University of Auckland Debating Society

Over the mid-semester break we sent a contingent of 11 teams, 10 judges and a trainee judge down to Hamilton for the New Zealand Universities Impromptu Debating Championships (Officers Cup) 2024! We are incredibly proud to announce that:

💛 Auckland 1 (Harper Smith and Grace Baylis) reached the Grand Final after breaking 1st!
💛 Auckland 2 (Melissa Connolly and Robert Donohoe) reached the Semi Finals after breaking 3rd!

💙 Grace Baylis was the best speaker!
💙 Harper Smith was 3rd= best speaker!
💙 Melissa Connolly was the 5th best speaker!
💙 Robert Donohoe was the 6th best speaker!
💙 Mannat Kaur was the 9th= best speaker!

💙 Harper Smith was the best reply speaker!
💙 Melissa Connolly was the 4th best reply speaker!
💙 Mannat Kaur was the 5th best reply speaker!

💛 Alumni Aisha O’Malley and Sharuka Wikramanayake were the Deputy Chief Adjudicators of the tournament!
💛 Life member Umbar Sandhu judged the Grand Final!
💛 Grace Belworthy chaired a Semi Final panel!
💛 Alumnus Liam Silverwood judged a Semi Final!

Congratulations to the other teams from around the country for their great performances! Huge congratulations to Victoria University of Wellington 1 for winning the tournament back to back, and Otago University 1 for reaching the Semi Final!

We are incredibly grateful to have connections with some of the best debaters in the world — thank you to the University of Sydney’s Ellie Stephenson (World Universities Debating Championship Deputy Chief Adjudicator) and Charlie Ryan (2x Australasian Intervarsity Debating Champion) and Macquarie University’s Robert Barrie (World Universities Debating Championship Deputy Chief Adjudicator) for judging for the University of Auckland.


Finally, thank you to the University of Waikato for hosting an incredibly fun weekend! We look forward to seeing everyone at Victoria University of Wellington next year!