Vic has come out victorious at the NZ Open British Parliamentary Champs from the 20 – 22 November.

The team ‘Two men and one moral high horse’ of Udayan Mukherjee and Paul Smith won the Grand Final in Parliament’s Legislative Council Chambers from closing opposition on the motion This House would ban criminals from publishing accounts of their crimes.

Many thanks go to Gareth Richards, the Chief Adjudicator, and to Sarah Wislon, Nigel Smith, and Alex Sinclair for their work as co-conveners.

The full results are:

Winners: Udayan Mukherjee, Paul Smith
Grand Finalists: Polly Higbee, Stephen Whittington
Semi Finalists:

• Kathy Scott-Dowell, Richard D’Ath;
• Josh Cameron, Holly Jenkins;
• Jono Orpin, Ellen Thomson (Composite)

Most Promising Speaker: Ellen Thomson
Top 10 Speakers:

• Stephen Whittington (2nd)
• Polly Higbee (3rd)
• Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna (4th)
• Josh Cameron (5th =)
• Richard D’Ath (5th =)
• Hugh McCaffrey (9th =)

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Hello all,

Hope exams are going swimmingly. Below is some info about the women’s mini day in this year’s BP Champs. Teams wanting to enter should email pollyhigbee@gmail.com by 13th November. It should be an excellent day.

Women’s BP mini day – 20 November

What:

A series of practice debates for female debaters before the New Zealand British Parliamentary Debating Championships. Please bring $5 in cash for lunch.

Who:

Teams of two female debaters. Debaters are encouraged to attend in ‘pro-am’ pairs (i.e. a more experienced debater debates with a novice debater) however this is not mandatory. Debating teams can be made up of any student/non-student combination from any university whether in New Zealand or outside of New Zealand. If you are interested in debating but do not have a teammate please email pollyhigbee@gmail.com.

When:

20^th November 2009 – 9am to 4.30pm

Where:

Student Union Building, Kelburn Campus, Victoria University of Wellington

Format:

The debates will be held in the British Parliamentary Debating style, with four teams of two facing off against each other in the positions of Opening Government, Opening Opposition, Closing Government, and Closing Opposition.

Schedule:

9am Welcome and roll call

9.15am Seminar on the Worlds style

9.45am Topic for Round One announced

10.00am Round One begins

11.30am Round Two topic announced

1.00pm Lunch

2.00pm Topic for Round Three announced

2.15pm Round Three

4.00pm wrap up

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Vic made it 3 from 3 in domestic tournaments this year, absolutely dominating the NZ British Parliamentary Open Debating Champs held over the weekend.Victoria Eight (Stephen Whittington and Polly Higbee) won the tournament, defeating Sydney University (Julia Fetherston and Tim Mooney) and two other Vic teams (Richard D’Ath and Kathy Errington, and Udayan Mukherjee and Paul Smith) in the Grand Final at Parliament.Vic also had two other teams in the semis – Victoria Four (Hugh McCaffrey and Yogesh Patel), and Victoria Five (Kathy Scott-Dowell and Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna).Vic provided five of the top eight teams, and six of the top ten speakers. Ella Edginton was named the top novice speaker.Many, many thanks go to a number of people. Kathy Scott-Dowell and Sarah Wilson co-convened the biggest BP yet, which ran well to time; had some great food provided; and boasted some great social events. Chris Bishop and Gareth Richards ran an excellent competition and tab as the co-CAs – with everyone learning a lot. And finally Chris Foulkes and Ellen Thomson were legends helping out generally with a lot of things.Well done to all who competed and thanks to all judges! 

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This Business Round Table sponsored competition runs from the 28th – 30th Novemeber, so everyone should make themselves free that weekend! The key to this tournament is that it’s open, so anyone can enter, and there is a huge focus on improving people’s BP and giving everyone exposure to some the world’s top debaters and adjudicators.

There’s a lot to take in below so the basics are:

1) Great quality judges

2) Fantastic social events

3) Sign up to victoriaintervarsity@gmail.com with debaters’ names, team name, indication of novices, dietary requirements

4) It’s open – anyone can go – and registration is $55

What does this BP Championship boast?

- Co-Chief Adjudicator: Chris Bishop (2x Worlds octo-finalist, Australs runner-up, Cambridge IV winner, 3x Vic IV winner)

- Co-Chief Adjudicator: Gareth Richards (2x Worlds octo-finalist, Australs Quarter-finalist, 2x Vic IV winner)

- Adjucicators: Ivan Ah Sam (2009 Worlds DCA), Erin O’Brien (2009 Worlds DCA), Joe Connel, Jonathan Orpin, Michael Mabbett, Eleanor Bishop and other very high quality judges

- Co-Convenors Kathy Scott-Dowell and Sarah Wilson, assisted by Ellen Thomson

Timetable

- Friday 28th - Opening night drinks (General Practitioner Bar from .c. 7pm)

- Sat 29th:

- Four rounds of debating at the VUW Kelburn Campus

- Lunch (provided)

- 3 course dinner (Cafe Istanbul at 8:30 – free corkage)

- Sun 30th:

- Two final preliminary rounds at the VUW Kelburn Campus

- Brunch (provided)

- Semi-finals

- Grand Final (4:30pm, Legislative Council Chambers hosted by Christopher Finlayson MP)

- Post-Final function (Backbencher Pub)

- Post-Function party

What do you need to do?

- Sign up!

- It’s open, so anyone can go, whether a student or not.

- Registration is $55, or $25 if you want to opt out of the Saturday dinner (my advise – don’t).

- Email victoriaintervarsity@gmail.com with 1) Your name and a partner’s; 2) your team name; 3) whether either of you is a novice (never been to Worlds or a Victoria IV); 4) any dietary requirements.

- Registration closes on Mon 24th Nov, but email asap if you can.

- If you don’t have a partner, send in an email anyway and we’ll help match people up.

- Note that this tournament uses the Worlds rules, and so topics will not be based in NZ – so study up on the world that we live in!

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The British Parliamentary style tournament is always in Wellington (at Pipitea this year) and this year looks like being even bigger than last year’s record size. The great thing about this competition is that it’s open entry – so anyone can enter and there are no trials and everyone can make the most of it. So get in touch with someone you’d like to debate with and get start befriending them. More details are still coming out on this but there is a lot of confirmed sponsorship – which means some great bar tabs and food over the weekend, as well as a nicely priced registration fee at around $50 (TBC) which will cover many lunches and dinners. In terms of what you’ll learn – there look like being some spectacular adjudicators and debaters coming over from the world beyond our shores, and this competition is always a great chance to learn a lot in a very short ammount of time.

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The New Zealand Open BP Champs (Vic IV) will be hosted at the end of the second trimester, in November as per usual. Check this section out later in the year for all the updates and make sure you get a team together for the second trimester’s BP Grade to get a good few practice debates in.

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