A hearty congratulations to the two Wellington teams which competed in the Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Champs over the weekend.

For the first time since 1996, it was a Wellington v Wellington final, after both teams defeated Auckland in the semi-finals.

Eventually, Wellington Black prevailed. Congrats to Carlos Bowkett (Wellington College), Maria English (Samuel Marsden Collegiate) and Jodie O’Neil (Chilton St James School).

Commiserations to Wellington Gold – Nick Cross (Scots College), Julia Wells (Wellington East Girls’) and Jasmin Moran (Chilton St James).

The Wellington teams were coached by regular adjudicators in the WSU competitions – Polly Higbee and Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna coached Wellington Black and Kathy Scott-Dowell and Seb Templeton coached Wellington Gold.

Three Wellington debaters were named as members of the Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team – Maria English, Nick Cross, and Jasmin Moran. Jodie O’Neil received a highly commended award.

Maria was also named as the captain of the team and won the prize for the best speaker of the tournament – incredibly, for the third year in a row. She is the only person in the history of NZ schools’ debating to achieve this feat. Congratulations!

For more information, see www.debating.org.nz