Team Hong Kong has returned from the World Individuals Debating and Public Speaking Championship (WIDPSC) 2025, following a week of intense competition between March 30th and April 6th in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A hearty congratulations to the competitors for valiantly and eloquently representing Hong Kong through eight rounds of preliminaries, two flights of semi finals, finals, and a Grand Finals, with numerous category breaks and finalists, a grand finalist and a overall top speaker. The team’s achievements are as follows:
- SHK01 Benjamin Wu – Diocesan Boys’ School
- SHK02 Andrea Chow – Renaissance College Hong Kong
- Finalist – Parliamentary Debating
- Semifinalist – Persuasive Speaking
- SHK05 Jayden Chow – St. Paul’s Co-educational College
- Semifinalist – After Dinner Speaking
- SHK06 Kaitlyn Liu – Chinese International School
- Semifinalist – Interpretive Reading
- SHK07 Marcus Lau – Diocesan Boys’ School
- Semifinalist – Parliamentary Debating
- SHK08 Jean Hu – Hong Kong International School
- Finalist – Interpretive Reading
- SHK09 Megan Wong – Diocesan Girls’ School
- Finalist – Interpretive Reading
- Finalist – After Dinner Speaking
- Overall Top Speaker – 20th
- SHK10 Lilly Larard – Chinese International School
- Finalist – Interpretive Reading
- SHK11 Max Lee – Diocesan Boys’ School
- Semifinalist – Parliamentary Debating
- SHK12 Joy Wan – Diocesan Girls’ School
- Finalist – Persuasive Speaking
- SHK13 Evan Chow – Diocesan Boys’ School
- Finalist – Interpretive Reading
- Grand Finalist and 2nd Runner Up – Persuasive Speaking
- Semifinalist – Impromptu
- SHK14 Cynthia Or – St. Paul’s Co-educational College
Thanks must be given to the Hong Kong Debate and Speech Community (HKDSC) for logistics support with the Open Trials, and to the coaches who held weekly trainings – Ms Joan Cho, Ms Lilian Chow, Mr Allen Ng, Chloe Yeung, Joseph Lim, Adam Pei, Adele Li, Anston Yu, Athena Shen, Callum MacBeam, Eric Wu, Mark Lee, Tingting Zhang, Vijay Narayanan, and Garrett Mak. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to the four parent chaperones, Ada, David, Ella, and Thomas for their endless support for our students before and during the trip.
Finally, and most importantly, thanks must go to Mr Michael Hauge and the Learning Leaders Academy, for hosting WIDPSC 2025 allowing the 12 students from Hong Kong to have the experience of a lifetime. We can’t wait to be back again next year!
