Rules of Debating Contests

• Adult Debating
• Intercollegiate Debating
• Rules for Debating — All Grades

1. SUBCOMMITTEES

(b) Such members of the Subcommittees who are not also duly elected Committee Members of Wellington Speaking Union will have no rights other than those inherent in the role of a member of a subcommittee.

(c) The deliberations of the Debating Subcommittees will not be minuted but The Wellington Speaking Union President as Chairman of both subcommittees (or his delegate) will provide a summary of decisions reached, preferably in writing, at the next ordinary Committee Meeting after a meeting of a subcommittee so that this summary can be included into the Minutes of that meeting.

(d) The Debating Subcommittees are not Appeal Committees. Any appeal against any alleged breach of these Rules or any other Rule of the Wellington Speaking Union will be made to the Appeal Committee of the Wellington Speaking Union.

2. DATES

(b) The Interclub Debating Subcommittee will provide motions and sides for all Interclub debates within the Wellington Speaking Unions's debating competitions.

(c) Except in the case of elimination debates, the motion, side and, where appropriate, the venue for each debate in the Interclub debating competitions shall be made known at least three (3) weeks in advance by the Convenor mailing to the team contact for each team concerned.

(d) The Management Committee of The Wellington Speaking Union shall provide a panel of three (3) adjudicators and a chairman for the final debate of all Interclub debating competitions.

(e) In all debates, other than the grade final, it will be the responsibility of the host (i.e. Affirmative) team to provide both a chairman and an adjudicator who are acceptable to both teams.

If contact has been made between the two teams involved but arrangements have not been finalised by ten days before the debate is to be held, this fact must be reported to the grade Convenor by the Affirmative team.

If no contact has been made with the Negative team by the Affirmative team ten days before the debate is to be held, this fact must be reported to the grade Convenor by the Negative team.

In either case, the grade Convenor may, up to five days before the debate is to be held, decide the chairman and/or adjudicator for the debate if this has not already been arranged to the satisfaction of both teams. The Convenor's decision will, in such circumstances, be final.

(f) Any team which objects to a motion provided by the Interclub Debating Subcommittee for the final of an Interclub Debating contest may appeal to the Management Committee within three working days of the receipt of the motion. The Management Commitshall arrange a hearing of the protest before the Appeal Committee within five working days of the notification of the protest.

3. INTERCLUB PREMIER GRADE AND PREMIER RESERVE GRADE

(b) The Management Committee shall set the maximum number of teams permitted to enter the Premier and Premier Reserve Grades respectively in any one year at eight, provided that the Management Committee at its discretion may vary this number. The Selection Committee hereafter established shall be responsible to recommend to the Management Committee any variation in this number.

(c) In each year the Management Committee shall appoint a Selection Committee to approve the entries of those teams which seek entry to the Premier and Premier Reserve Grades. The Selection Committee shall assess the abilities of each team against the standard of performance expected in the Premier or Preimer Reserve Grades. No person who is seeking admittance to tthe Premier or Premier Reserve Grades shall be a member of the Selection Committee.

(d) Any team which has been denied entry by the Selection Committee to the Premier or Premier Reserve Grades shall have the right to appeal the decision before the Appeal Committee of The Wellington Speaking Union. Such appeal shall be made within five working days following the receipt of the decision of the Selection Committee. The Management Committee shall arrange a sitting of the Appeal Committee within five working days of the notification of any appeal.

(e) Each month the Premier Grade debates will be held at a mutually agreed time and venue provided that these debates will have been completed on or before the set date.

In exceptional circumstances, the Convenor may agree to a debate, other ttan the final debate of the competition, being held after the originally specified date. Before making a decision on a request to agree to deferral of a debate under this rule, the Convenor will seek and have regard to the views of both teams concerned.

(f) Teams in the Premier Grade and Premier Reserve Grade shall consist of three to four members nominated by affiliated clubs and accepted by the Interclub Selection Committee. In any debate throughout the season at least two of the nominated members concerned must debate.

