Author: brianyswong

The non-profit 19th HKPDS Summer Workshop and Tournament 2023 is back as an in-person event at the Hong Kong Baptist University Affiliated School Wong Kam Fai Secondary from 13th to 19th August 2023. This event prioritises Hong Kong high school and university students and up to 40% of the estimated 120 places will be allotted at a discounted registration fee of HKD2350.

Besides being an established event founded in 2005 known for its educational value and efficiency, this year’s Trainers will include the first Asian World Champion of the Madrid World Universities Debating Championships 2023.

Register now as a trainee:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=123168377402114&id=100091268574707&mibextid=Nif5oz

@Loke Wing Fatt

Executive Director/Chief Trainer

@19th HKPDS Summer Workshop and Tournament 2023

Job Title: Secretary, Hong Kong Debate and Speech Community

Reports To: Chairman, Board of Directors

Job Overview: You will be responsible for managing communications and publicity for the HKDSC’s competitions and other events; monitoring emails and social media pages, and providing ad-hoc assistance in other areas when needed.

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Managing sign-ups, draws and email communications with judges, speakers and coaches in the run-up and follow-up to 5-6 competitions throughout the academic year;
• Tracking payment information, handling receipts and invoices regarding registration fees;
• Writing and posting tournament updates for social media accounts and website;
• If possible, tabbing for certain tournaments when needed.

We are looking for a team member who has:

• Good understanding (and preferably at least some experience) of the debate and public speaking circuit in Hong Kong, including participation in or organization of tournaments
• A keen eye for detail
• Efficiency, self-motivation, enthusiasm and drive
• Good command of English, and ability to write in accessible language for social media
• Ability to navigate and manage online databases and information systems (e.g. Gmail, Google Drive, Facebook Suite, WordPress)
• Demonstrable commitment to meeting deadlines

Remuneration:

• HKD$150 / hour
• A tentative cap of 40 hours per month

To apply, please fill out this application form: https://forms.gle/BqHD8HdJcUa8QbmY7

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 15 AUGUST 2022 11:59PM HKT.

https://docs.google.com/…/1zwTdNdZRldQAnI0jFXpW…/edit…

FLASHPOINT 2022 SIGN UPS ARE OPEN!

Flashpoint is an annual debate workshop designed for up-and-coming secondary school debaters. This is an excellent opportunity to learn from and be coached by passionate and talented student debaters in Hong Kong!

We’ll be hosting the workshop over Zoom on July 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, and 29 from 3:30-6:00pm.

Registrations close on June 19th! Click here to sign up or learn more. 

Two Hong Kong teams were amongst the 140 that participated at the International World Schools Debate Tournament, Ljutomer. Alexandra Uy-Tioco, Jenny Kim, Nicole Wong, and Rachel Lang were the top ranked team after the preliminary rounds, and reached the Quarter Finals of the competition. Chloe Tse, Dhuv Leekha, Madeleine Wu, along with Navia Zhang and Yui Kurosawa, were the fifth ranked team after the preliminary rounds – and went on the win the competition.

Congratulations!

Happy Lunar New Year! Here is a friendly reminder that the JSDC 2022 registration deadline is 14 Feb 2022.

To register, please click on the following link:

https://forms.gle/EPWTr8sYr5LkCFQi8

For more information and any enquiries, please contact us at info@hkdsc.org. Thank you!

Dear Hong Kong Debating and Public Speaking Community,

We are delighted to announce that registration for Junior SDC 2022 is now open, kicking off a school year filled with some amazing debating and public speaking events. Here are the key details of the tournament and registration:

Team Registration Form: https://forms.gle/EPWTr8sYr5LkCFQi8 

Dates: 19 March 2022, 08:00 – 17:30 (preliminary rounds); 20 March 2022, 09:15 – 15:20 (break rounds)

Venue: Online.

Cost: HKD300 per team.

Eligibility: 3-5 members per team; Form 1-3 / Year 7-10 / Grade 6-9

Team cap: 32 teams (one team per school – second teams are not guaranteed; priority for second teams will go to previously underrepresented schools)

Format: WSDC – 6-minute main speech with points of information, 3-minute reply speeches

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

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

Awards: Top 10 Speaker Awards (debaters speaking in 3 or more preliminary rounds are eligible); Top 8 teams break to quarter-final

Registration Deadline: 14 February 2022.

