Category: News

Categories
News Tournaments Uncategorized

REGISTRATION OPEN: Senior SDC 2021

Registration for SDC 2021 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/4XUSDpRDhMraLPVX7

Independent Judge Registration Form: https://forms.gle/JUqSVp6fdSf1swDa9

Date: 16 October 8am-6:30pm (preliminary rounds); 17 October 9am-4pm (break rounds).

Venue: Online.

Cost: HKD400 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 quarter-final. Priority for second teams will go to previously underrepresented schools. 

Schedule:

Day 1

08:00 – 08:15Registration and roll-call
08:15 – 08:45Tournament briefing
08:45 – 10:25Round 1 prepared debate + feedback
10:25 – 10:40Break
10:40 – 10:55Prep time for round 2 semi-prepared debate
10:55 – 12:35Round 2 semi-prepared debate + feedback
12:35 – 13:15Lunch break
13:15 – 13:30Prep time for round 3 semi-prepared debate
13:30 – 15:10Round 3 semi-prepared debate + feedback
15:10 – 15:25Break
15:25 – 16:10Prep time for round 4 impromptu debate
16:10 – 17:40Round 4 impromptu debate (silent round)
17:40 – 18:00Tabulation of results
18:00 – 18:30Break announcement, prizes for top speakers
Day 1 Schedule

Day 2

09:15 – 09:30Registration and roll-call
09:30 – 11:00Quarter-final prepared debate
11:00 – 11:30Announcement of QF results and feedback
11:30 – 12:15Prep time for Semi-final impromptu debate
12:15 – 13:45Semi-final impromptu debate
13:45 – 14:15Announcement of SF results and feedback
14:15 – 14:30Prep time for grand-final semi-prepared debate
14:30 – 16:00Grand-final semi-prepared debate
16:00 – 16:30Announcement of GF result and prize presentation
Day 2 Schedule

For more information and any enquiries, please contact us at info@hkdsc.org. We look forward to seeing your teams and judges at SDC 2021! 

Categories
Information News Opportunities

HKDSC Student Working Group: Applications Open

Dear Speech & Debate Community of Hong Kong,

We are excited to announce that applications have opened for our new HKDSC Student Working Group! This is intended to provide structure for the young people who have generously stepped up to help us so far in the last six months, but also an enthusiastic invitation towards the larger debating community, so sign up if you want to help out!

This will be an exciting opportunity for 10-12 secondary school students to work with other members of the Group, as well as our Executive Board of Directors, in organising any of the 6 flagship events run by HKDSC every year. These include our yearly tournaments such as SDC and JSDC, and our WSDC and WIDPSC National Team Trials.

We are looking for responsible, keen, adaptable and organised individuals to help HKDSC further its goals of creating high-quality debating and public speaking opportunities for students across Hong Kong.The deadline for applications is 22 August 2021, 11:59pm HKT. We look forward to receiving your applications through the link below.

https://forms.gle/7ArzsrzTRCdpL6kp6

Categories
News Tournaments

Junior Indivs 2021 Results

Dear members of the Hong Kong public speaking community,

We would like to thank you for participating in the 2021 Junior Individual Public Speaking Championships 2021. In the last three weeks, judges across Hong Kong have tirelessly assessed recorded speeches and readings. This was followed on the morning of May 1st, 2021 by an exciting live round of impromptu speaking, culminating in the final rounds. Many outstanding performances were delivered, and we were delighted to see the passion speakers put into every speech they gave.

After heated competition at the Finals, the winners of the individual events are:

Persuasive Speaking – Christine Lam (HKIS)

Interpretive Reading – Jaden Yeung (DBS)

Impromptu Speaking – Lauren Lee (CDNIS)

Overall Top Speaker – Mark Lee (DBS)

A hearty congratulations to the winners and the top speakers of the tournament!

Appended to this post are the top speakers in each of the 3 categories. The individual ballots with scores and feedback are currently being compiled, and will be ready to share by next week.

