Law Society's debating contest reaches climax
12 Jun 07
Four schools battle it out in Assembly Hall for £1,000 first prize
Young orators will battle it out for a £1,000 top prize in the final of the Law Society of Scotland’s Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament on Thursday 14 June.
Four teams have made it through to the final at the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh, home of the Scottish Parliament in its early years after devolution in 1999, to debate the motion “This House regrets the Act of Union in 1707”.
The finalists are Neil Dewar and Lauren Pringle, High School of Dundee; John Craig and Alistair Hayes, Craigmount High School, Edinburgh; Claire Crawford and Fiona Waugh, High School of Glasgow; and Gavin O’Leary and Rebecca Mackintosh, High School of Glasgow.
Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP will sit on the judging panel alongside Jon Dye, chairman of the English Speaking Union, and Kirsty Russell, journalist and judge at the World Debating Championships. Sheilagh Kesting, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, will chair the event.
In addition to the cash prize, the winning team will receive an engraved trophy for their school, and this year will also win a film-making workshop provided by the "A Union for a’ that" project. The runners up will receive £250, and each of the finalists will be awarded a commemorative quaich.
Neil Stevenson, Deputy Director of Education and Training at the Society, said: “All of the pupils have done extremely well to get to this stage of the tournament and I congratulate every one of them – we even have two teams from the same school competing in the final this year.”
The event will also see the launch of the second edition of the award-winning "Young Citizen's Passport - Your Guide to the Law", which is set to be distributed to schools across Scotland.