Speech and Debate

About Event

Original Oratory is an individual event where the participant writes an original and factual persuasive speech and delivers it memorized. The maximum time limit for a speech is 8 Minutes. The maximum number of word that can be quoted is 150. The participant is expected to deliver the speech in a persuasive way to convince the judge of their argument.

Event Format

There will be 4 rounds followed by the Finals. Finals will be restricted to a maximum of 12 participants. The criteria for finals selection will be published the day before the start of the tournament.

The event is conducted in two Languages – English and Telugu.

Rules

  1. All direct quotations and primary sources must be cited verbally within the body of the speech (up to 150 quoted words). Use of another person’s words or ideas without crediting them is plagiarism and is strictly forbidden.
  2. No props, audio, or visual aids may be used.
  3. Profanity, obscene content, and vulgar language are strictly prohibited.
  4. The speech must be written entirely by the speaker, though quotes from verbally cited sources may be included.
  5. The time limit is 8 Minutes with a 30 second grace period. Students may request time signals from the judge, but are responsible for ensuring that their performance is within the time limit.
  6. Electronic Devices are not permitted while delivering the speeches
  7. Recording of Other participant speeches is prohibited. Violation of this rule will result in disqualification.

Topics

Participants can pick any topic of their choice for this event.

Registration Fee

The registration fee for this event is INR 1,299. Participants can avail the Early Bird Offer and register on or before April 5th for only INR 799.

Lunch and Snacks are included in the Registration fee.

Prizes

  1. Trophies and Certificates will be awarded for Top 3 winners.
  2. Best Young Speaker from Grades 9-10.
  3. All participants will get a certificate of Participation.

About Event

Public Forum Debate is a team event where two teams debate on a give topic (also called Resolution). Each team is comprised of two debaters. There are two sides of the debate: pro (Affirmation or Aff) and con (Negation or Neg). The pro team argues in favour of the resolution, while the con team will argue against the resolution.

Event Format

There will be 4 preliminary rounds followed by the three elimination rounds. Top 8 teams will compete in the Elimination rounds – Quarter Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals.

For each round, below is the order of the speeches.

Each team also gets a 3 Minutes preparation time that they can use anytime during the debate.

Constructive speeches

This is pre-written speech and presents the team's argument in favour or against the resolution. These arguments are backed up by evidence in the form of facts, quotes or citation of sources. The two speakers from each team who presented arguments then participate in a 3-minute cross-examination. The first speaker asks the first question in the cross-examination, and the rest of the cross-examination consists of each speaker asking their opponent questions.

Rebuttal speeches

The first rebuttal speaker argues against the constructive speech of the con team. The second rebuttal speaker argues against the constructive speaker of the pro team. The two speakers then engage in cross-examination.

Summary speeches

The summary speeches, given by the first two speakers, is used to both support their arguments and to refute their opponents. The summary speeches are followed by the cross-examination in which all speakers can participate.

Final Arguments

The final arguments, given by the second speakers, is used to convince the jury why the speaker's team should win the debate. Debaters are not allowed to bring up new material in final arguments.

Preparation time

Preparation time can be taken in between speeches or at other times. Each team may use the other team's prep time for their preparation, however, the time is only taken from the team that decided to take prep time.

Rules

  1. Pairing will be done at random for the preliminary rounds.
  2. In each round, a team is adjudged as the winner along with assigning points for each speaker. Each speaker can get a maximum of 30 points.
  3. After the preliminary rounds, top 8 teams will be ranked from 1-8.
    1. The pairings for Quarter finals will be: 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5.
    2. Winner of 1-8 will compete with winner of 4-5 in Semi-finals while winner of 2-7 will compete with winner of 3-6.
    3. The two winners of semi-finals will compete in the finals.
    4. Both the losing teams of the semi-finals will be awarded the 3rd place.
  4. If two teams are tied for a position, the following procedure if followed for breaking the tie
    1. The team with highest number of speaker points from the rounds they won
    2. The team with the highest number of speaker points from the rounds they lost
    3. If teams are still tied after the above two criteria, the positions will be decided by lots.
  5. Each team will get two opportunities each in the preliminary round to Defend and Argue against the resolution
  6. The pro and con sides in the elimination round is assigned with a coin flip.
  7. Visual Aids are permitted during the session.
  8. Laptops are allowed during the session but mobile device usage is not permitted.
  9. Recording of Other participant speeches is prohibited. Violation of this rule will result in disqualification.

Topics

Below is the topic for the event:

“It is beneficial to have simultaneous elections for State Legislative Assemblies and Lok Sabha in India.”

Registration Fee

The registration fee for this event is INR 2,599. Participants can avail the Early Bird Offer and register on or before April 5th for only INR 1,599.

Lunch and Snacks are included in the Registration fee.

Prizes

  1. Trophies and Certificates will be awarded for Top 4 winners.
  2. Best Young Debate Team from Grades 9-10.
  3. All participants will get a certificate of Participation.

About Event

Parliament Debate is an individual event where the participant delivers a speech on a bill either in favour or against the bill. The event is conducted in sessions with a maximum of 12 participants in each session. In each session, multiple bills are debated, and a resolution is finally voted on to pass or reject the bill.

Event Format

There will be two sessions followed by the Super Session. Super Session will be restricted to 12 participants. The criteria for Super Session selection will be published the day before the start of the tournament.

  1. The session will be moderated by the a Presiding Officer who is also part of the Jury.
  2. Each participant is allowed a 3-minute speech which will be followed by 2 min of Q&A Session.
  3. The session will start with a speech which is in favour of the bill. This will be followed by a speech against the bill. After the first two speeches, the order of the speeches will be decided by the Presiding Officer.
  4. There will no more than two consecutive speeches of the same category – In favour or against the bill.
  5. During Q&A after each speech, participants are encouraged to ask brief questions and may only ask one question at a time. Two-part/multiple-part questions are not allowed.
  6. The questions in the Q&A session should not be used to re-iterate their view. This will result in negative points
  7. During Questioning, no new statistic can be introduced, and they can only refer to the information previously mentioned by other participants.

Rules

  1. Visual Aids are permitted during the session.
  2. Laptops are allowed during the session but mobile device usage is not permitted.
  3. Profanity, obscene content, and vulgar language are strictly prohibited.
  4. The speech must be written entirely by the speaker, though quotes from verbally cited sources may be included.
  5. The time limit is 3 Minute with a 30 second grace period. Students may request time signals from the judge but are responsible for ensuring that their performance is within the time limit.
  6. Recording of Other participant speeches is prohibited. Violation of this rule will result in disqualification.

Topics

Please click here to download the bills for this event.

Registration Fee

The registration fee for this event is INR 1,299. Participants can avail the Early Bird Offer and register on or before April 5th for only INR 799.

Lunch and Snacks are included in the Registration fee.

Prizes

  1. Trophies and Certificates will be awarded to the top 3 winners.
  2. Best Young Speaker from Grades 9-10.
  3. All participants will get a certificate of Participation.
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Thank you all for attending! The event has now been completed. We hope you enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you at our next one. Stay tuned for updates!

📅 Date: 12th April 2025

📍 Venue: Rockwell International School, Hyderabad.

🎓 Grades: 9 – 12, Inter 1st Year, Inter 2nd Year.

 𝄜  Last Date for Registration: 10th April 2025