World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships

Not to be confused with World Schools Debating Championships.
World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships
Tournament information
GameDebating and Public Speaking
Established1988
Number of
events
5 + 1 Overall Winner
Website[1]
Current champion
Canada Anna Gage (Overall)
Individual Events
Champion
  • Canada Michelle Liu
  • (Parliamentary Debate)
  • United States Justin Ahn
  • (Impromptu Speaking)
  • Canada Ethan Wahba
  • (Interpretive Reading)
  • Canada Millie Steinman
  • (Persuasive Speaking)
  • South Africa Richard Leschner
  • (After-dinner Speaking)

The World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships (WIDPSC) is an annual English language debating and public speaking tournament for individual high school-level students representing different countries. It is the public speaking equivalent of the World Schools Debating Championships.

The most recent event was hosted in April 2024 by the Canberra Girls Grammar School in Canberra, Australia and crowned Canada's Anna Gage as the overall world champion. The 2025 edition of the event is slated to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a locale known for its disregard for basic human rights and unsafe for minorities,[1][2] and the first time the nation will serve as host for competition and marking WIDPSC's first Asian host since Hong Kong in 2015.

History

The tournament was founded in 1988 by Reading Blue Coat School, St. John's-Ravenscourt School, the Debating Association of New England Independent Schools, Taunton School, Queen Anne's School, and The English School, Nicosia. It was one of the first international competitions to individually rank high school-level students in debating and public speaking.[3] The tournament was founded the same year as the World Schools Debating Championships to respond to the desire for an equivalent competition for public speaking at the international level.

The first Worlds was hosted by Reading Blue Coat School in Reading, England and continued to be hosted in England until 1995. The late 1990s saw the tournament's hosts began to cycle through different countries, with Argentina hosting in 1998, Botswana hosting in 1999, and Cyprus hosting in 2000.[4]

Format

Organization

The tournament usually takes five to six days, with two to three rounds of events daily. The opening day of the tournament involves opening ceremonies and a guest speaker. The last two days do not involve any regular competition, except for those advancing to the final rounds. These days are occupied by a full day excursion or activity, and a formal closing banquet that involves the grand finals and awards ceremony. The grand finals of the tournament are considered to be a display of the tournament's best competitors. Some notable past locations of the grand finals have included the Utah State Capitol, Seimas of Lithuania and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. Competitors also partake in other activities and outings organized by the host school during the week. These often involve exploring the city of the tournament.[5]

Competitors must compete in four out of five events: parliamentary debate, impromptu speaking, interpretive reading, and either persuasive speaking or after-dinner speaking. Students compete in two preliminary rounds for each event. This is followed by a round of finals with approximately the top 10% of competitors competing. This is followed by a Grand Final show round, with the top two or three speakers in each character (the top 4 for debating).

Adjudication and Ranking

Adjudication for the tournament consists of members of the general public invited as judges, as well as one coach judge per room. Prior to the tournament, the host school will publicize the tournament and individuals locally associated with public speaking and debating and the host school will volunteer to judge. These individuals then participate in one or more training workshops. Scores are reviewed by a committee of coaches and experienced officials to discern for bias. The rationale behind this selection method stems from the founders' intent to assess ability on the basis of speaking to the 'common man or woman', not a specialized individual. Each competitor is judged by 40 to 50 judges by the end of the competition.

The top seven to twelve competitors in each event advance to final rounds, and the top two (or four for debate) competitors in the finals advance to the grand finals. Categorical rankings are decided on performance in the grand finals and finals. The final rounds are judged by coaches whose students are not in the category they are adjudicating. The overall ranking is based solely on the combined results of the preliminary rounds.

In 2023, it was decided that the overall champion of the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships would receive the John Robinson Award – an award commemorating the founder of this international competition, John Robinson.

