Welcome to Auckland Schools Debating for 2024. This post concerns the entry process for 2024 as well as other crucial information for the year ahead.
Important Links
Registration Deadlines
- Teacher in Charge Confirmation Form – Due Wednesday 28 February
- Seasonals Championship Registration Form – Due Monday 5 March
- Premier Grade Registration Form – Due Monday 11 March
- Open Grade Registration Form – Due Friday 15 March
Tournament Dates
- Counties Manukau Regionals – Saturday 24 February
- Seasonals – Sunday 10 March
- Auckland Regionals – Saturday 23 March and Sunday 24 March
Changes in 2024
Following feedback and discussions with teachers and coaches during 2023, the committee are proposing the trial of three changes to ASD during 2024
Time Change for Advanced Open, Premier Junior, and Premier Advanced
Debates for Advanced Open, Premier Junior, and Premier Advanced will start 30 minutes earlier (motion announcement at 5:00pm and 6:30pm). This is to allow an earlier end to nights.
Student Adjudication for Senior Open
Schools may nominate a Year 13 student to become an adjudicator for 1 or 2 Senior Open teams. The student must have completed at least 1 year of debating in Premier Advanced or Advanced Open participating in a minimum of 3 debates, or must have been an active member of the 2023 Development Squad.
Delayed Draw Release for Open Grades
During 2023 the Draws for Junior Open, Senior Open, and Advanced Open were released at least one week in advance. In order to reduce the number of teams who miss out on debating due to the default of their opposition, we propose that:
- Teams will be allocated a time slot at least one week prior to the debate. For prepared rounds, teams will also be allocated a side.
- If a team cannot attend a debating round, they can either defer their debate to the catch-up round or default the debate.
- Teams must notify the committee of their intention to defer the debate by 4pm the weekday before the debate. Teams in these grades can only defer one debate per year.
- If a team has already previously deferred a debate, or if notification occurs after 4pm the weekday before the debate, the team will default the round.
- A team must notify the Committee by 12pm on the day of a debate if they must default the debate.
- The Draw for each round will be generated at 12pm on the day of each debate and published on our tabulation website. However, this can be subject to change up until the start of the debate. This Draw will exclude any teams which have already deferred or defaulted the round.
- If there is an uneven number of teams available, one team will win the round by default, and be notified that they are not required to attend the debate. If the team is already en route to the debate, the committee can organise for the team to receive feedback on a practice debate case.
- No change will be made at this stage to the way the draw is generated for Premier grades.
ASD welcomes feedback on these proposed changes to be emailed to us at info@asd.org.nz prior to Friday 16 February.