Before we sign off, we also would like to extend a special thank you to every judge who helped make this event special for every participant. As part of the continuing legacy of public speaking in Hong Kong, we look forward to seeing everyone in our future events, especially the Team Trials scheduled for January 2022.

Sincerely,

The Organizing Committee

Categories
Hong Kong Teams Information News

WIDPSC 2021 Team Performance

Dear all,

WIDPSC 2021 has been a unique journey for the Hong Kong team, from the trials in January to the weekly online trainings, to the two Asynchronous Rounds in early April. Finally, the Synchronous and Final Rounds took place on the Zoom platform, between 23rd to 26th April. Thanks must be given to the organizers for putting together such an amazing event that brings together 120 of the best speakers in the world.

This year, 10 members of the Hong Kong WIDPSC team broke into finals, claiming 20 spots across four categories at the expanded finals rounds. Two of the members, Yui Kurosawa and Jason Wong, went onto Grand Finals for Impromptu Speaking and Interpretive Reading. Grace Zheng also won the Supplementary Final and her piece will be displayed on the WIDPSC website.

In the final overall ranking, Hong Kong had our strongest showing in years, with Ellington Chen at 5th, Jason Wong at 10th and Charlie Lam at 20th respectively. The coaches wish to express our immense pride at the team for their strong performances and collaborative spirit. We would also like to send a special vote of thanks to the teachers and alumni who have given up their time during Sundays to help judge, give feedback and nurture this team into what it is today.

The team representing Hong Kong at WIDPSC 2021

Sincerely,

The Coaches of the WIDPSC HK Team

Categories
Information News Tournaments

Oxford Schools 2021 HK Regional Rounds Results

Dear all,

The HK Regional round of the Oxford Schools, with two rounds of debate between 24 teams, was successfully held last night, February 27th.

After careful deliberation by our incredible judges, we are excited to announce the three teams going through to the final rounds of the Oxford Schools debating tournament. In no particular order, they are:

  • HKIS A – Dhruv Leekha and Chloe Tse
  • DBS A – Chan Daniel Lian and Li Chun Huen
  • STC C – Nicole Wong and Krissy Yip

We extend our warmest congratulations to the teams, and thank everyone who judged and helped organize the HK regional rounds this year for their amazing work.

Sincerely,

The HKDSC

Categories
News Tournaments

Oxford Schools HK Regional Trials 2021

Oxford-Schools-2021-HK-Regional-Rounds-Promotional-LetterDownload

The following is a slightly modified version of a letter sent to debaters across Hong Kong on the 27th of January, 2021. The original document has been attached to this post for reference.

Dear Debating Community of Hong Kong,

We are excited to announce that the HK regional rounds for the prestigious Oxford Schools tournament, hosted by the Oxford Debating Union, will be held on Saturday the 27th of February from 5 to 10pm. As a limited number of teams are sent each year from Hong Kong, these trials will be highly competitive.

Unlike in previous years, this year’s rendition of Oxford Schools will take place online. Fortunately, this means that participants will not be required to self-fund the trip to Oxford that would be necessary otherwise. However, please note the team chosen will still need to pay the tournament fee of £40 per team independently. As this is a schools-based tournament, team members must be from the same secondary school.

This year, the selections process will be held online. The trials will be judged by members of the Hong Kong debating circuit as well as members of the Oxford Union. Verdicts will not be given, although extensive feedback will be provided by adjudicators to participants. The format will be BP with 5-minute speeches, and results will be announced on the 28th of February.

In the event you are chosen to compete at Oxford Schools, you will not be allowed to change partners under any circumstances. Withdrawal will result in the next team on the tab being invited to represent Hong Kong instead. Although no team is guaranteed participation in the trials, we will prioritize so that each school will be able to have at least one team participate.

The timetable can be found below:

We hope to see as many teams as possible on the 27th! Please sign up here: https://forms.gle/C8Hb951FJVMuA1kz5.

