Author: adminhkdsc

Dear Hong Kong Debating and Public Speaking Community,

Senior SDC is returning in October! Here are the key details:

Team Registration Form: https://forms.gle/QSESwnq3DzLZG9rt7

Registration deadline: 18 September 23:59 (All times in UTC +8) 

Date: 8 October 08:00-18:30 (preliminary rounds); 9 October 09:00-17:00 (break rounds). 

Venue: Online. 

Cost: HKD 400 per team.

Eligibility: 3-5 members per team; Forms 4-6 / Years 10-13 / Grades 10-12.

Adjudicators: Each team must provide at least one adjudicator. A second team must be accompanied by a second adjudicator.

Team cap: 24 teams.

Format: WSDC – 8-minute main speech with points of information, 4-minute replies.

Draw: R1 random; R2-4 power-paired; QF-GF folded knockout draw.

Awards: Top Ten Speaker awards (debaters contesting 3 or more prelim debates are eligible); Top 8 teams break to Quarterfinals. Priority for second teams will go to previously underrepresented schools.

Schedule

Day 1

08:00 – 08:15:               Registration and roll-call

08:15 – 08:45:               Tournament briefing

08:45 – 10:25:               Round 1 prepared debate + feedback

10:25 – 10:40:               Break

10:40 – 10:55:               Prep time for round 2 semi-prepared debate

10:55 – 12:35:               Round 2 semi-prepared debate + feedback

12:35 – 13:15:               Lunch break

13:15 – 13:30:               Prep time for round 3 semi-prepared debate

13:30 – 15:10:               Round 3 semi-prepared debate + feedback

15:10 – 15:25:               Break

15:25 – 16:10:               Prep time for round 4 impromptu debate

16:10 – 17:40:               Round 4 impromptu debate (silent round)

17:40 – 18:00:               Tabulation of results

18:00 – 18:30:               Break announcement, prizes for top speakers

Day 2

09:15 – 09:30:               Registration and roll-call

09:30 – 11:00:               Quarter-final prepared debate

11:00 – 11:30:               Announcement of QF results and feedback

11:30 – 12:15:               Prep time for Semi-final impromptu debate

12:15 – 13:45:               Semi-final impromptu debate

13:45 – 14:15:               Announcement of SF results and feedback

14:15 – 15:00:               Prep time for grand-final impromptu debate

15:00 – 16:30:               Grand-final impromptu debate

16:30 – 17:00:               Announcement of GF result and prize presentation

*Note that GF is now impromptu instead of semi-prepared, preparation time will be amended to 45 minutes

For more information and any enquiries, please contact us at info@hkdsc.org. We look forward to seeing your teams and judges at SDC 2022!

Making history for our city, the Hong Kong team has taken home the champion at WSDC 2022, for the first time since the championship’s inception 35 years ago. This year, the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) was held online between 8th to 18th of August, 2022. A total of 66 countries participated, competing live through Zoom in the Eastern and Western divisions divided by time-zones.

In the preliminary rounds, Hong Kong team faced the following teams: 

Vietnam

UAE

Indonesia

Malaysia

China

Sri Lanka

Singapore

Bangladesh

Hong Kong won 22 out of 24 possible ballots, with the highest score of both divisions. Breaking first, Hong Kong then went to face Pakistan in the Octo-Finals, Ireland in the Quarter-Finals, Singapore in the Semi-Finals, before facing China in the Grand Finals for the second time in a row.

In the end, Hong Kong brought it home with a 9-0 win. In addition, four speakers ranked in the Top 10, with Madeleine Wu at 2nd place, Dhruv Leekha at 3rd place, Chloe Tse at 4th place and Jenny Kim at 6th place.

The stunning results could not have been achieved without the unparalleled dedication of coach Harish Natarajan, who has been with the Hong Kong team for the past two years. This year’s coaching team also included Jason Xiao and Janko Djordjevic, whose efforts the team could not have done without.

For further information on the Netherlands WSDC 2022, please visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wsdc2022/

Congratulations once again to the team for their unprecedented achievement, and thanks to all involved for their incredibly hard work over the course of the past academic year!

Flashpoint 2022 has come to a close!

In the two weeks spanning from July 18th-29th, the annual summer debating workshop was held to much success. The event saw a turnout of 90 participants across six different skill groups, where experienced trainers provided catered lesson plans and personalized training.

A huge thank you to all our trainers, exco members, and participants for joining us, and we hope to see you again next year!

