OSDU News

Invitation to 2010 Queen's High School Tournament

11/17/2009 Dear Coaches and Debaters

It is my great pleasure to invite you to this year’s Queen’s National High School Debating Championships, held at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario from February 12th to February 14th 2010. The Queen’s Debating Union (QDU), founded in 1843, is the oldest debating union in North America and it is also one of the most prestigious and successful debating unions in Canada.

Tournament Information
The tournament will feature six rounds of preliminary debate in Canadian Parliamentary style, breaking to quarter-finals. The first two rounds on Friday night will involve a prepared motion that will be released over the Christmas break. Teams will be debating both sides of the motion in open-adjudication rounds during which the adjudicator will announce the winner and the reason for decision after each round. The last four rounds on Saturday will be closed-adjudication with no announcement of results, and they will be straight impromptu with no squirreling. Quarter-, semi- and finals will be held on Sunday – please see the attached schedule for more detailed information.

Adjudication
The Chief Adjudicator for the tournament will be the inimitable Gretchen McCulloch, who will be part of the illustrious QDU contingent participating in the World’s University Debating Championships in Koc, Turkey this year. Among her many other impressive credentials include quarter-finalist at this year’s Hart House Invitational Tournament in Toronto, and semi-finalist at both the Yale Invitational tournament in New Haven and the Father Roger’s Guindon Cup in Ottawa. She was also a finalist judge at the 2008-2009 British Parliamentary National Debating Championships hosted at Queen’s.
Additionally, Queen’s is home to numerous other decorated debaters and we are confident that we will provide one of the best judging pools of the year. We will be providing extensive judging training seminars to all of the judges and there will be an opportunity to provide feedback to the judges as the tournament moves forward.

Mentoring and University Tours
The QDU will continue its traditional mentorship programme where we match university debaters with small groups of students to further develop their debating skills. We will also be providing an advanced debating seminar on Saturday afternoon run by our esteemed Critic, Ryann Atkins.
We will be offering private campus tours to students who are interested during lunch on Saturday. If you would like to participate in these tours, please email us directly by the registration deadline so we can make arrangements that best suit the individual student’s needs.

The top-ranking speaker of this tournament who attends Queen’s University will be awarded an entrance scholarship. In the past, this scholarship has consisted of a minimum of $1,500.

Registration
Registration will be $110 per team of two, which includes a guaranteed six rounds of debate, dinner on Friday, and breakfast and lunch on both Saturday and Sunday. Hardware will be awarded to the top ten speakers as well as to the eight breaking teams. A non-refundable deposit of $55 per team of two must be received by January 31st. The balance of the payment can be paid to the tournament director upon registration on Friday, February 12th. Cheques should be made out to the “Queen’s Debating Union” and can be mailed to:

Queen’s Debating Union
c/o AMS Mailboxes
John Deutsch University Centre
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6

We cannot accept any other form of payment. We will, of course, handle any special circumstances on a case-by-case basis, but please contact us as soon as possible if there is a problem with payment.
Due to the high demand of this tournament, there is a registration cap of 64 teams. Registration is held on a first-come, first-serve basis. There will be no school-based team limitations.

Accommodation
We have also been able to secure a reduced rate of $65.00 a night, based on quad occupancy, at the Rest Inn Motel. To secure this rate, please call (613) 546-6616 by January 31st, ask for the manager named Harp and mention that you are with the Queen’s Debating Union.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at jenny. zhang@business.queensu.ca. I look forward to seeing you all in Kingston in 2010!


Sincerely,
Jenny Zhang High Schools Tournament Director Queen’s Debating Union jenny.zhang@business.queensu.ca