Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation in association with Debate Network Nepal is organizing The Liberty Debates Championship also known as MahaSangram in April 2016! This will be Nepal’s second premium British Parliamentary debate league. The first one was held by Debate Nepal Network in March 2015.
The Liberty Debates Championship is a culmination of three month long engagement of The Liberty Debate Series that began in January, 2016. These engagements all centered on themes of liberty and freedom and the championship will also largely encompass similar themes. The third and final engagement is taking place on March 25 and 26, 2016 on ‘Reservation’ at White House College, Baneshwor. You are welcome to register yourself for this engagement and learn about BP style debate, the theme and practice a round of debate during this engagement. Please forward your details to [email protected] if you are interested to join the third engagement.
However, you are eligible to apply for the Championship aka MahaSangram in April regardless of your participation in these previous engagement.
Debates are an excellent way to improve your argumentation and public speaking skills. You will also get to research and deliberate on important ideas of freedom and liberty that will make you an informed speaker! Want to know more about how can be both fun and life changing? Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJaMtU1P-3w.
Find the form for debater registration here! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19KJE8sBbGRoYRJ-QgaOd70QumQNwg9samLUOIPFDgdE/viewform
Find the form for Adjudicator registration here! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pUwKJVvInIRQn_xbnzg5Hacx_JrjaXeMLTBXggxCQpA/viewform
*There are slightly separate details that prospective adjudicators need to look at, all of which you will find enlisted in the form itself.
CHAMPIONSHIP TIMELINE
Application opens for debaters: March 10, 2016
Application opens for adjudicators: March 15, 2016
Application deadline for debaters & adjudicators both: March 23, 2016
Orientation and brief training for selected debaters: April 1, 2016
Orientation and brief training for selected adjudicators: March 31, 2016
Debate League timeline: 2-30 April, 2016
(Every Saturday 11 am to 4 pm at King’s College, Babarmahal)
Grand finale: April 30, 2016
EVENT DETAILS
Number of teams targeted in English category: 16
Number of teams targeted in Nepali category: 8
Per team: 3 debaters (2 on stage debaters, 1 substitute debater – optional) (coach/institution representative also optional)
Who can participate: High School/ Bachelors/ Masters students can team up institutionally or independently in English/ Nepali category
Maximum number of teams an institution can send: no limit
Registration fee for debating teams: Rs. 1,000 per team
(Partial Scholarship are available for needy and merit based cases)
STEPS FOR APPLICATION, SELECTION, PAYMENT, & REGISTRATION
Prospective debaters and adjudicators will have to fill in respective forms as provided above.
The selection committee will select teams based on your answers to this form.
Only upon selection, the teams are required to pay the registration fee at Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation’s office at Minbhawan, Kharibot.
On the beginning of every event day, the debaters will have to register themselves at the registration desk at the venue.
Selection Criteria:
After we receive your application, we shall be sending you a confirmation email to let you know about your selection.
Adjudication:
The judges will be very constructive and analytical to give you the critical feedback in order to enhance your performance in successive debates.
DEBATE FORMAT
Format: British Parliamentary (BP) Debate Format
Short Intro to BP (Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ype0Toqo4
Detailed Guide: http://debate.uvm.edu/dcpdf/Morgan_BP_Text.pdf
Don’t worry about the format if you are new, our short training as detailed above will make you sound enough to participate!
LEAGUE FORMAT
Each team will get to debate twice every Saturday for 4 weeks making total of 8 debates. In the end, the semi-finals and the final rounds (dependent on the number of teams registered) will be held on the basis of scores you have during the league (as awarded by adjudicators). There are 4 teams in each debate. The best performing team (i.e. team with the highest overall scores) will rank 1st and be awarded 3 points. The 2nd and 3rd ranked teams will gather 2 and 1 point/s respectively while the team that gets ranked 4th is not awarded any points.
PRIZES:
1st Prize: NRs. 30,000
Runner up: NRs. 20,000
Best Speaker: NRs. 15,000
Prizes are subjected to applicable taxes.
Additional prizes will be announced in the coming weeks.
Event convener: Labisha Uprety
Labisha Uprety is a Research and Communications Assistant at Samriddhi and the Director of Research at Debate Network Nepal. She was awarded the Best Speaker in the English Category in the first MahaSangram. She has also led projects to establish the first BP debate club in Pokhara.
Chief Adjudicator: Pradeep Ghimire
Pradeep Ghimire has been one of the senior most Nepali adjudicators, trainer and debater. Internationally, he has
judged World Schools Debating Championships 2015 Singapore, Global Health Debates 2015 Philippines and Evento International 2014 Pakistan.
For more please contact: Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation (+977)-01-446-4616 / 448-4016 or DNN at 9851233939.