Register 2024

Welcome to the registration page for ASD for 2024. This page contains the links to the relevant registrations forms as well as some important information to assist you with registering teams in 2024.

Key Dates

Registration Deadlines

• Teacher in Charge Confirmation Form – Wednesday 28 February
• Seasonals Championship Registration Form – Monday 4 March
• Premier Grade Registration Form – Monday 11 March
• Open Grade Registration Form – Friday 15 March

Tournaments

• Counties Manukau Regionals – Saturday 24 February
• Seasonals – Sunday 10 March
• Auckland Regionals – Saturday 23 March and Sunday 24 March

Teacher in Charge Confirmation Form

This Teacher in Charge (TIC/key contact person) form is to confirm who will be your school’s TIC debating as well as to gauge interest in competitions and tournaments in 2024. This form will only take 2-3 minutes to complete and should be completed by Wednesday 28 February.

ASD 2024 Registration Forms

The registration forms for Auckland Schools Debating 2024 are linked below. These forms should be filled out by the Teacher in Charge of debating at each school by Monday 11 March for Premier Grades, and Friday 15 March for Open Grades. If you have any questions please contact info@asd.org.nz or call Celine Goh on 0224466288.

The forms will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. You will require the following information:

• Number of teams you wish to enter in each grade
• Details of the teacher/coach of each team (name, email and mobile number)

You do not need to know the names of the students you are entering yet. Any entries received after the deadline will not guarantee your school the full allocation of teams you wish to enter. If you are not sure of some details (i.e. which teachers will be coaching a grade), please submit the form anyway and email us with the details you need to confirm.

We have asked for cell phone numbers of coaches to assist in contacting teams when their oppositions default the afternoon of a debate.  Please ensure that the cell phone numbers of coaches are given. It is essential throughout the year that we have these so that teams can be contacted when late defaults occur.

Competition Grades

ASD has 5 grades which you can enter students in. The difference between each grade is listed below.

The following may assist with which grades your students should be entering:

• Junior Open:  Year 9 and 10 students with little or no debating experience (Younger students at High Schools or Junior Colleges are welcome if the TIC feels the students are appropriately mature)
• Senior Open:  Year 11 and 12 students with no or some debating experience
• Advanced Open:  Year 12 students who have debated in other ASD grades, and year 13 students with some or no debating experience
• Premier Junior:  Year 10 and 11 students with debating experience (if your team won 3 or more of their Junior Open debates we would encourage them entering this grade)
• Premier Advanced:  Year 12 and 13 students with strong debating experience (teams that have won 3 or more of their Senior Open, Premier Junior, or Advanced Open should strongly consider entering this grade)

Number of Students per Team

• Premier Grades should have between 4-7 members per team. 7 speakers is the maximum. Only 3 students may be in the preparation room for each debate.
• Open Grades should have between 4-7 members per team. 7 speakers is the maximum. 3-5 Students may prepare together, and 3 will deliver the speeches during the debate.

Number of Teams per Teacher/Student

• Teachers or approved students in Junior Open can manage 1 or 2 teams per coach as they need to adjudicate on behalf of the team.
  • Review our Student Coach/Adjudicator policy here
• Teachers in Senior Open can manage 1 or 2 teams per teacher as they need to adjudicate on behalf of the team.
• There are no restrictions on the number of teams teachers in Premier Advanced, Premier Junior and Advanced Open can manage as these grades are adjudicated by ASD external adjudicators.
• Teachers can manage teams in multiple grades.

Entry Fees

Due to increased pressure regarding the sustainability of our ability to continue operating ASD in its current form, we have been required to make increases to our fees for 2024. While entry fees for all grades have increased, the most significant increase in fees has been for Premier Junior and Premier Advanced. These increases reflect the much higher cost to ASD of operating Premier Junior and Premier Advanced relative to our other grades.

As part of our efforts to ensure the future sustainability of ASD, we are working to improve how we operate and administer the competition. Our goal is to ensure that teams receive draws in a timely fashion and that we are able to promptly reply to emails and queries.

As in previous years, we will be offering fee subsidies to schools that need it. Schools can indicate their fee subsidy requests within their ASD registration forms.

Grade Coaching Sessions

In 204 we will be continuing with grade coaching sessions that are run prior to round 1. All sessions will be run via Zoom.  Sessions will incorporate the use of templates and videos and the motion for Round 1 will be announced at the Junior and Senior Open coaching sessions.

• Wednesday 13 March (5:30pm – 7:00pm) – PJ Coaching Session via Zoom
• Tuesday 19 March (5:30pm – 7:00pm) – AO Coaching Session via Zoom
• Monday 25 March (4:30pm – 6:00pm) – JO Coaching Session via Zoom
• Tuesday 19 March (4:30pm – 6:00pm) – SO Coaching Session via Zoom

Adjudication Seminars

Adjudication Seminars for Junior Open and Senior Open will be run online via Zoom in 2023. These sessions are compulsory in order to be an approved adjudicator if you did not attend a session in 2022 or 2023.

• Monday 18 March (5:00pm – 6:30pm) – Zoom
• Tuesday 19 March (5:00pm – 6:30pm) – Zoom
• Wednesday 27 March (5:00pm – 6:30pm) – Zoom

Coaching

ASD has a range of different coaching sessions available. Visit the coaching section of our website for more information.

Catch Up Debates and Defaults

Our policy on Catch-up debates and defaults for Premier Grades remains the same as in 2023. However, we will be trialling

Premier Grades

• All request to defer a debate to a catch up debate must be made 4pm the weekday prior (for Junior Open this will usually be the prior Friday at 4pm).
• Once a catch-up request has been received, that debate will no longer take place. Catch up requests can no longer be withdrawn.
  • If the catch-up request is accepted, the debate will be deferred.
  • If the catch-up request is declined, the team that requested the catch-up debate will be deemed to have defaulted with notice. The team that requested the catch-up debate can not withdraw their request for a catch up.
• Any defaults received after 2pm will be considered a default without notice.
• ASD will place a team’s status in the competition under review if they:
  • Default once without notice
  • Default twice with notice
  • Default once without notice and once with notice
• A team under review will have 72 hours to explain why the default occurred. The committee may remove a team from the competition if the explanation is deemed to be unsatisfactory.
• Any team that defaults twice without notice will be automatically be removed from the competition.