The Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships

On the 20th, 21st and 22nd of September, 6 students from Years 8 and 9 represented Huntingtower in the Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships. The event was hosted by Canberra Girls Grammar School over the course of the three days, with students from numerous states over Australia participating through Zoom. The Huntingtower team consisted of Prisha R, Sophie L, Olivia W, Jade H, Chloe D and Keira L.

Huntingtower was one of the three schools to represent Victoria in the Speakfest competition that was the junior component as part of AIDPSC. The students were entered in four parts of the competition:

Coordinate Debating: A format of debating in which two students from different schools are paired together, and are given the draw 45 minutes prior, to prepare arguments on topics. Students must then speak for 6 minutes in total, with interruptions (POIs) being allowed for this engaging style.

Prepared Speaking: Contenders were allowed to write a persuasive speech up to ten minutes in length on any issue of their choice. This was to be pre-recorded without any cuts and submitted a week before the competition.

Impromptu Speaking: Students are given an individual set of a quote, phrase and word, and they are to speak on one they select for three-to-five minutes live. They are given a strict two-minute preparation time and must not use any notes.

Interpretive Reading: Participants chose a passage or extract from a text to interpretively read, utilising skills of annunciation, pace, varying accents and tone. They were scored based on their ability to capture author's intent, portrayal of characters such as tree monsters, homicidal mothers, billy goats, emotional teenagers, and judged by their written introduction that set up the scene.

Results:

Sophie L ( Year 8 ) won the debating event and came 2nd in the competition’s overall rankings.
Prisha R ( Year 8 ) was runner-up in interpretive reading and persuasive speaking and came 5th overall.
Olivia W ( Year 8 ) finished 4th in persuasive speaking and came 9th overall.
Jade H ( Year 8 ) was runner-up in impromptu speaking.
Keira L ( Year 8 ) finished 3rd in debating.
Chloe D ( Year 9 ) finished 5th in debating.

Prisha R

"During the course of Speakfest, I definitely learnt a lot of new things and witnessed some top-class debating and public speaking. On the Sunday before the competition, I was proposition for both of our practice debates (meaning I was agreeing with whatever the topic was saying), and like the rest of my team, I was hoping to get the same side for the real debates. On the first day, I got proposition and so I was able to use my previous material and improve it for the real debate. On the second day, my luck struck again, and I was able to use my material from the second practice debate! Unfortunately, my luck didn’t exactly last for impromptu rounds, because for both days, I was the very last speaker to speak in my room, which I have to say, was annoying, because it meant I was constantly on edge the whole time for the duration of impromptus. Overall, participating in Speakfest was an awesome experience, and I definitely expanded my knowledge on the world of debating and public speaking, and learnt a lot about myself, my debating style and to be prepared, but also not to always rely too heavily on preparations. At the end of day, you aren’t always going to get the draw you wanted, or the team you hoped to be in, so I think I was just pretty lucky, and participating in this competition really opened my eyes to the different ways there are to be the best advocate for yourself or your team’s case."

Olivia W

"Being a part of the AIDPSC Speakfest competition was a great way for us to break up the never-ending lockdown in September this year. On the first Monday of the holidays, we logged onto Zoom with other students from all across Australia ready to start with our first coordinate debate. What makes this style of debating particularly interesting is the fact that the other member of your team is from another school, meaning you have to deal with not only the stress of draws and debate itself, but also the suspense of wondering who your partner will be. My favourite event that we participated in was the prepared speaking, as I really enjoyed putting together my speech on the sacrificial nature of reality TV. Our third and final day of AIDPSC was made much more dramatic with the edition of a 5.9 magnitude earthquake. It just goes to show that debaters stop for nothing. Not lockdowns, not earthquakes – we always find a way."

Jade H

"Speakfest was a unique and exciting experience. After two weeks of constant preparation for our prepared speeches and interpretive readings, competing in the live competition with other attendees from around the country was very rewarding, albeit quite nerve-wracking at the beginning. I found working with students from other schools and states particularly interesting. For the second debate on the topic of a universal basic income, I was paired with a year 10 student who had a lot of experience. He introduced to me a new economical concept which I was then able to develop into an argument. Not only did I learn something new, but I had an experience of working with and learning from an older student with independent knowledge and experiences. After the debates, we got to talk to our opponents while waiting for the adjudication. Learning how other schools had prepared their students and the different techniques that different students used was very interesting, and something that we don’t normally get to experience from the usual competitions."

Keira L

"Speakfest certainly was an eye-opening and eventful experience for me. Something that I found particularly interesting was how we had to pair up with students from other schools for debating; This added an element of difficulty to the competition. When me and my partner both desperately wanted to be the second speaker, we learnt that debating these things just wastes lots of preparation time, and that a game of rock, paper, scissors can at least settle an argument, although it can’t undo lost time and he need for a frantic scramble to ready arguments for the debate. Through these experiences, Speakfest has taught me to expect the unexpected and to become more adaptable, and despite these challenges, I was able to pull through."

Thank you

Of course, from the 3 weeks before the event and the competition days itself, we couldn’t have done this alone, and this is why we give our thanks to all those who've helped us. The first person who has been there from the start is none other than Mr McDonald. He's put together training sessions, sent links for our research, spent his busy Fridays meeting with all 6 of us individually. Over the course of that month, Mr McDonald was our constant supporter and mentor, tirelessly working to make it a worthwhile experience for us.

Also, the competition itself would not have been the same without the chair people in our rooms helping time keep and chase up on late adjudicators, and definitely would not have been the same without the fill-ins that stepped up for missing debaters. Getting to chat with others all over the country, hearing about the weather in different states, and what school people went to, certainly made our days more interesting. Listening to Mr Marman’s (the host school’s Head of Public Speaking and Debating) amusing conversation and words every morning gave us all good laughs ("I feel as if I'm a duck" is still one of our favourite quotes), and so did the various acronyms for "point of information" we heard in our debates. Overall being able to participate in Speakfest was a truly great opportunity, and it would not have been possible or nearly half as enjoyable without all the people involved. We are so grateful to have been given this opportunity.

Results

No one, both us and Mr McDonald, expected at all to do so well in this competition: we were entered so we could practice our skills as debaters and public speakers and for the experience. We were thrown into this competition a lot later than all the other contestants and prepared for it in a far shorter timeframe. However, we were the second best performing school, and were right on the heels of the winning school! This is a HUGE achievement, given that we were among the youngest in the competition and just there for the practice! All of us finished top ten in at least one event, which is extremely rare, and we dominated the overall rankings! For this being our first time participating, it is an outstanding achievement and one that we are super proud of. A big shout out also goes to Sophie L was awarded the Coordinate Debating Champion of Australia – an amazing accomplishment!

Prisha R

Sophie L

Olivia W

Jade H

Chloe D

Keira L

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