# The Frank Anthony Memorial All-India Inter-School Debate

The Frank Anthony Memorial All-India Inter-School English Debate is held in the honor of Frank Anthony.
It is an annual debate competition organised by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CICSE). Participants represent their schools and are divided into two groups (Category I for students of Standards XI and XII and Category II for students of Standards IX and X). Over 1,600 schools participate in the event each year making it 2nd largest debate tournament in India after Indian Debate League.
The Debate competition is spread over three levels – Regional, Zonal and National Levels.
Each school sends two students from each group mentioned above. The topic is only revealed to the students an hour before the actual debate by way of opening a sealed envelope in their presence. This ensures that no pre-written material can be used in the debate. Students are expected to speak for a total time period of four minutes which is followed by two minutes of questioning and rebuttals. The students are allowed to and expected to refer to journals, magazines, and other books from the library during the one hour time to generate matter for their speaking time. No internet access or use of any electronic devices is allowed and referring to a written script during their speaking time is strictly discouraged and negatively marked
The debate is only open to CISCE accredited schools.

## Various years of debate
### 2009
#### Round 3 – National
##### Category 1

| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards | Awards | Awards |
| Date | Host School | Topic | Winner | Best Speaker | Runner-up speaker | Second runner-up speaker |
| 20 September 2008 | The Frank Anthony Public School, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi | The Youth Should Aim for the stars and Forever Remain Dissatisfied | La Martiniere Girls College, Lucknow | Shreevar Rastogi | Radhica Kaushal | |

### 2010
#### Round 3 – National
##### Category 1

| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards | Awards | Awards |
| Date | Host School | Topic | Winner | Best Speaker | Runner-up speaker | Second runner-up speaker |
| 20 September 2010 | St. Jude's School, Dehradun | India Should Have Compulsory Military Service | Don Bosco School, Park Circus | Francisco Romaldo Mendes | | |

### 2011
#### Round 3 – National
##### Category 2

| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards | Awards | Awards |
| Date | Host School | Topic | Winner | Best Speaker | Runner-up speaker | Second runner-up speaker |
| 18 April 2011 | The Shri Ram School, Aravali, Gurgaon | India should abolish death penalty | Bishop Cotton School, Shimla | Akantuk Sharma | Uday Rustagi | Manisha Verma |

### 2012
#### Round 3 – National
##### Category 2

| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards | Awards | Awards |
| Date | Host School | Topic | Winner | Best Speaker | Runner-up speaker | Second runner-up speaker |
| 25 September 2013 | Modern High School, Calcutta | The youth of today will follow the values laid down by the older generation | Jamnabai Narsee School, Mumbai | mark spencer | | Vedika Walia |

### 2013
#### Round 3 – National
##### Category 2

| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards | Awards | Awards |
| Date | Host School | Topic | Winner | Best Speaker | Runner-up speaker | Second runner-up speaker |
| 25 September 2013 | The Frank Anthony Public School, Lajpat Nagar - IV, New Delhi | Most of the problems of students today arise from their unrestricted freedom | Jamnabai Narsee School, Mumbai | Kanishk Mittal | Maahir Shah | |

##### Category 1

| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards | Awards | Awards |
| Date | Host School | Topic | Winner | Best Speaker | Runner-up speaker | Second runner-up speaker |
| 25 September 2013 | The Frank Anthony Public School, Lajpat Nagar - IV, New Delhi | A world without discipline is lawless | Jamnabai Narsee School, Mumbai | Vedika Walia | Jaanvi Agrawal | Sidharth Nambiar |

### 2014
#### Round 1 – Regional

The first round of debate of the year 2014 was conducted in the following schools and zones with the topic mentioned accordingly.
| Region | Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards |
| Region | Date | Host School | Topic | Winners | First Runners-up |
| West | 12 July 2014 | Gokuldham High School, Goregaon | "Can the Environment sustain the current rate of Industrialization ?" | Lilavatibai Podar School, Mumbai | Hiranandani Foundation School, Powai |
| West | 12 July 2014 | Eklavya School, Ahmedabad | "Can the Environment sustain the current rate of Industrialization ?" | S. N. Kansagra School, Rajkot | Anandniketan, Ahmedabad |

#### Round 2 – Zonal

| Zone | Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards |
| Zone | Date | Host School | Topic | Winners | First Runners-up |
| West | 19 August 2014 | Bombay Scottish School, Mahim | " Can we Swap Thermal Energy for Nuclear Energy and save our environment?" | S.N. Kansangra School, Rajkot | None |

#### Round 3 – National

| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards |
| Date | Host School | Topic | Winners | First Runners-up |
| 25 September 2014 | St. Gregorios High School, Chembur, Mumbai | The money spent in space research should be spent in protecting the environment | Campion School Mumbai, Sujay Choksey | - |

### 2015
#### Round 1 – Regional

| Region | Date | Classes | Host School | Topic | First Place | First Place |
| Region | Date | Classes | Host School | Topic | West | 15 July 2015 |
| West | 15 July 2015 | 11th and 12th | Jasudben ML School Khar | Today friends have replaced family | St Marys ICSE School Koperkhairane: Shlok Parida & Poornima Jacob | Bombay Scottish High School |
| North | 15 July 2015 | 9th and 10th | La Martiniere College, Lucknow | Competition leads to the death of Relationships | Winners: The Frank Anthony Public School, New Delhi Jatin Jha and Oishani Chowdhary | Runners Up: Scottish High, Gurgaon |
| North | 15 July 2015 | 9th and 10th | Scottish High, Gurgaon | Competition leads to the death of Relationships | Winners: St.Stephen's School, Chandigarh Pratham Kalra and Kavya Garg |
| East | 15 July 2015 | 9th and 10th | Delhi Public School, Megacity(Kolkata) South City International School | Competition leads to the death of relationships. | Winners at Delhi Public School Megacity: La Martiniere for boys, Kokata. Vidush Sinha and Arka Chaterjee Winners at South City International School: La Martinere for Girls Mihikaa Goenka and Anandini Saha | Runners Up: Our Lady Queen of the Missions. Runners Up: The Heritage School, Kolkata |
| South | 15 July 2015 | 9th and 10th | | Competitions lead to the death of relationships. | Winners: Hari Sri Vidhya Nidhi School, Thrissur (Kerala) | Eleza Vinod and Sangeetha T.S |

