With Senior SDC returning soon in October 2022, we are delighted to open registrations for Independent Judges.
Basic Information: (ALL TIMES IN UTC+8)
Date: 8 October 8am-6:30pm (preliminary rounds); 9 October 9am-4pm (break rounds).
Format: WSDC – 8 min main speech with points of information, 4 min replies. Prepped motion for R1, semi-prepared motion for R2-3 with 15 minutes’ preparation time, impromptu motion for Rounds 4 with 45 minutes’ preparation time.
*You will be compensated for judging if your application is accepted.*
Our judges are immensely important to our competitions, not simply to ensure the smooth running of events, but to help student participants get consistently high-quality feedback to facilitate their improvement. We sincerely appreciate all the time and energy our judges contribute, and look forward to seeing you at Senior SDC 2022!
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.
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 – 08:15
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 1 Schedule
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 – 14:30
Prep time for grand-final semi-prepared debate
14:30 – 16:00
Grand-final semi-prepared debate
16:00 – 16:30
Announcement 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!
The 2021 Flashpoint workshops ended last week, stretching over the 5th, 6th and 8th of July. As in previous years, the programme was delivered by some of the most skilled and passionate high school debaters in Hong Kong, braving numerous challenges in the process of initiating, preparing and executing the programme. This year, there was the addition of practice debates held on the final day to help the students consolidate their skills. All in all, the programme successfully provided debate training to more than 40 high school students across Hong Kong, especially to those who might not have consistent access to debate training at their schools.
As the pandemic last year prevented the workshops from being run, we are tremendously glad that this year’s Flashpoint was able to take place. Above all, we hope this signals our commitment to providing quality debate and speaking education to all students in Hong Kong.
To the Executive Committee and Trainers, thank you for lending us your valuable time and giving back to this community. When we began the preparation process in April, there was doubt if we could put together the programme in time but the programme was executed with dedication and quick responses to challenges. First, thanks must go to Mr Stan Dyer, Ms Joan Cho, Xiao-ke Lu and Timothy Lo for taking the task up and constructing the syllabus. Then, a special shout-out to Angus, Markandeya and Audrey for bringing together and heading our ExCo Team, listed here in their respective roles.
Lead Coordinators: Angus Li, Markandeya Karthik, Audrey Chow
Design and Promotion: Anston Yu, Megan Chan, Chloe Lam
It has been a pleasure to observe the trainers teach younger debaters with such passion and tailoring your material to each class, across a spectrum of skills. We hope the many words of gratitude you received from your students and the improvement they have shown have been recompense enough for your hard work.
To our students, thank you for being such great participants — Flashpoint would not be possible if not for your enthusiastic support. Thank you for giving your all at the drills, exercises and debates, and we hope to see you grow as a confident individual in the community in the future.
What a way to kick off the summer and wrap up the six events brought by HKDSC this year! We wish everyone a vibrant summer and are eagerly preparing for the new year.
Two Hong Kong teams participated at the Singapore Pre World Schools Debating Championship over the weekend. The team Chloe Tse, Dhruv Leekha, Jenna Hong, and Madeleine Wu were the top team after the preliminary rounds, and reached the final. Davis Cheng, Markandeya Karthik, Navia Zhang, and Yui Kurosawa finished 17th overall. Chloe was the sixth overall speaker, Madeleine third, and Jenna finished top.
Flashpoint ‘21: Interactive Workshops for Debaters
Got a keen interest in debate but unsure of where to go? Flashpoint is back, and it’s here to make your debating that much better.
Flashpoint is an annual debate workshop for novice debaters to learn from some of the most skilled and passionate debaters in Hong Kong. After several successful years, we are hosting Flashpoint again over Zoom on July 5th, 6th and 8th from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m, concluding with an internal competition where students can put new skills to use. It is an excellent opportunity to develop English argumentative skills through a wide range of strategies and, most importantly, fun!
Are you looking to warm up again after a long break from debating? Or looking for a good introduction to debate? Questions on the registration form are designed to place debaters in the best ability group to make the experience for YOU. The Flashpoint registration form (one form per student) is HERE.
Once participants have registered, they can expect to receive an email on Wednesday 30 June to confirm their attendance and send out important details and the Zoom link.
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.
Thank you for participating in the 2021 Junior SDCs! Following yesterday’s rounds of debates, the final results of the competition can now be announced.First, the Top 10 Speakers (with 3 people tying for 9th place) are as follows:
1. Christine Lam, HKIS 2
2. Valerie Wong, STC 2
3. Rachel Lang, GSIS 1
4. Peony Sham, STC 1
5. Jaden Yeung, DBS 2
6. Dominic Gu, CIS 2
7. Shriya Srinivasan, RCHK 1
8. Kristie Cheung, SPCC 1
9=. Eric Wu, CIS 2
9=. Meagan Tam, SPCC 1
9=. Janet Lau, DGS 1
10. Lauren Ing, CIS 1
We are aware that the listing on the public speaker tab differs from the above list slightly – this is because in instances where speakers had the same average speaks, we used the standard deviation to decide ranking, preferring a lower deviation on the basis that it indicates greater consistency. In contrast, Tabbycat does not automatically do this. 3 speakers ended up with the same average speaks and standard deviation, resulting in a tie at 9th place. As can be seen from that fact, the speakers tab this year was very competitive, so congratulations to everyone who made it on the Top 10.
The Grand Champions of this year’s Junior SDC was RCHK 1, debating against CIS 2 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://jsdc2021.herokuapp.com/jsdc2021/.
Thank you once again to everyone, judges and teams alike, who participated in this JSDC. 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.
We can now announce the prepped and semi prepped motions for this year’s Junior SDC to the community. As Round 1 is fully prepped, we can also share the draw for that. All other rounds in the motions table below are semi-prepped with the exception of the Quarter Finals: the draw for the latter will be announced immediately after the break on Day 1.
We are excited to announce that the annual Junior Individual Public Speaking Championships is scheduled to be a remote event on 1 May (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 16 to 18 April 2021 (Sunday), whereas the last category will be conducted live on Zoom on 1 May, 2021 (Saturday). Please refer to the attached pamphlet for the exact time limits of each category. More details about the video submission process and a technical guide will be released in due course.
Each school can enroll 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 six students) to judge the taped videos and the live impromptu rounds. 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 2 April, 2021 (Friday) for registration.
Dear all,We are pleased to announce that the registration deadline for this year’s Junior SDC has been extended to Friday the 12th of March. Important information regarding the tournament can be found below:
Date: 10-11th April 2021
Venue: Online
Eligible Participants: Students from Form 1-3/Year 7-10/Grade 6-9
Format: WSDC-style with 6 minute speeches and 3 minute replies
Registration fee: $200
More details, including the planned schedule, can be found in the original post made in January – this has been pinned to the top of our Facebook page for your convenience. Please note that the registration deadline it stipulates is outdated: the official deadline is the one in this post.
We are excited to be able to provide junior debaters in Hong Kong this opportunity to compete in April, and hope to see as many participants as possible.