Sincerely,

Ms. Joan Cho, Chair of the HKDSC Board of Executive Directors

Categories
News Tournaments

Junior SDC 2021

210410-JSDC-2021-Promotional-LetterDownload

The following is a slightly modified version of a letter sent to secondary schools across Hong Kong on the 27th of January, 2021. The original document has been attached to this post for reference.

Dear Debating Community of Hong Kong,

As part of our role in supporting secondary school debate in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Debate & Speech Community (HKDSC) will now be responsible for organizing the Junior and Senior SDC debate tournaments, which will continue to take place annually and be held exclusively for Hong Kong secondary students.

We are therefore delighted to announce that the inaugural Junior SDC under the HKDSC will take place online on the 10th & 11th of April, and will be convened by Mr. Stan Dyer and Angus Li. As in previous JSDCs, the tournament this year will be exclusively for students in Form 1-3/Year 7-10/Grade 6-9.

The format used will be a variant of WSDC – debates will be 3-on-3 with 6 minute speeches and 3 minute reply speeches. POIs are allowed and encouraged. Teams with more than 6 debaters will not be eligible to break, and debaters will have to speak for at least 3 rounds to be eligible for speaker awards. Physical trophies will be given to the Top 10 Speakers, as well as the Champion and Runner-Up teams in the Grand Final.

The total registration fee for each team will be $200. Payment details will be given after registration ends. HKDSC is a non-profit organization, and so this money will be used to make our operations sustainable and ensure the quality of the events we hold.

Additionally, in order to maintain a high standard of judging, we will require that schools provide 1 adjudicator per team. These can be either teachers or senior students, but at least 1 of the adjudicators provided must be an adult who can monitor the security of their school’s participants.

The deadline for registration through our form (forms.gle/Zc5ybbCRu6t9zyEJ6) is 28 February. The tournament schedule, as well as other details, can be found below:

Draw:Awards
Round 1 random, Rounds 2-4 power-paired. QF-GF will be folded using a knockout draw.Top Ten Speaker Awards; Top 8 teams break to quarter-final.

We are incredibly excited to keep the banner of SDC flying high, and hope to see as many debaters as possible in April. Thank you for your time!

Sincerely,

The HKDSC Tournament Committee

Categories
Hong Kong Teams News

WIDPSC 2021 Team Members

Dear Hong Kong debate and speech community,

We are pleased to announce that the Trials for WIDPSC Hong Kong team has been completed on 23 January 2021. Students from schools across Hong Kong competed in four categories over three weeks, culminating in the live rounds of debate and impromptu speaking held this past Saturday. We would like to take a moment to commend the contestants on their hard work towards their recorded speeches and readings, enthralling judges with passionate decryings of global issues and heartfelt renditions of timeless stories.

After tabulating nearly 400 ballots from our dedicated judges, the Top Speakers of Hong Kong are:

1. Jason Wong – Diocesan Boys’ School – 1113 points
2. Hope Tan – Hong Kong International School – 1091 points
3. Yui Kurosawa – Hong Kong International School – 1067 points
4. Ellington Chen – Hong Kong International School – 1066 points
5. Hiroko Kawase – Hong Kong International School – 1056 points
6. Nicholas Chung – Diocesan Boys’ School – 1051 points
7. Chloe Lam – Renaissance College – 1044 points
8. Grace Zheng – Island School – 1036 points
9. Hilary Lau – Diocesan Girls’ School – 1034 points
10. Charlie Lam – Island School – 1025 points
10. Maki Flauta – Renaissance College – 1025 points

These speakers will be representing Hong Kong at this year’s World Individual Debate and Public Speaking Championships, to be held by South Korea in April 2021. We sincerely thank all the judges for their time and insightful comments they have provided to the students; we look forward to working with the Team to continue the legacy of Hong Kong at Worlds.

Best regards,
Joan Cho and My Thanh Mac
Coaches of WIDPSC Hong Kong Team