In the final only members nominated before 1 July may debate.

Changes to nominated members will be accepted only in exceptional circumstances. If a person other than a nominated member participates in a debate that person is deemed to be a member of that team and no other replacement may be permitted during that season.

(g) The Premier Grade and the Premier Reserve Grade will be contested on a "three-life" system whereby the losing of a debate means the loss of a "life". When any team has lost all "lives" it is ineligible to debate further in the relevant competition for the remainder of that year. The final debate for each competition will take place between the two teams who are still eligible to debate at that time and will be awarded to the winning team regardless of how many "lives" either team possessed prior to the Final debate. Should there be more than two teams with "lives" within 28 days of the date of the Final, the Interclub Debating Subcommittee will arrange elimination debates to reduce the teams eligible to two.

No team which has previously received a bye shall receive another bye until all other teams in the competition have received a bye.

A condition of debating in the Premier Grade shall be that each debater will adjudicate at least one Wellington Speaking Union Interclub or Intercollegiate debate per month during the debating season. Should a debater persist in not fulfilling this obligation the debater shall forfeit, at the discretion of the Management Committee, their right to debate in the Premier and Premier Reserve Grades for that year.

A condition of debating in the Premier or Premier Reserve Grades shall be that each debater is prepared to undertake such training in adjudication as the Management Committee deems appropriate.

4. INTERCLUB A AND B GRADES

(b) The A and B Grade competitions will be contested on the basis that all teams will be scheduled to contest (3) debates and teams will then be selected to participate in subsequent rounds of each competetion on a "knockout" basis. The manner in which the teams which proceed to the subsequent rounds of the competition are to be selected will be determined by the Interclub Debating Subcommittee and advised to the teams concerned.

(c) All A and B Grade debates will ordinarily take place on one night per grade in each month. However any two teams may conduct a debate at any other venue or time provided that the change of venue and time is agreed to by both teams and that the debateis concluded on the date set by the Management Committee.

(d) In exceptional circumstances, the Convenor for the grade concerned may agree to a debate, other than the final of the competition, being held after the date originally notified. Before making a decision on a request for deferral of a debate under thisrule, the Convenor will seek and have regard to the views of both teams concerned. Unless the agreement of the Convenor has been obtained under this rule to defer the debate, any debate not concluded by the date of the debating evening set by the Management Committee will result in both teams being defaulted or, if it can be established which team caused the default, only that team.

Preparation Debating

5. CONTEST FOR THE ROSTRUM ROSEBOWL FOR LIMITED PREPARATION DEBATING

(b) There shall be a sub-committee of the Management Committee of the Wellington Speaking Union known as the LPD Organising Committee. It shall consist of the President and the Debating Convenors of the Wellington Speaking Union.

Any member of the LPD Organising Committee whose team applies to compete may not contribute to selection of teams. Any member of the Organising Committee whose team is selected to compete may not be involved in the selection of motions.

(c) The LPD Organising Committee shall arrange:

• Date, time and location of the events
• One adjudicator for each preliminary debate
• Three adjudicators for the final debate
• Entries
• Selection of competing teams if needed
• The draw. An informal "seeding" of contesting teams may be applied.
• Motions, one for each round.

(d) The Wellington Speaking Union Rules for Premier Grade Debating and the 1991 Guidelines of the NZ Debating Council shall apply to the conduct of debates.

(e) Teams of three, with an option of one alternative, shall be nominated to the LPD Organising Committee.

(f) In the event that there are more than eight applications to enter, selection shall be on the basis of merit.

(g) The motions shall be provided in writing to the teams a minimum of thirty minutes before the beginning of each debate. Teams may consult whatever reference material they wish, but they may not consult with people who are not team members.

(h) The contest shall proceed on a knockout basis.

(i) Any appeal relating to the contest shall be received by the President of the Wellington Speaking Union who shall convene an Appeal Committee which will consider the appeal and report to the Wellington Speaking Union Committee.

Intercollegiate Debating

For further information on the Intercollegiate Debating Contests, contact the Intercollegiate Convenors.