For WIDPSC 2022 (World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship), which was held online by The Country Day School, Hong Kong sent a delegation of 12 students. At the Grand Finals held on April 17 (Sun), Nicholas Chung made a speech that outlines how we face death and terminal patient care; in the end, this heartfelt piece won Hong Kong the Champion in the Persuasive Speaking category, for the first time since Heather Pickerell in 2011.

GRAND FINALS VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/LXgx7e7EebQ?t=1135

Among 115 contestants from 13 countries, we had 9 students ranking in Top 35:

33rd – Charlie Lam (Island School)

33rd – Nicholas Chung (Diocesan Boys’ School)

31st – Hilary Lau (Diocesan Girls’ School)

25th – Peony Sham (Sha Tin College)

16th – Maria Katrina Flauta (Renaissance College Hong Kong)

10th – Lauren Ing (Chinese International School)

7th – Christine Lam (Hong Kong International School)

5th – Megan Chan (Renaissance College Hong Kong)

4th – Mark Lee (Diocesan Boys’ School)

The rank of 4th overall was also the highest rank achieved by a Hong Kong student since Madhav Menon in 2013. During Finals rounds on April 9-10, the team broke into 15 positions across all five categories, representing our city in public speaking — speeches both humorous and serious, dramatic prose reading and vigorous debating.

This has been the first year when EVERYTHING from the Trials to the competition had been held online without a single offline training, yet this team braved these circumstances to create the best results in recent years. Besides applauding their diligence in training every Sunday between the January trials and April competitions, we must also extend our thanks to the larger coaching team this year – Joan Cho, Lilian Chow, My Thanh Mac, Leo Zen, Kenneth Chan and our alumni Markandeya Karthik and Chloe Yeung.

In researching for this blurb, one looks back at the heydays of the early 2010s, when Hong Kong students were displaying their talent and verve at WIDPSC in similar capacity. Without the foundation built by the stalwart coaches and members back then, we would not be here. We take the results of today humbly and will continue to provide opportunities for youngsters of our city to speak on the international stage.

Much thanks must finally go to the gracious hosts at CDS, Ms Kerstin Wyndham West and Ms Tracey Scott, for making this tournament possible.

Sincerely,

Coaches of WIDPSC Hong Kong team

Dear All,

We are excited to announce that the annual Junior Individual Public Speaking Championships is scheduled to be a remote event on 30 April (Saturday). Please read on for further details of the format and registration logistics.

As in past years, there are three compulsory categories, namely Persuasive Speaking, Interpretive Reading and Impromptu Speaking. Persuasive Speaking and Interpretive Reading will be done and submitted as taped videos uploaded — as unlisted videos — onto YouTube from 15 to 17 April 2022 (Sunday), whereas the last category will be conducted live on Zoom on 30 April 2022 (Saturday). Please refer to the attached slides for the exact time limits and rules of each category. More details about the video submission process and a technical guide will be released in due course.

Each school can enrol six junior students maximum. Students up to current Secondary 3/ Year 10/Grade 9 are eligible for Junior competitions. Each school is also expected to supply one adjudicator for every three nominated students (in other words, two adjudicators for sending four, five or six students) to judge the taped videos and the live impromptu rounds. Please note that for junior competitions, senior students can be registered to judge. More guidelines on the judging criteria and approaches will be sent out after the registration period ends. A registration fee of HKD50 per student is applicable to facilitate the running of the tournament.

Please fill in the Google Form by 1 April, 2022 (Friday) for registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFadSCVPfUHbzHFOvFWxcESe-nI0YBHCBLOHQHhdzzCcCw2A/viewform?usp=sf_link

The important dates are as follows:

1 April 2022 (Fri): Registration deadline

15 April – 17 April: Submission of taped videos of Persuasive Speaking and Interpretive Reading on YouTube

20 April – 27 April: Judging period

27 April (Wed): Return of the ballots from judges through google form

30 April (Sat): Live Impromptu Speaking preliminary rounds + Finals

The following is the tentative schedule of the competition day on 30 April (Saturday).

9:00 – 9:30 – Registration

9:30 – 11:00 – Live Impromptu Speaking Preliminary Rounds on Zoom

11:00 – 11:30 – Break

11:30 – 14:00 – Finals (Top three in all three categories will perform live)

14:00 – 15:00 – Announcement of Results

Thank you for your attention. We highly look forward to your participation so we can continue to nurture young public speaking talent in Hong Kong.

Best regards,

Coaches for WIDPSC Team Hong Kong

Junior WIDPSC Pamphlet 2022: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yxq4ekq6BhiudZXCp9RuYayO7E_j5sL7-OTJ9jYdlnE/edit?usp=sharing