# World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships

The World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships (WIDPSC) is an annual English language debating and public speaking tournament for individual high school-level students representing different countries. It is the public speaking equivalent of the World Schools Debating Championships.
The most recent event was hosted in April 2024 by the Canberra Girls Grammar School in Canberra, Australia and crowned Canada's Anna Gage as the overall world champion. The 2025 edition of the event is slated to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a locale known for its disregard for basic human rights and unsafe for minorities, and the first time the nation will serve as host for competition and marking WIDPSC's first Asian host since Hong Kong in 2015.

## History

The tournament was founded in 1988 by Reading Blue Coat School, St. John's-Ravenscourt School, the Debating Association of New England Independent Schools, Taunton School, Queen Anne's School, and The English School, Nicosia. It was one of the first international competitions to individually rank high school-level students in debating and public speaking. The tournament was founded the same year as the World Schools Debating Championships to respond to the desire for an equivalent competition for public speaking at the international level.
The first Worlds was hosted by Reading Blue Coat School in Reading, England and continued to be hosted in England until 1995. The late 1990s saw the tournament's hosts began to cycle through different countries, with Argentina hosting in 1998, Botswana hosting in 1999, and Cyprus hosting in 2000.

## Format
### Organization

The tournament usually takes five to six days, with two to three rounds of events daily. The opening day of the tournament involves opening ceremonies and a guest speaker. The last two days do not involve any regular competition, except for those advancing to the final rounds. These days are occupied by a full day excursion or activity, and a formal closing banquet that involves the grand finals and awards ceremony. The grand finals of the tournament are considered to be a display of the tournament's best competitors. Some notable past locations of the grand finals have included the Utah State Capitol, Seimas of Lithuania and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. Competitors also partake in other activities and outings organized by the host school during the week. These often involve exploring the city of the tournament.
Competitors must compete in four out of five events: parliamentary debate, impromptu speaking, interpretive reading, and either persuasive speaking or after-dinner speaking. Students compete in two preliminary rounds for each event. This is followed by a round of finals with approximately the top 10% of competitors competing. This is followed by a Grand Final show round, with the top two or three speakers in each character (the top 4 for debating).

### Adjudication and Ranking

Adjudication for the tournament consists of members of the general public invited as judges, as well as one coach judge per room. Prior to the tournament, the host school will publicize the tournament and individuals locally associated with public speaking and debating and the host school will volunteer to judge. These individuals then participate in one or more training workshops. Scores are reviewed by a committee of coaches and experienced officials to discern for bias. The rationale behind this selection method stems from the founders' intent to assess ability on the basis of speaking to the 'common man or woman', not a specialized individual. Each competitor is judged by 40 to 50 judges by the end of the competition.
The top seven to twelve competitors in each event advance to final rounds, and the top two (or four for debate) competitors in the finals advance to the grand finals. Categorical rankings are decided on performance in the grand finals and finals. The final rounds are judged by coaches whose students are not in the category they are adjudicating. The overall ranking is based solely on the combined results of the preliminary rounds.
In 2023, it was decided that the overall champion of the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships would receive the John Robinson Award – an award commemorating the founder of this international competition, John Robinson.
A notable difference between the WIDPSC and the World Schools Debating Championships – the parallel major international competition which specializes in debating rather than public speaking – is that WSDC's primary focus is on the ranking of each country's team as opposed to each individual participant's ranking. Accordingly, students at the WIDPSC often compete against fellow members of their country's team. WSDC is a different format of debate with three per side. WIDPSC debate format is two per side.

## Participants

Students from numerous countries have participated in the tournament, including: Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, the United States, England, South Africa, Lithuania, Pakistan, Cyprus, Argentina, Eswatini, Botswana, Israel, India, South Korea, Zimbabwe Germany and United Arab Emirates . Additionally, foreign nationals enrolled at schools abroad often compete, but are not officially recognized as representing an additional country. Usually participants are in their last two years of high school.
Competitors can qualify in several ways. These are: through direct application to their national debating and/or public speaking organization, through a national tournament, or if they belong to one of the founding schools, by their decision. Countries that have a more established debating and public speaking program often use qualifying competitions, which are extremely competitive. This is the method currently used by South Korea, Canada, the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, and South Africa. Alternatively, those with nascent or smaller programs rely on a handful of schools to select and send members; this includes Cyprus, Germany, and Pakistan.
Additionally, half of the team from the United States and Canada qualify through the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Championships. This competition is restricted to independent schools, and is of a similar format but of lesser significance and does not have competitor qualification requirements.

## Governance

The championships is managed by The Independent Public Speaking Association, or IPSA. The IPSA is composed of schools and leagues that participate in the tournament on a regular basis. The organization's predominant responsibility is to oversee the tournament, and decisions about Worlds are made by general consensus at an annual general meeting. IPSA is not involved in the particulars of each tournament, and aside from a basic rubric, host schools have considerable freedom in the tournament's execution.
IPSA also contains an Executive Council composed of the founding schools and schools that have attended three out of five years and hosted the competition. The Executive Council acts in an advisory capacity to host schools and when IPSA is unable to convene. It is responsible for the tournament's long-term sustainability.

