International 'war of words' win for Victoria

18 July 2007

International 'war of words' win for Victoria debating team

A Victoria Debating Society team came second in the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships held in Kuala Lumpur last week, with one member winning the Martin Sorenson Cup for best speaker out of 324 competitors.

Sayeqa Islam, won both the Martin Sorenson Cup and the Jock Fanselow Cup for best speaker in the final – an award inaugurated at last year's championships hosted by Victoria University.

Team member Christopher Bishop was ranked as the 8th best speaker of the tournament, and overall, the team was place second after losing 6-3 in the grand final negating the topic "That governments should fund treatments which seek to normalise autism".

Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh says the students' achievement is remarkable, representing the first time a New Zealand team has made the Grand Final since Victoria won the tournament in 1998.

Known colloquially as "Australs", the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships is second only in size to the World Universities Debating Championship and is one of the largest annual student events in the world. Over its thirty-year history the tournament has developed from a competition purely between Australian teams, to one which attracts more than 300 competitors from around the Asia-Pacific region.

Considered the most intellectually demanding tournament of its type, the Australs is also known for its high standards of debating and adjudicating. Debaters have half an hour to prepare a case on topics ranging from regional politics, international economic policy, sport, culture, religion and philosophy.

The tournament regularly confronts the big issues in global and regional policy – topics debated at last year's event included whether governments should ban adverts that target children, if China should float its currency and the idea to compensate civilian victims of the war on terror.

ENDS

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