Otago Southland Regional Debating Competition

By Matthew Dadley | Posted: Monday March 2, 2020

Eleven schools and 24 teams competed in this year’s Regional Debating Competition held at the University of Otago Business School.

With moots ranging from, ‘This house regrets Globalisation’ to, ‘This house believes alternative medicines should be banned’ participants were challenged to think about complex issues and deliver an eight minute speech after only 30 minutes of preparation.

By Sunday afternoon, OBHS 2 had won 2 of their 6 debates and OBHS 1, 4 of their 6. On a countback of scores, OBHS 1 narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals, but both teams could be proud of the passion, clarity and authority with which they spoke, not to mention the mental stamina required for such a big weekend. It was a weekend of impressive individual performances, including Michael Crosson's selection into the Otago/Southland Development team, and team performances. We are surely a force to be reckoned with come the interschool debating season.

OBHS 1: Liam Connolly, Luke Geddes, Boudewijn Keenan.

OBHS 2: Michael Crosson, Lachlan Williams, Daniel Visser, Matthew Visser. 

Image Gallery