THE UNITED NATIONS
ASSOCIATION PURLEY (with SUTTON) AND CROYDON
BRANCHES, SCHOOLS DEBATING COMPETITION RULES.
SUPPORTED BY THE LEGAL AND GENERAL ASSURANCE
COMPANY
1. Any
school in South London, Surrey or
2. A team
will consist of two pupils and a school may enter more than one team.
3. As
this is a school competition, a school need not keep the same team throughout
the Competition, but, where schools enter two teams there must be no
interchanging, except with the agreement of the Competition Supervisor.
4. The
team will consist of a proposer (opposer) and a seconder, and in the first and
second rounds and semi-finals each will speak for a maximum of eight minutes. For
the third round and final the time for each speech will be ten minutes. The
summary in all rounds will be five minutes. Speakers who fail to speak for 5O%
of the allotted time will be penalized up to 50% of the marks available in the
main speeches or the summary. It is normally expected that speakers will speak
for at least 75% of the maximum time given in both main speeches and summary.
As is traditional the proposition will give the final
summary.
5. Marks
will be allocated on the following basis, with a maximum of 1OO marks per team
plus 5 bonus marks available under rule 5B and 10 under rule 5C.
(A)MANNER AND PRESENTATION.............................4O marks
Speeches should not obviously be
read out verbatim, and equally should not obviously be recited from memory.
Compact notes are preferred and the judges have the right to examine anything
not apparently in this format. Note will be taken of clarity of utterance and
eye-contact in particular. The use of humour is encouraged, and will be
rewarded accordingly.
(B)SUBJECT MATTER......................................4O marks
Statements of fact must be true,
and expression of opinion must NOT be quoted as fact. There should be evidence
of serious study or first-hand observation, clear and logical development of
theme or argument and a proper conclusion. Note will be taken of general
interest value to audience. A limited amount of rebuttal should be included by
the second speaker on both sides. Full answering of opponent's points
should be saved for the summary. Evidence of exceptional research can qualify
for a bonus of up to 5 marks.
(C)TEAMWORK. A further bonus of up to 10 marks can be awarded.
(D)FINAL SPEECH /SUMMARY...............................2O marks
Note will be taken of proper
answering of opponents' arguments from the team or from the floor. Note will
also be taken of effective summarising by each speaker of his/her own team's
arguments. New material must not be introduced at this stage unless its use is
essential in answering an opponent's point. The presentation of the summary
will form a part of the marking.
(6) The
competition will be run on a 6-league basis. The points awarded will be 4 for a
win,2 for a tie and O for a loss. A bonus of 2 points will be awarded to any team
scoring 75 marks or over, win, lose or tie. At the end of three rounds the six
league winners will go into the semi-finals in the format:-
WINNER LEAGUE
A v WINNER LEAGUE D
WINNER LEAGUE
B v WINNER LEAGUE E
WINNER LEAGUE
C v WINNER LEAGUE F
In the event of two or more schools in the same league
having the same points total the order will be decided on the number of marks, unless
one has already beaten the other. There will be a play-off if the marks
difference is less than 5.
(7) The
semi-finals will be in the Observer Mace format with three different motions
and the best two schools will be picked to go through to the final. There will
be no points of order.
(8) The
home school is responsible for setting up the debate. Schools are requested to
ensure that debates are completed by the dates shown. In the event of sickness,
this should be reported to the judge-finder immediately and a substitute
speaker found where possible. Two points will be deducted from any team failing
to meet the due date in any round without acceptable reason.
NOTES
FOR JUDGES
1) This
being essentially a schools' competition for pupils in the 15-18 age range,
judging should not be too severe in the first round. Many of those taking part
will not have debated before, and this needs to be taken into account in the
marking. Judges should, however, be careful not to award "easy" bonus
marks.
(2) Careful
attention should be given to the summaries to ensure that they properly reflect
the flow of the debate. Inadequate rebuttal / summing up and / or the
introduction of new material should be penalized.
(3) Examination
of notes should be made only where judges are reasonably certain that an
infringement of Rule 5A has occurred. Marks
under 5A should be awarded for the following:
(a) Clarity of utterance, (b)
Good eye-contact, (c) Use of gesture and body-language, (d) Use of pauses, (e)
Use of humour where appropriate (f) Overall impression created and general
level of interest maintained.
(4) (a) It
is suggested that each team's first two speeches should be given a straight
mark out of 40, allocated in the proportions shown in rules 5A and 5B. Marks
should be awarded for teamwork only if the two members of the team have clearly
dovetailed their speeches to avoid repetition. The research bonus should only
be awarded for exceptional quality but can be used for differentiating between
two otherwise equal teams. Second speakers are expected to give a
limited rebuttal of opponents’ points in their main speech. Most of this should
be saved for the summary.
(b) Marks allocated should be
announced with the result.
(5) The
Competition is intended to teach. Although it is suggested that individual
speakers are not singled out for criticism during the public adjudication, it can
obviously be very difficult to avoid this, where, say, one speaker is clearly a
weak link. Judges are asked to be as helpful as possible in giving constructive
advice and should seek to talk briefly to speakers after the debate.
(6) It is
intended that there should be three judges at each debate, one from UNA and two
from schools other than those participating. As an alternative, in the light of
possible difficulties for school judges travelling a long distance, it is
acceptable within this note for schools to agree that they will each provide a
judge for their debate, on the basis that UNA will always provide the third
judge.
(7) As a
guide to marking, a team classed as above average should receive 75 marks or
over, as average 65 -74 marks, as below average 50-64 marks.
PCD/UNA/2006.