Prepared Debating Contest

The prepared debating contest is organised into two grades: the competitive and non-competitive (i.e. experience only) grades.

At the beginning of the school year the colleges are invited to enter teams in this contest. A college may enter:

• one Premier A team (generally 5th, 6th or 7th Form)
• one Senior Premier B team (generally 5th, 6th or 7th Form)
• one Junior Premier Team (restricted to 3rd and 4th Forms)
• up to two teams in each of the senior and junior certificate grades.

The Premier A Grade Intercollegiate Trophy is the John F Henning Cup presented by Mr Henning in 1969 when he was U.S Ambassador to New Zealand.

The Senior Premier B Intercollegiate cup is the Fred McComish Trophy presented to The Wellington Speaking Union in recognition of the great contribution made by Fred McComish to the cause of Public Speaking over many years.

The Junior Premier cup is the Glen Wiggs Trophy presented by Glen Wiggs, a Life Member, to promote debating in the colleges around Wellington.

In 1992, new trophies were purchased for the Junior and Senior Certificate Grades. The Senior Certificate cup was named the Rennie Trophy in recognition of Iain Rennie's services to Intercollegiate Debating. The Junior Certificate Trophy is called the Wellington Speaking Union Cup

INTERCOLLEGIATE DEBATING COMMITTEE

(a) There is hereby established a sub-committee of The Wellington Speaking Union, to be known as "The Intercollegiate Debating Committee". The Committee shall administer all inter-collegiate debating and public speaking within the jurisdiction of The Wellington Speaking Union.

(b) A member of the Management Committee shall be appointed by that Committee as Chairman of the Intercollegiate Debating Committee. The chairman shall be known as "The Inter-collegiate Convenor" and shall be responsible for liaising between the two Committees and for supervising the activities of the Intercollegiate Debating Committee.

(c) The Committee hereby established shall comprise the Intercollegiate Convenor, the Convenors of all intercollegiate debating grades, and up to three other members. The Convenors and other members of the Committee shall be appointed by the Management Committee in consultation with the Intercollegiate Convenor.

(d) The deliberations of the Committee will not be minuted but the chairman will provide a summary of decisions reached to the next meeting of the Management Committee.

THE PREPARED DEBATING COMPETITIONS

1 DEBATING ENTRIES

(b) Each college may enter one team in each of the three premier grades: The Senior Premier A Grade, the Senior Premier B Grade and the Junior Premier Grade.

Teams in the Senior Premier A Grade shall compete for the John F Henning Cup; teams in the Senior Premier B Grade for the Fred McComish Trophy and teams in the Junior Premier Grade for the Glen Wiggs Trophy.

(c) Each college may enter two teams in each of the non-trophy grades: the Senior Certificate Grade and the Junior Certificate Grade.

The emphasis in the Certificate Grades is designed to be less competitive and more to enable students to gain experience in debating.

(d) The Junior Premier and Junior Certificate Grades are restricted to third and fourth form pupils.

The Senior Grades are restricted to fifth, sixth and seventh form pupils. However in exceptional circumstances, with the permission of the Intercollegiate Convenor, pupils from lower forms may be included.

2. PRELIMINARY ROUNDS

(b) Topics and Sides:

i. Prepared topics will be notified to teams at the beginning of the debating season. The college named on the left-hand side of each draw will take the Affirmative of that topic, and the college named on the right-hand side will take the Negative.

ii. Teams must debate the topic and the side they are allocated. Provided, that teams may agree upon a new topic, subject to this being approved by the appropriate Grade Convenor. Further provided, that a team may appeal the topic or side it has been allocated to the Inter-collegiate Convenor, such appeal to be made no later than two weeks before the debate is scheduled to be held.

