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Regional Victoria Debating Competitions

In light of the uncertainty resulting from the recently announced return to stage 3 restrictions, the DAV Executive has made the difficult decision to extend the suspension of all face to face programs to the end of term 3. We will provide a further update reagrding Term 4 when we have more information. Alternatively, regional schools are welcome to register for our online debating competitions. Please visit the main Schools page for more information.

The Debaters Association of Victoria runs Regional Debating Competitions in a number of regional centres across Victoria (and occasionally a competition across the border in NSW). We provide both training and debate opportunities for students residing across Victoria, with experienced adjudicators and trainers. For more information about this program, please download our information sheet.

If your school would like to host a regional debating competition, please contact us at debater@dav.com.au for more details.

Regions:

In 2020, the program will be run in the following regions;

Region	Host School	Training Date	Competition Date	Registration
Border	Wodonga Middle Years College, Felltimber Campus - 8 Hedgerow Ct, West Wodonga	TBC	TBC	Registration Closed
Churchill	Kurnai College (cnr Monash Way & Northways Rd, Churchill)	TBC	TBC	Registration Closed
Echuca / Moama	TBC	TBC	TBC	Registration Closed
Gippsland	Gippsland Grammar School - Princes Highway, Sale	TBC	TBC	Registration Closed
Three Rivers Round 1	St. Mary of the Angels, Chapel St, Nathalia	Thursday 18th February	Tuesday 16th March	Registration Closed
Three Rivers Round 2	Notre Dame College - 139 Knight St, Shepparton	TBC	TBC	Registration Closed
Three Rivers Round 3	St. Mary of the Angels, Chapel St, Nathalia	TBC	Friday 27th August	Registration Open
Three Rivers Round 4	Notre Dame College - 139 Knight St, Shepparton	TBC	TBC	Registration Closed
Hamilton	Monivae College - 33 Ballarat Rd, Hamilton (Training Day) Hamilton and Alexandra College - 1 Chaucer St, Hamilton (Debating Day)	Tuesday 10th August	Tuesday 24th August	Registration Open
Horsham	Holy Trinity Lutheran College, 25 Trinity Dr, Horsham	TBC	TBC	Registration Closed
Mallee	Ouyen P-12 College - 1-35 Fuller St, Ouyen VIC	Tuesday 5th October	Wednesday 6th October	Registration Open
Wangaratta	Cathedral College - 344 Wangaratta-Whitfield Rd, Wangaratta	TBC	TBC	Registration Closed
Warrnambool	Emmanuel College (Ardlie St, Warrnambool)	TBC	TBC	Registration Closed

What's involved? :

The program is run over two days. The first is an optional half-day training session for students who have little or no experience of debating.  The training session introduces students to debating and covers topics such as the rules and format of debating Australian 3-on-3 debating, methods of preparation and effective debating strategies.  Students are also given a opportunities to practice their skills in the lead-up to the competition day, while receiving expert advice from DAV trainers and adjudicators. 

The second day is a competition day.  Each team will debate in three rounds. In both divisions, two of the topics will be prepared topic (released with the draw several weeks before the day). The Year 7 and 8 division will include an advised topic, where the subject area of the topic will be released with the draw, but the exact wording of the topic will not be released until an hour before the debate. The Year 9 and 10 division will include a secret topic.

Style:
Australian 3-on-3 style (See the Australasian Debating Guide in the "Resources") - three speakers debate for each team.

How much will it cost? :
$30 DAV membership fee (if the school has not yet participated in any other DAV activities this year), and $160 per team (between 4-7 students).  This fee covers one training session and one competition day.

If you would like your students to attend only the training session, or a second training session, the cost is $TBC per 7 students as well as the $30 DAV membership fee (if not previously paid).

N.B. Due to Commonwealth Government funding, the Mallee Regional Debating Competition is free for all schools.

Why Debate?
Debating is an invaluable skill for students:

• it promotes confidence and effective public presentation
• it encourages logical and critical thinking, social awareness and an interest in current affairs
• it is multi-disciplinary: debating techniques can be used in all subject areas.
• its benefits extend through all aspects of the school curriculum
• It is well directed to the "Communication" and "Thinking" domains of VELS. More specifically, it addresses the "Speaking and Listening", "Listening, Viewing and Responding", "Presenting", "Reasoning, Process and Inquiry" dimensions of VELS and VCE English