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The Regional Finals of the Institute of Ideas and Pfizer Debating Matters Competition finished with an explosive day of debates at the University of Newcastle on 28 April. We now have eight winning teams making their way to London in July to fight it out for the national title of the 2007-08 competition. The DM team are particularly pleased to see a whole new mix of schools at the National Final, some of whom are completely new to the competition, others who have been long-term supporters of Debating Matters but have never made it this far.
The National Final, we are delighted to announce, will be held at the Wellcome Collection from Thursday 3 to Saturday 5 July. Details of the programme will follow in next month’s newsletter. If you are interested in attending the event as an audience member, please email justinebrian@instituteofideas.com.
Tomos Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff school, ‘Best Individual’ in West and South Wales Regional Final
There have been some excellent contributions at the 2008 Regional Finals, with a number of outstanding team and individual performances. So good was debater John Shirley, winner of the Best Individual award in the East Region that judges deemed him ‘the Clark Kent of the team, moving effortlessly between being the strong, silent type and the superman of debating!’
We have been delighted to have such an enthusiastic and prestigious group of professionals take part as judges and join in with the spirit of the competition. The experience of this year’s Regional Finals has again demonstrated that high quality and passionate discussion between adults and young people can be a productive exchange for both. Speaking on his experience of judging, Simon Wessely, Professor of Epidemiological and Liaison Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College remarked: ‘I really enjoyed the day - the standard of debating was high, the participants really enthusiastic, and I went home with my spirits lifted and thinking that perhaps the future won’t be quite as bad as we think.’
The team have also been delighted to see so many Debating Matters alumni involved at the finals. We are very keen to develop our alumni network, involving more people in the organising of the competition. If you are a Debating Matters alumnus and are interested in taking part as a chair or judge, or would like to help us in the office, please email us at debatingmatters@instituteofideas.com.
At the end of a busy few months the team would firstly like to thank all of the schools that have participated in the Regional Finals this year and to all the judges who have taken time out of some very busy schedules to be involved in the competition.
Secondly, the Debating Matters team would like to thank all of our sponsors and hosts who have enabled 124 schools to be involved in the 2007/08 competition. They include our primary funder, the Wellcome Trust, our headline sponsor Pfizer, our prize sponsor Hodder Education and all of our Regional sponsors: the Medical Research Council for Scotland and the East Regions, the Economic and Social Research Council for the Central and North West Regions, the Natural Environment Research Council for the West and South Wales Region, Canterbury Christ Church University in the South East, the University of Newcastle in the North East Region and the Design Museum in London.
Thirdly, Debating Matters would like to give special thanks to our Regional Prize sponsors who have given the students such fantastic prizes, including webcams, phones and vouchers from Skype, an online annual subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica, tickets to the English National Ballet and language courses and books from Hodder Education.
Finally, we would like to thank our interns, Becky Sayers, Monty McShane and Abi Ross Jackson for their invaluable assistance over the last few months.
London & South Regional Final
Winners: Graveney School, London
Runners-up: Camden School for Girls, London
North West & North Wales Regional Final
Winners: Winstanley College, Wigan
Runners-up: Prestatyn High School, Prestatyn
Scottish Regional Final
Winners: St. Columba’s School, Kilmacolm
Runners-up: Notre Dame High School, Glasgow
East Regional Final
Winners: Gresham’s School, Holt
Runners-up: Queens’ School, Bushey
Central Regional Final
Winners: Silverdale School, Sheffield
Runners-up: The Brunts School, Mansfield
South East Regional Final
Winners: Barton Court Grammar School, Canterbury
Runners-up: The Harvey Grammar School, Folkestone
West & South Wales Regional Final
Winner: The Bishop of Llandaff High School, Cardiff
Runner-up: The Chase High School, Malvern
North East Regional Final
Winner: Ryton Comprehensive School, Ryton
Runner up: St. Mary’s Sixth Form College, Middlesbrough
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