(c) Host Colleges:

i. The college named on the left-hand side of each draw will host that debate.

ii. The host college is responsible for arranging the venue, the chairman of the debate (a senior pupil may exercise this role), and the adjudicator. These arrangements are subject to the agreement of the other team.

iii. The host college should contact the other team at least two weeks before the debate is due to be held so as to finalise arrangements. If the other team has not been contacted by then it should contact the host college. If arrangements have not beenfinalised one week before the debate is due to be held this fact should be reported to the Grade Convenor, who may take such action as he or she deems appropriate.

(d) Adjudicators:

The adjudicator may be selected from The Wellington Speaking Union's "Adjudicators' List" or may be any other person agreed to by both teams. The host college shall supply the adjudicator with a copy of The Wellington Speaking Union's "Marking Schedule for Adjudicators". The Grade Convenor should be contacted for suggestions if there are difficulties in obtaining and adjudicator.

3. DEADLINES FOR DEBATES

(a) All teams must adhere to the deadlines for the completion of each round of the debates as set out in the "Intercollegiate Debating Timetable".

(b) A debate may be held after the deadline for the completion of that round only if an extension is granted by the Grade Convenor. Such an extension shall be granted only in exceptional circumstances. These circumstances are limited to:

i. a legitimate and exceptional circumstance notified well in advance of the deadline for that round; and

ii. an emergency situation (e.g. death, or severe illness) which arises.

Grade convenors will be reluctant to grant extensions.

(c) Unless an extension has been granted, if a debate is not held on or before the day of the deadline for that round, both teams in that debate will be defaulted or, if the Grade Convenor can establish which team caused the default, that team will be defaulted.

4. DEFAULTS

(b) A team which defaults a debate must give reasonable notice of this fact to the opposing team. A team which defaults a debate and fails to give such reasonable notice in the absence of an emergency situation having arisen shall be removed from the Grade in which it is entered by the Grade Convenor and shall not be entitled to contest any further debates for that season.

(c) A Team which defaults two debates, for any reason, shall be removed from the Grade in which it is entered by the Grade Convenor and shall not be entitled to contest any further debates for that season.

(d) A team may appeal against a decision made under (b) or (c) above to the Intercollegiate Convenor.

5. NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS

6. SELECTION OF QUARTER-FINALISTS

7 ELIMINATION ROUNDS

8 CONDUCT OF DEBATES

9 APPEALS

(b) Any matter may be appealed to the Intercollegiate Convenor. He or she may refer appropriate matters to the Intercollegiate Debating Appeal Committee.

THE IMPROMPTU DEBATING COMPETITION

1 ENTRIES

(b) There shall be a senior division and a junior division in the competition. The senior division is restricted to fifth, sixth and seventh form pupils. The junior division is restricted to third and fourth form pupils.

(c) Each college may enter one team in each division.

(d) The competition shall be held on a knockout basis.

2 RULES OF THE COMPETITION

(b) For each debate two subjects shall be placed in an envelope.

(c) A coin shall be tossed by the chairman and the team winning the toss may choose the subject or the side of the debate. The team with the choice of subject shall be given the envelope containing the two subjects and shall have one minute to determwhich of the two subjects shall be debated. Thereafter the other team shall have one minute to decide whether it shall affirm or negate the subject chosen.

(d) From the time when subjects are determinded, the Affirmative shall have three minutes preparation before their Leader opens their case.

(e) Speaking times shall be four minutes for each speaker, with two minute replies by each Leader, the Affirmative Leader having the final reply.

(f) There shall be onme warning bell one minute before the expiration of time for all speeches. There shall be two bells to signal the expiration of time for all speeches.

THE PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION

ENTRIES

(b) Each college may enter up to two contestants in the competition.

(c) In the event of there being more than ten contestants in the competition, a preliminary competition shall be conducted in order to select ten contestants for the final. Provided that the Intercollegiate Convenor may vary this provision at his or discretion.

(d) The final of the competition shall be judged by a panel of three adjudicators. The adjudicators shall retire to consider their decision privately, which shall be determined by a majority vote. All adjudicators shall be invited to comment on the competition. The chairman of the panel shall annnounce the winner of the competition and the second and third placings.

