NJDC 2008 results

The fifth Northern Junior Debating Championship took place on Saturday 27 September. 56 teams from across the country took part.

The motions were as follows:
Round one: This House would pay pregnant women to quit smoking (pre-released)
Round two: This House would prevent employers from accessing the criminal records of potential employees except when they would be working with vulnerable groups
Round three: This House would ban gender stereotypes in advertising
Final: This House believes that western companies operating in the developing world should adhere to western labour standards

The four teams that broke to the final were:
1. Grammar School at Leeds A
2. George Heriot's Pink
3. Robert Gordon's College B
4. Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar A

The final was judged by Mhairi Murdoch, NJDC's chief adjudicator and the panel's chair; Sam Block; Doug Cochran; and Daniel Warents.

The winners were Grammar School at Leeds A. The joint-top speakers on tab were Nick Reynolds and Greg Farquhar of Leeds. We also awarded a prize for the best team aged under-14, which went to St Columba's B. The full team and speaker tabs are available to download now.

I would like to thank all of the people who put so much time and effort into making NJDC 2008 a success: our chief adjudicator, Mhairi Murdoch, who chose our very interesting motions and managed all of our judging; our tabmaster, Bob Nimmo, who expertly processed all of the results and helped us to finish so promptly; our judges, many of whom travelled long distances to lend us their expertise for the day; and the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle for kindly hosting NJDC once again.

Thanks also to all of our competing schools and their coaches/supporters that brought them.

We'll be back next year for NJDC 2009 and we hope to see many of you again then.

Best wishes,

Andrew Bellis
Convenor, NJDC 2008