A notable difference between the WIDPSC and the World Schools Debating Championships – the parallel major international competition which specializes in debating rather than public speaking – is that WSDC's primary focus is on the ranking of each country's team as opposed to each individual participant's ranking. Accordingly, students at the WIDPSC often compete against fellow members of their country's team. WSDC is a different format of debate with three per side. WIDPSC debate format is two per side.

Participants

Students from numerous countries have participated in the tournament, including: Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, the United States, England, South Africa, Lithuania, Pakistan, Cyprus, Argentina, Eswatini, Botswana, Israel, India, South Korea, Zimbabwe and Germany. Additionally, foreign nationals enrolled at schools abroad often compete, but are not officially recognized as representing an additional country. Usually participants are in their last two years of high school.

Competitors can qualify in several ways. These are: through direct application to their national debating and/or public speaking organization, through a national tournament, or if they belong to one of the founding schools, by their decision. Countries that have a more established debating and public speaking program often use qualifying competitions, which are extremely competitive. This is the method currently used by South Korea, Canada, the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, and South Africa. Alternatively, those with nascent or smaller programs rely on a handful of schools to select and send members; this includes Cyprus, Germany, and Pakistan.

Additionally, half of the team from the United States and Canada qualify through the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Championships. This competition is restricted to independent schools, and is of a similar format but of lesser significance and does not have competitor qualification requirements.[6]

Governance

The championships is managed by The Independent Public Speaking Association, or IPSA. The IPSA is composed of schools and leagues that participate in the tournament on a regular basis. The organization's predominant responsibility is to oversee the tournament, and decisions about Worlds are made by general consensus at an annual general meeting. IPSA is not involved in the particulars of each tournament, and aside from a basic rubric, host schools have considerable freedom in the tournament's execution.

IPSA also contains an Executive Council composed of the founding schools and schools that have attended three out of five years and hosted the competition. The Executive Council acts in an advisory capacity to host schools and when IPSA is unable to convene. It is responsible for the tournament's long-term sustainability.[7]

Past Championships

Year Host School Venue Overall Winner
1988 Reading Blue Coat School England Reading, England Joel Hechter
1989 Reading Blue Coat School and Queen Anne's School Rob Goffin
1990 Atul Verma
1991 Taunton School England Somerset, England James Priory
1992 Aylesbury Grammar School England Aylesbury, England David Gratzer
1993 Reading Blue Coat School and Queen Anne's School England Reading, England Gary Harding
1994 Taunton School England Somerset, England Jessica Riley
1995 The English School, Nicosia Cyprus Nicosia, Cyprus Alex Michaelides
1996 Reading Blue Coat School England Reading, England Luke Jones
1997 Taunton School England Somerset, England Joanne McNally
1998 Northlands School Argentina Buenos Aires, Argentina Michael Kives
1999 Maru a Pula School Botswana Gaborone, Botswana
2000 The English School, Nicosia CyprusNicosia, Cyprus Kristopher Ade
2001 Queen Anne's School England Reading, England Elliot Tapper
2002 Michaelhouse South Africa Balgowan, South Africa Daniel Wilner (Disputed Winner: Craig Kesson [8])
2003 Queen Anne's School England Reading, England Rowan Dorin
2004 Wasatch Academy United States Salt Lake City, United States Sarah Mortazavi
2005 The English School, Nicosia CyprusNicosia, Cyprus Zahid Sunderani
2006 The Hotchkiss School United States Lakeville, United States Shakir Rahim
2007 Diocesan College (Bishops) South Africa Cape Town, South Africa Shakir Rahim
2008 Max-Born-Gymnasium and Lessing-Gymnasium Germany Backnang / Winnenden, Germany Seth Rosenberg
2009 Reading Blue Coat School England Reading, England Edward Hicks
2010 Educational Debate Centre Lithuania Lithuania Druskininkai, Lithuania Zeenia Framroze
2011 Moreton Bay Boys' College Australia Brisbane, Australia Nic Martin
2012 Ryan Pistorius
2013 Clifton School South Africa Durban, South Africa Connor Campbell
2014 Educational Debate Centre Lithuania Lithuania Druskininkai, Lithuania Daniel Huang
2015 Hong Kong Schools’ Debating and Public Speaking Community Hong Kong Hong Kong, Hong Kong Samantha Starkey
2016 Shady Side Academy United States Pittsburgh, United States Natalie Ganzhorn
2017 Ravenswood School for Girls Australia Sydney, Australia Olivia Railton
2018 Diocesan College (Bishops) South Africa Cape Town, South Africa Eleanor Lawton-Wade and Megan Campbell (tie)
2019 Branksome Hall Canada Toronto, Canada Anna Croxon
2020 N/A Online Rohan Naidoo
2021 Leaders Academy Ruby Grinberg
2022 The Country Day School Maria Ivoditova
2023 Clifton School South Africa Durban, South Africa Erick Yang
2024 Canberra Girls Grammar School Canada Toronto, Canada Anna Gage

