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The 2nd CICAE-UCJC Preuniversity Debate Tournamentat was held at University Camilo José Cela’s Villafranca Campus in Madrid on 13 and 14 April. A total of 56 teams, 35 in Spanish and 21 in English, attended this final tournament, in which two groups from SEK Ciudalcampo School, ‘Susan B. Anthony’ and ‘Cleopatra’, won both categories. The organisation awarded the winners with a trip to Brussels, to get to know the institutions of the European Union.
Over just two years, this league, the only one in English and Spanish, has become the bilingual tournament with the highest participation in Europe. Over 430 students from year 3 Secondary School to year 2 of Baccalaureate took part in the two qualifying tournaments. Half of them managed to reach the final competition.
The second edition of this league was attended by 26 schools throughout Spain, making up 87 teams, 56 of them competing in Spanish and 31 in English. The students of the 21 schools classified for the final tournament took part in around 100 debates, in which they questioned whether the law allowing for prison without parole should be repealed.
As in the previous two tournaments, a few minutes before the start of each debate, the judges drew lots to see which team would defend the positions for or against. Among the 50 people making up the different panels of judges were speakers who are recognised for their triumphs in national and international debate contests. All of them were charged with assessing the teams and indicating where they could improve in their arguments and in communicating their positions.
On this occasion, the closing ceremony was presented by Javier de la Puerta, Director of the tournaments in Spanish and recognised debater in our country. Also taking part was Antonio Fabregat, two-time world debate champion, two-time world best speaker and academic director of the 2nd CICAE-UCJC Debate League – in addition to alumni of SEK-Ciudalcampo-; Elena Cid, General Director of CICAE; Sonsoles Escribano, Advising Director for Teaching at University Camilo José Cela, and John Gardyne, Head of Drama and Performance of Trinity College of London.
At the opening ceremony, as ambassadors of the final tournament, Antonio Garrigues Walker, criminal law expert and honorary president of the law firm Garrigues, and TV presenter Silvia Jato shared with all the participants their impressions on the initiative and advised them on how to speak in public.
With the 2nd CICAE Debate League UCJC seeks to bring the world of debate to the classroom and strengthen the learning of participants in techniques for public speaking and debate. This project was sponsored by Caser Seguros, SMART Technology, Trinity College of London and Vicens Vives.
