National Schools Debating Championship

The National Schools Debating Championship (NSDC) is the most prestigious high school debating tournament in Australia, and one of the most prestigious debating tournaments in the world. The Championships have been held annually since 1971 and the hosts rotate between states and territories. The championships also double as the selection process for the Australian Schools Debating Team, which compete at the World Schools Debating Championship.[1] NSDC 2025 is set to take place in Sydney, NSW.

Format

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NSDC uses the World Schools Debating Championship format, which is a variation of Australian-Asia Debating and Parliamentary Debate formats. Each state’s and territory’s affiliate body sends one team of 4 high school students, for a total of 8 teams.[2]

The competition starts with 7 preliminary rounds in a single round-robin. The top four teams then progress to the outrounds, with a double elimination for 1st and 2nd and single elimination for 3rd and 4th.

Each debate in the preliminary rounds is judged by 3 adjudicators. The major and minor semi finals have 5 adjudicators; there is 7 adjudicators for the preliminary final and 9 adjudicators for the grand final.[3]

Past champions

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Past Champion States[4]
Year Host City Champions Students
2024 Adelaide Victoria Alice Lieberman, Bianca Chung, Jenny Gong, Nicholas Bogdan
2023 Melbourne South Australia Devika Mukherjee, Max Thomas, Phoebe Chalmers, Thomas Henchliffe
2022 Canberra Queensland Zoë Fraser, Thomas Musgrave, Thomas Nunn-Rutledge, Harry Rae
2021 Hobart Victoria Hamish Bruce, Max Fan, Erin Kim, Livia Tropea
2020 [Online] NSW Brendon Chen, Jinyoung Kim, Ally Pitt, Bennett Roebuck-Krautz
2019 Darwin NSW Laura Charlton, Ally Pitt, James Price, Anna-Sophia Zahar
2018 Perth NSW Alex De Araujo, Indigo Crosweller, Sophie Shead, Daniel Yim
2017 Brisbane NSW Ella Finlay, Isabella Monardo, Elinor Stephenson, Daniel Yim
2016 Sydney Queensland Callum Dargavel, Tristan Hurree, Isabel Nolan, Xavier Redmond
2015 Adelaide NSW Eden Blair, Imogen Harper, Thomas Shortridge, Sam Wolfe
2014 Melbourne NSW Imogen Harper, Sophie Large, Seb Rees, James Stratton
2013 Canberra NSW Gabriel Bowes-Whitton, Fiona Lin, Harry Rogers, James Stratton
2012 Hobart Victoria Tyrone Connell, John Hajek, Annie Williamson, Ronald Zhang
2011 Perth NSW Emma Johnson, Bo Seo, Harry Stratton, Evie Woodford

References

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  1. ^ "About NSDC". The Australian Debating Federation. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  2. ^ "Our Structure". The Australian Debating Federation. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  3. ^ "About NSDC". The Australian Debating Federation. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  4. ^ "History of NSDC". The Australian Debating Federation. Retrieved 2024-08-26.