Past Individual Event Winners

Year Categories
Parliamentary Debate Impromptu Speaking Interpretive Reading Persuasive Speaking After-dinner Speaking
2010 South Africa Jessica Hichens United Kingdom Thomas Diment Canada Adam Litman Pakistan Saad Sohail Cyprus George Alexander Charalambous
2011 United Kingdom Tom Diment United States Cameron Ewing Canada Kristine Ramsbottom Hong Kong Heather Pickerell United Kingdom Oliver Kelham
2012 Canada Connor Campbell United States Priyanka Sekhar Hong Kong Lucien Wang South Africa Natasha Dusabe Australia Neil Kemister
2013 South Africa Joseph Kahn United States Nicolo Marzaro Canada Ryan Sherbo Lithuania Eleonora Lekaviciute Australia Emily Leijer
2014 Australia Christopher Skriols South Africa Emma Buckland Canada Stephanie Fennell South Africa Lulutho Ngcongolo South Africa Brendan Allan
2015 Canada Olivia Railton Australia Anant Butala Canada Imaan Kherani South Africa Desmond Fairall Hong Kong Shimali De Silva
2016 United States Eric Tang Canada Elizabeth Roberts Australia Nicole Sung South Africa Rowan Mockler United States Angela Xiao
2017 Canada Olivia Railton Canada Liam Brown Cyprus Lucas Irwin Australia Jacqueline Farrel Cyprus James Morphakis
2018 Australia Thomas Willingham United States Auran Vatan Canada Zaki Lakhani Australia Samuel Roach South Africa John van Niekerk
2019 Canada Andrei Comloson Canada Lilian Borger South Africa Julia Nhawu Canada Anna Croxon Hong Kong Markandeya Karthik
2020 South Africa Rohan Naidoo Australia Thomas Fernando United States Flo Auerbach Canada Maylee Mann United States Flo Auerbach
2021 Canada Angela Lu South Africa Eugene Cloete Canada Saara Chaudry Canada Maria Ivoditova United States McKenna Goodson
2022[9] China Caridee Chau United States Emma Jean Hermacinski Australia Kayleigh Lei Hong Kong Nicholas Chung United States Julia Shephard
2023 South Africa Ben Anderson United States Thomas Harrick Canada Edward Gao Canada Evan Peters United States Graham Bateman
2024 Canada Michelle Liu United States Justin Ahn Canada Ethan Wahba Canada Millie Steinman South Africa Richard Leschner

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Malaysia: Authorities continue to show blatant disregard for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly". Amnesty International (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-12-04.
  2. ^ "Malaysia". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
  3. ^ Founding History of the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships
  4. ^ Hosts of Worlds Record
  5. ^ Worlds 2007 Events Schedule
  6. ^ http://www.iispsl.org/history.html History of the International Independent Schools Public Speaking League
  7. ^ 1988 Worlds Constitution
  8. ^ "DBN pupil world debating champ".
  9. ^ WIDPSC - Sun Apr 17 - Grand Finals, 17 April 2022, retrieved 2022-08-13