## Past Championships

| Year | Host School | Venue | Overall Winner |
| 1988 | Reading Blue Coat School | Reading, England | Joel Hechter |
| 1989 | Reading Blue Coat School and Queen Anne's School | Reading, England | Rob Goffin |
| 1990 | Reading Blue Coat School and Queen Anne's School | Reading, England | Atul Verma |
| 1991 | Taunton School | Somerset, England | James Priory |
| 1992 | Aylesbury Grammar School | Aylesbury, England | David Gratzer |
| 1993 | Reading Blue Coat School and Queen Anne's School | Reading, England | Gary Harding |
| 1994 | Taunton School | Somerset, England | Jessica Riley |
| 1995 | The English School, Nicosia | Nicosia, Cyprus | Alex Michaelides |
| 1996 | Reading Blue Coat School | Reading, England | Luke Jones |
| 1997 | Taunton School | Somerset, England | Joanne McNally |
| 1998 | Northlands School | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Michael Kives |
| 1999 | Maru a Pula School | Gaborone, Botswana | Michael Kives |
| 2000 | The English School, Nicosia | Nicosia, Cyprus | Kristopher Ade |
| 2001 | Queen Anne's School | Reading, England | Elliot Tapper |
| 2002 | Michaelhouse | Balgowan, South Africa | Daniel Wilner |
| 2003 | Queen Anne's School | Reading, England | Rowan Dorin |
| 2004 | Wasatch Academy | Salt Lake City, United States | Sarah Mortazavi |
| 2005 | The English School, Nicosia | Nicosia, Cyprus | Zahid Sunderani |
| 2006 | The Hotchkiss School | Lakeville, United States | Shakir Rahim |
| 2007 | Diocesan College (Bishops) | Cape Town, South Africa | Shakir Rahim |
| 2008 | Max-Born-Gymnasium and Lessing-Gymnasium | Backnang / Winnenden, Germany | Seth Rosenberg |
| 2009 | Reading Blue Coat School | Reading, England | Edward Hicks |
| 2010 | Educational Debate Centre Lithuania | Druskininkai, Lithuania | Zeenia Framroze |
| 2011 | Moreton Bay Boys' College | Brisbane, Australia | Nic Martin |
| 2012 | Moreton Bay Boys' College | Brisbane, Australia | Ryan Pistorius |
| 2013 | Clifton School | Durban, South Africa | Connor Campbell |
| 2014 | Educational Debate Centre Lithuania | Druskininkai, Lithuania | Daniel Huang |
| 2015 | Hong Kong Schools’ Debating and Public Speaking Community | Hong Kong, Hong Kong | Samantha Starkey |
| 2016 | Shady Side Academy | Pittsburgh, United States | Natalie Ganzhorn |
| 2017 | Ravenswood School for Girls | Sydney, Australia | Olivia Railton |
| 2018 | Diocesan College (Bishops) | Cape Town, South Africa | Eleanor Lawton-Wade and Megan Campbell (tie) |
| 2019 | Branksome Hall | Toronto, Canada | Anna Croxon |
| 2020 | N/A | Online | Rohan Naidoo |
| 2021 | Leaders Academy | Online | Ruby Grinberg |
| 2022 | The Country Day School | Online | Maria Ivoditova |
| 2023 | Clifton School | Durban, South Africa | Erick Yang |
| 2024 | Canberra Girls Grammar School | Canberra, Australia | Anna Gage |

## Past Individual Event Winners

| Year | Categories | Categories | Categories | Categories | Categories |
| Year | Parliamentary Debate | Impromptu Speaking | Interpretive Reading | Persuasive Speaking | After-dinner Speaking |
| 2010 | Jessica Hichens | Thomas Diment | Adam Litman | Saad Sohail | George Alexander Charalambous |
| 2011 | Tom Diment | Cameron Ewing | Kristine Ramsbottom | Heather Pickerell | Oliver Kelham |
| 2012 | Connor Campbell | Priyanka Sekhar | Lucien Wang | Natasha Dusabe | Neil Kemister |
| 2013 | Joseph Kahn | Nicolo Marzaro | Ryan Sherbo | Eleonora Lekaviciute | Emily Leijer |
| 2014 | Christopher Skriols | Emma Buckland | Stephanie Fennell | Lulutho Ngcongolo | Brendan Allan |
| 2015 | Olivia Railton | Anant Butala | Imaan Kherani | Desmond Fairall | Shimali De Silva |
| 2016 | Eric Tang | Elizabeth Roberts | Nicole Sung | Rowan Mockler | Angela Xiao |
| 2017 | Olivia Railton | Liam Brown | Lucas Irwin | Jacqueline Farrel | James Morphakis |
| 2018 | Thomas Willingham | Auran Vatan | Zaki Lakhani | Samuel Roach | John van Niekerk |
| 2019 | Andrei Comloson | Lilian Borger | Julia Nhawu | Anna Croxon | Markandeya Karthik |
| 2020 | Rohan Naidoo | Thomas Fernando | Flo Auerbach | Maylee Mann | Flo Auerbach |
| 2021 | Angela Lu | Eugene Cloete | Saara Chaudry | Maria Ivoditova | McKenna Goodson |
| 2022 | Caridee Chau | Emma Jean Hermacinski | Kayleigh Lei | Nicholas Chung | Julia Shephard |
| 2023 | Ben Anderson | Thomas Harrick | Edward Gao | Evan Peters | Graham Bateman |
| 2024 | Michelle Liu | Justin Ahn | Ethan Wahba | Millie Steinman | Richard Leschner |

## Footnotes

* ↑ "Malaysia: Authorities continue to show blatant disregard for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly". Amnesty International (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-12-04.
* ↑ "Malaysia". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
* ↑ Founding History of the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships
* ↑ Hosts of Worlds Record
* ↑ Worlds 2007 Events Schedule
* ↑ http://www.iispsl.org/history.html History of the International Independent Schools Public Speaking League
* ↑ 1988 Worlds Constitution
* ↑ WIDPSC - Sun Apr 17 - Grand Finals, 17 April 2022, retrieved 2022-08-13