Schedule:

Day 1

08:00 – 08:30               Registration and roll-call

08:30 – 09:00               Tournament briefing

09:00 – 10:10               Round 1 prepared debate + feedback

10:10 – 10:30               Break

10:30 – 11:00               Prep time for round 2 semi-prepared debate

11:00 – 12:10               Round 2 semi-prepared debate + feedback

12:10 – 13:00               Lunch break

13:00 – 13:30               Prep time for round 3 semi-prepared debate

13:30 – 14:40               Round 3 semi-prepared debate + feedback

14:40 – 15:00               Break

15:00 – 15:30               Prep time for round 4 impromptu debate

15:30 – 16:40               Round 4 impromptu debate (silent round)

16:40 – 17:00               Tabulation of results

17:00 – 17:30               Break announcement, prizes for top speakers

Day 2

09:15 – 09:45               Registration and roll-call

09:45 – 10:45               Quarter-final prepared debate

10:45 – 11:15               Announcement of QF results and feedback

11:15 – 12:00               Prep time for Semi-final impromptu debate

12:00 – 13:00               Semi-final impromptu debate

13:00 – 13:30               Announcement of SF results and feedback

13:30 – 14:00               Prep time for grand-final semi-prepared debate

14:00 – 14:50               Grand-final semi-prepared debate

14:50 – 15:20               Announcement of GF result and prize presentation

Dear Hong Kong Debate and Public Speaking Community,

Thank you again for your enthusiastic participation at the WIDPSC Hong Kong Team Trials, which held its live rounds yesterday (8 January 2022). We are beyond excited to begin a new chapter with the new team members, and would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to all competitors for their hard work over the past months! We trust that the hours they have spent polishing speeches, choosing readings and preparing impromptus have been more than rewarding. 

The new Hong Kong Team members are:

1. Maria Katrina Flauta (Renaissance College Hong Kong)

2. Hilary Lau (Diocesan Girls’ School)

=2. Anthony Shen (Hong Kong International School)

4. Charlie Lam (Island School)

5. Mark Jin-Kang Lee (Diocesan Boys’ School

6. Christine Lam (Hong Kong International School)

=6. Bill Koo (Diocesan Boys’ School)

8. Megan Chan (Renaissance College Hong Kong)

9. Nicholas Daniel Chung (Diocesan Boys’ School)

10. Sahana Iyer (West Island School)

Reserve 1: Lauren Ing (Chinese International School)

Reserve 2: Peony Sham (Sha Tin College)

Please find the slides from the results and awards ceremony, along with the top 10 of each category, attached for your reference.

Please note that individual scores and feedback will be sent out to competitors over the next week. With a 50% increase in competitor numbers, nearly 500 ballots have been submitted and it will take some time to sort through them all – please bear with us as we do so in the coming days.

We once again thank all judges and coaches who have given up their time selflessly and tirelessly such that this competition could be run smoothly and effectively. We are grateful for your kind cooperation with us throughout the competition process and especially submitting ballots during the Christmas period. These trials – and the continued success of public speaking in Hong Kong – could not be possible without you all!

Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you at our future events!

Kind regards,
WIDPSC HK Team Coaches

Thank you to those who participated in the 2021 Senior SDC! Following the weekend’s rounds of debates, the final results of the competition can now be announced.

First, the Top 10 Speakers (with ties at 5th and 10th place) are as follows:

1. Nicole Wong, STC 1

2. Edgar Cheng, GSIS 1

3. Zachary Too, GSIS 1

4. Nathania Ngo, DGS 1

5=. Rachel Wong, DGS
5=. Natalie Leung, DGS 1

7. Mark Lee, DBS 1

8. Rachel Lang, GSIS 1

9. Isabelle Woo, Island 1

10=. Alexandra Uy-Tioco, GSIS 1

10=. Arthur Ng, DBS 1

The Grand Champions of this year’s SDC was STC, debating against SPCC 1 in a spectacular Grand Final round. We congratulate both them and the runner-up heartily.

All tabs and the break have now been released publicly. They can be viewed at https://seniorsdc2021.herokuapp.com/seniorsdc/.

Payment receipts will be processed and sent to all teams who requested it as soon as possible.

Thank you once again to everyone, judges and teams alike, who participated in this SDC. We hope to see everyone again soon – to this generation of young debaters, we can’t wait to see you excel in what will surely be bright and successful careers.

Sincerely,
The HKDSC

HKDSC is delighted to announce that Jason Xiao will be joining Harish and Tom in coaching the Hong Kong WSDC teams for 2022.

Janko Djordjevic will also join the Hong Kong coaching team as one of the coaches for the Development team.

For more information on trialing for the main Hong Kong WSDC team, or Hong Kong development team please see here. The application deadline is October 12, 2021.

To apply fill out this form: https://forms.gle/xGP8zFZLvwZ6baZ29

If you have any questions please contact Harish Natarajan (hknatarajan@gmail.com)

Jason Xiao

Jason Xiao is a graduate of the University of Oxford and a co-founder of Ethos Academy. During his time at the University of Oxford, Jason was a prolific debater, winning the World Universities Debating Championship, the HWS Round Robin, the LSE Open, and more.At the schools level, Jason was a WSDC finalist. In addition, Jason coached Team Canada from 2019-2021, where they respectively made the WSDC finals and won twice. In addition, Team Canada won over 10 other tournaments during that time, including Harvard World Schools, Oxford World Schools, Vancouver World Schools, and EurOpen.

Janko Djordjevic

Janko Đjorđević, of University of Belgrade, was a Worlds Universities Debating Championship finalist, the winner of Oxford IV, and finalist of Cambridge IV. As a judge, Janko was panelist of both World and European Debating Championships Grand Finals.He coached the University of Belgrade squad for 3 years and worked on various debating educational projects worldwide.