As usual it's a fairly action packed email this week that contains important information about the NZ BP Comp, a recap of the End of Year Dinner, a reminder about Worlds and more.
End of Year Dinner Recap:
Friday night saw yet another huge contingent hit Mai Thai for the End of Year Dinner and if the number of people still out on the town at 4am was anything to go by then it's fair to say a good time was had by all.
Photos are making their way through Facebook as we speak and I'll try and get some of the best added to the website over the exam period.
The dinner also served as the end of year prize giving and in light of that I would like to congratulate the following people:
Oratory Competition - 3rd Place:
Briony Bennett
Oratory Competition - 2nd Place:
Max Harris
Oratory Competition - 1st Place:
Akif Malik
Development Tournament Winners:
Ashley Ball, Ollie Wilson and Andrew MacDonald
BP Pro Am Winners:
Ed Brownlee and Arena Williams
Most Promising Female Speaker:
Steph Thompson
Most Promising Male Speaker:
Craig Riddell
Best Speaker:
Max Harris
Shield for Contribution to the Club:
Desley Horton
Also recognized at the dinner was the contribution of Glenn Riddell whose help on the Exec in previous years, as Thropy CA, as a debater and adjudicator has warranted the particular thanks of my Exec.
NZ BP Champs:
As mentioned many times, the NZ BP Champs take place from the 28 - 30 of November in Wellington. Entry is open so all you need is a part er and the desire to go. To the best of my knowledge (having checked every email I received to the Debsoc account in the last month) the following people will be coming:
1) Desley and Glenn
2) Mark and Ben
3) Akif and Max
4) Jimmy and Jodi
5) Craig and Jordan
6) Briony and Olga
7) Steph and George
8) Aritra and Andrew
If I have missed your name there is still plenty of time to register so please just reply to this email and I will amend my list. If your name is not there it probably means you told me in person/via text rather than via email and it slipped my mind; so get emailing!
Important NZ BP Info:
Now in its fifth year, the Victoria IV is one of the best Worlds warm-up tournaments on the circuit. Last year's final featured three Worlds quarter-finalists and two octo-finalists, was CA'd by a former Worlds grand finalist, and featured a Worlds DCA as part of the judging core. This year we're sure will be even better. The winning team will receive the Vice-Chancellor's Cup, and the tournament's best speaker will win the David Lange Cup. There will also be an award for the best novice speaker.
Dates: Friday November 28-Sunday 30 November
Venue: Kelburn campus of Victoria University of Wellington (note change from downtown campus)
The Grand Final will be held on Sunday afternoon in the New Zealand Parliament's historic and beautiful Legislative Council Chamber, hosted by the Patron of the Victoria Debating Society, Christopher Finlayson MP.
Timetable
Friday 28 November - drinks at General Practitioner bar from 7pm-ish (central Wellington)
Saturday 29 November - four rounds of debating; lunch (provided); 3 course dinner at Cafe Istanbul restaurant at 8.30pm (free corkage)
Sunday 30 November - final two preliminary rounds, brunch (provided); semi-finals; Grand Final (4.30pm); post-final function at Backbencher Pub; post-function party. (A more detailed timetable will be provided closer to the time).
Adjudication Core
We're particularly pleased with the quality of adjudicators confirmed for this year's tournament: The Chief Adjudicators are Christopher Bishop (2 x Worlds octo-finalist, Australs runner-up, Cambridge IV winner, 3 x winner of Vic IV) and Gareth Richards (2 x Worlds octo-finalist, Australs quarter-finalist, 3 x winner of Vic IV).
They'll be joined by:
Ivan Ah Sam (DCA for Worlds 2009 in Cork, Worlds semi-finalist and top ten speaker, Australs winner and best speaker)
Erin O'Brien (DCA for Worlds 2009 in Cork, Worlds Grand Finalist, Euros winner)
Joe Connell (2 x Worlds octo-finalist, Australs quarter-finalist and top ten speaker)
Jonathan Orpin (Worlds semi-finalist and quarter-finalist)
Plus Michael Mabbett, Eleanor Bishop, and others.
Other key details:
- Worlds rules will be in force and topics will not be New Zealand-specific.
- There is no team cap.
- Six preliminary rounds, with a break to semi-finals
Registration:
$55 NZD per person for the weekend.
This will get you subsidised drinks on Friday night, lunch on Saturday, a 3 course dinner on Saturday night (incl BYO corkage), a delicious catered brunch on Sunday, and free drinks and food at the post-final function. If people would like to "opt out" of the dinner on Saturday night, then registration is only $25 per person.
How to register
Note that this is an "open" tournament, so people should feel free to enter with people from other campuses/non university students if they wish.
(Email me - Brad - back on this address and I will handle your registration)
Registration will close on Monday 24 November but it would be excellent if we could have a broad idea of numbers before then.
The convenors of the tournament are Kathy Scott-Dowell and Sarah Wilson, assisted by Ellen Thomson.
See the Facebook event at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=33142291501
We look forward to seeing many of you in November!
Worlds:
Just a reminder that this year we'll be sending two teams (of Akif/Max and Ben/Mark) to Worlds in Ireland. We wish them the best of luck and will be updating you all with their progress over the Summer break.
Some Thanks
Although I'll be sending out emails over the Summer keeping you all up to date with our BP and Worlds progress we have largely finished the 2008 Debating Season. In light of that I would like to again thank my Executive from 2008 for their hard work and support this year (especially those that have signed up with me to do it all again in 2009)!
I would also like to thank everyone who has come away with us to tournaments, entered our internal tournaments and even just come along on Thursday nights. 2008 has been a superb year that saw a HUGE thropy contingent sent away, Auckland teams in some intense semi-finals (Thropy and Joynt) and a good sweep of national speaker prizes.
I hope you've all benefited from the year in some form and we look forward to seeing you back in 2009; I can already tell you that there are some pretty interesting surprises in store for next year that you wont want to miss.
Thanks again,
Brad (and the team from 2008).