2. RULES OF THE COMPETITION

(b) The cup shall be awarded to the contestant who, in the opinion of the adjudicators, best presents and develops his or her subject.

(c) The order of speaking shall be determined by lot.

(d) The duration of speeches shall be not less than six minutes nor mor than eight minutes. Any contestant who speakes for less than six minute shall be disqualified. Adjudicators shall be required to deduct marks from contestants who, in their opinion,fail to conclude their speech within a reasonable time after the final bell has sounded.

(e) There shall be a warning bell at six minutes and two bells at eight minutes to signal the expiration of time.

(f) The use of notes shall be permitted.

(g) Interjections shall not be permitted.

Rules for the Conduct of Debates — All Grades

2. The Order of Speakers and Speaking times shall be as follows. The speaking times are expressed in minutes.

	INTERCLUB		INTERCOLLEGIATE
	Premier	A and B	Sen Prem A	All Other
The Main Speeches
Leader of Affirmative	10	10	8	6
Leader of Negative	10	10	8	6
Affirmative 2nd Speaker	10	10	8	6
Negative 2nd Speaker	10	10	8	6
Affirmative 3rd Speaker	10	10	8	6
Negative 3rd Speaker	10	10	8	6
The Summaries
Negative	6	5	4	3
Affirmative	6	5	4	3

3. The conduct and control of the debate shall be the responsibility of the Chairman.

4. The Chairman shall keep the speaking times and give the following warning signals:

(a) One ring of the bell (or some other device) two minutes before the expiration of time for all speeches.

(b) Two rings of the bell (or some other device) at the expiration of time for all speeches.

5. The Summary may be delivered by either the Leader or the second speaker.

6. Speaking times shall be calculated by excluding from the time allowed, any time taken up by Points of Order or any other interruption to the speeches.

7. The Chairman shall permit occasional relevant interjections from the audience but should prevent heckling or frequent interjections which might upset a speaker's delivery.

8. Members of the teams should refrain from interjections during the debate.

9. Points of Order may be made on the following grounds only:

(a) That the speaker or any person present is conducting himself in an unseemly manner.

(b) That the speaker is using personal abuse or offensive language.

(c) That the speaker is misquoting an earlier speaker on a material point in the debate.

(d) That the Leader, in his reply, is introducing new matter into the debate.

(e) That the speaker is introducing material clearly not relevant to the subject of the debate (e.g. comments on how the subject was selected.)

(f) That any of the Rules for the conduct of the debate is not being observed.

10. A Point of Order may be raised by the speaker then speaking or by any other member of the two teams during the debate.

11. The Chairman should rule on the Point of Order without debate but may, if he is in doubt, allow members of the two teams to speak briefly to the Point of Order, and the Chairman may stop the discussion at any time.

12. The Chairman must rule one way or the other on any Point of Order which is properly raised.

13. When a Point of Order is raised, the speaker shall resume his seat until the Chairman has delivered his ruling, except for the time when he is speaking to the Point of Order if permitted to do so by the Chairman.

14. A Point of Order shall be allowed only if it is raised during or immediately after the breach.

15. A speaker whose remarks have been misunderstood shall not be permitted to make an explanation except at the end of the speech in which he claims he has been misrepresented.

16. The Adjudicator shall judge the debate fairly and impartially and disregard any prejudice of the audience. The Adjudicator shall name the winning team and place the three best speakers in order of merit and, if requested, shall advise the teams of the marks allotted to each team and to each speaker. As speakers are expected to end their speeches within the time allowed (the completion of a sentence commenced before the expiry of time being permitted, however). Adjudicators are expected to reduce the speaker's marks for undue running-over of time.

17. The finals of each Interclub and Intercollegiate debating competition shall be adjudicated by three adjudicators. Before the adjudicators may retire to prepare the delivery of their adjudication, each adjudicator shall pass their decisions as to the w inning team, to the Chairman.

18. Any dispute regarding conduct or any other question should be referred to the Union's Appeal Committee for decision. The decision shall be binding, and may not override these Rules.

End of Rules