC/EUDC ESL Quarter-finalist), Steven Nolan (DCA EUDC 2011, EUDC finalist) and Yoni Cohen-Idov (DCA EUDC 2011, WUDC ESL Champion, EUDC finalist).

For this year, participants will be staying at a four star hotel in central Athens, with easy access to the Acropolis, our traditional downtown area and all the other sights that our city is famous for.

For more information click through to http://open.debating.gr - or like the Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/athop11 :)

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The 2nd Moraitis School Cup is taking place on Friday, January 21st, and Saturday, January 22nd, 2011. The tournament will be held in the British Parliamentary format and is open to high school students.

One of the features of the Cup is the 6th-graders competition which features two separate rounds for students of the last year of the primary school system (or equivalent). Topics for that branch of the competition will be pre-announced to assist the students in preparing.

The tournament is led by John Vlastaras, head coach of the Moraitis School and former advisor of the Deree Debating Club.

In order to register, send an e-mail to forensics@moraitis-school.com to or a fax to 210- 6795090, attention Forensics Club, by January 14, 2011. The n-2 rule is in effect, so institutions are required to have 1 judge per 3 teams, 2 judges per 4 teams etc present at all rounds. Registration is €25 per team.

moraitis_invite_2011.pdf Download this file

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To request membership, go to https://groups.google.com/group/greekdebate/ 

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The round will be hosted at Deree's Aghia Paraskevi Campus on January 15, 2011. The other international rounds are held in Canada, Korea and Ireland. The qualifying teams will join those from the competitions in Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, St. Andrews and Warwick in the finals day hosted by the Cambridge Union Society on May 7.

Find out more about the ICYD at their website at icyd.cus.org.

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The competition featured speakers and adjudicators representing hosts Athens University of Economics and Business, the University of Athens, the University of Patras, the National Technical University of Athens, the Agricultural University of Athens and the Deree Debating Club.

AUEB is one of the two institutions to host British Parliamentary tournaments in Greek - the other one being the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The previous tournaments organized by the AUEB debating society include three two-day Panhellenic Championships and another one-day open hosted last spring.

The motions were:

R1: THW scrap public broadcasters
Η Βουλή θα καταργήσει τη δημόσια ραδιοτηλεόραση
R2: THBT the Greek bail-out should be subjected to a referendum
Η Βουλή πιστεύει ότι το μνημόνιο οικονομικής στήριξης της Ελλάδος πρέπει να επικυρωθεί από δημοψήφισμα 
R3: TH blew the whistle and you were finished (open motion)
Η Βουλή σφύριξε και έληξες
R4: THW criminalize irredentist rhetoric
Η Βουλή θα ποινικοποιήσει την αλυτρωτική ρητορική
Final: THBT NATO should immediately perform a military intervention in North Korea
Η Βουλή πιστεύει ότι το ΝΑΤΟ πρέπει άμεσα να επέμβει στρατιωτικά στην Βόρειο Κορέα 

The results are available at https://sites.google.com/site/aueb2m/home

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Sophia Simunec, UCU Open 2010 semi-finalist, won the best speaker award for the Deree Debating Club. Stelios Charitopoulos, of the Moraitis School, won the novice speaker award, given to competitors that have never participated in another BP or World Schools tournament before. The organizers also awarded Chris Koutras, of the American College of Greece, for his service as an organizer and university administrator to the Debating Club.

The tournament, which featured 62 teams, was the largest BP competition in Greece to date. The teams came from private high schools in Athens and Thessaloniki, the Athens University of Economics and Business, the University of Patra and the host Deree Debating Club.

The tournament motions and the videos used in order to present them were:

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The AUEB Debating Society is hosting a one-day open tournament at the Athens University of Economics and Business in downtown Athens on November 27. The language of the tournament is Greek.

For more information contact the Society at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57239941447

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The Deree Debating Club hosts the 40th edition of its flagship debating event this November. The tournament is essentially a mixed-level open, with high school and university students and alumni eligible to compete. The tournament is expected to attract over 60 teams from schools and faculties in Athens, Patra and Thessaloniki.

The CA team is:

• Eirini Damianaki, DDC President, ESU European Parliament IV finalist
• Manos Moschopoulos, Best ESL Speaker, WUDC 2010, EUDC 2010 ESL finalist
• Petros Papalianos, Serbia SDC 2010 Finalist, Istanbul 2005 & 2010 Semifinalist

The tournament will be held from Friday, November 19 at 17:00 to Saturday, November 20 at 21:00. In order to register, send ddcinvitational@gmail.com an e-mail - because the registration deadline has passed, participants now will have to pay the increased reg fee of 40 euros/team. Judges do not have to pay a registration fee.

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The tournament was eventually won by Jens Fischer (Germany) and Anne Valkering (Netherlands), while the best speaker on the tab was Sam Block (UK).

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