#### National Rounds

The Category I Debate was won by The Heritage School, Kolkata, represented by Mohit Poddar and Sayantan Bhattacharyya. Mohit Poddar, of The Heritage School, Kolkata was adjudged the Best Speaker in the Finals. Loyola School, Jamshedpur were the runners-up.
The 2015 Category II debate was won by Aayush Rathod and Shrutika Mane of the Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School, Thane and was held in Dehradun. Loyola School, Jamshedpur was the 2nd Runners-Up in this category too.

### 2016

The first round of the debate in 2016 was on July 15. The National Round was held on September 25. Loyola School, Jamshedpur was the only school to have qualified for both the category 1 and Category 2 of the debate.
The National Winners for Category 2 were Nitya K Nair and Megha N Nair from L'ecole Chempaka, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The Best Speaker was Nitya K Nair. The national runners-up were Adarsh Sriram and Shivali Shah from Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai.

### 2018
#### Round 1 – Regional

The first round of debate of the year 2018 was conducted in the following schools and zones with the topic mentioned accordingly.
| REGION | DATE | HOST SCHOOL | TOPIC | AWARDS | AWARDS |
| REGION | DATE | HOST SCHOOL | TOPIC | WINNERS | FIRST RUNNERS-UP |
| South | 11 July 2018 | Sandeepani Vidya Niketan, Thrichur Senior category (11th & 12th grade) | A healthy mind in a healthy body is not being encouraged in our schools. | Best Debating Team: L'ecole Chempaka, Trivandrum Best Speaker: Nitya K Nair First Runner-up Speaker: Megha N Nair | Pallikoodam |
| East | 11 July 2018 | Welland Gouldsmith School, Kolkata Junior category (9th & 10th grade) | By sparing the rod, we have spoilt the child. | Best Debating Team: Don Bosco School, Siliguri Best Speaker: Latika Agarwal (Nirmala Convent School) First Runner-up Speaker: Srijan Mitra (Don Bosco School, Siliguri) | Loreto House, Kolkata |

#### National Finals 2018

With the Diamond Jubilee of the council, the Frank Anthony memorial all India inter school debate competition's National finals were hosted in the Frank Anthony Public school, Delhi. The seniors round saw schools from all across India. The topic was "Famous dropouts are the ones that contribute most to society". The National champions were St. James' School Kolkata, represented by Rustam Biswas and Souti Mukhopadhyay. Souti Mukhopadhyay also won the award for best speaker in the finals.

### ROUND 1 – REGIONAL

Category (II) – Class IX & X
| REGION | DATE | HOST SCHOOL | TOPIC | AWARDS | AWARDS |
| East | 19 July 2019 | Saifee Golden Jubilee English Public School, Kolkata | Education fosters Democracy | WINNERS | FIRST RUNNERS-UP |
| East | 19 July 2019 | Saifee Golden Jubilee English Public School, Kolkata | Education fosters Democracy | Best Debating Team: - Shuvajyoti Kar and Ayantika Bag; Saint Agnes School, Kharagpur Best Speaker: - Saswata Chakraborty; Don Bosco School, Bandel | Don Bosco School, Bandel Devyani Bhoomla; Loreto House, Kolkata |
Round 2 – Zonal
| Zone | Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards |
| Zone | Date | Host School | Topic | Winners | First Runners-up |
| South | 19 August 2019 | Lakshmi School, Madurai ; Category II (9th & 10th grade) | "Democracy is only possible if there is responsible press" | Best Speaker: Michelle Simon, Pallikoodam, Kottayam Best Team: Pallikoodam, Kottayam (Michelle Simon and Thea Ann Jacob) | |
| West | 19 August 2019 | Jankidevi Public School, Andheri (West), Mumbai; Category II | "Democracy is only possible if there is a responsible press" | Best Speaker: Upasana Nandi, P.G. Garodia School Runner-up Speaker: Advait Sangle, Hiranandani Foundation School, Powai, Mumbai Best Team: Hiranandani Foundation School, Powai (Mrigaanka Sharma and Advait Sangle) |

#### Round 3 – National Finals

The National Finals for the Frank Anthony memorial all India inter school debate were held in Kolkata on 25 September 2019. The senior round had schools from all across India, such as the Shriram Aravalli School, Delhi, and the Heritage school and defending champions St. James' School from Kolkata. The topic given was "The right to dissent is an integral part of any democracy". After a fiery round of debating, St. James' School was crowned National Champions for the second year running. The Heritage School was second runner up. The Best Speaker award went to Souti Mukhopadhyay, who is the only person to have won best speaker twice consecutively in the national finals of debate's long and prestigious history.
| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | Awards |
| Date | Host School | Topic | Winners | First Runners-up |
| 25 September 2019 | National English School, Kolkata | "The right to dissent is an integral part of any democracy" | St. James' School, Kolkata Best speaker: Souti Mukhopadhyay (St. James' School, Kolkata) | - |