Official Report on the 2014 Junior High Provincials

Forty-two debaters from nine different schools competed in the 2014 Nova Scotia Junior High School English Debating Championships held at Sacred Heart School of Halifax on February 22, 2014. The fourteen teams debated once on each side of the resolution in two impromptu rounds of Parliamentary and two prepared rounds of Cross-examination debating. The Cross examination question was “Is the pressure Canada puts on its athletes counterproductive?” while the Parliamentary Bill was “Be it resolved that convicted criminals not be permitted to publish accounts of their crimes.”

After the regular rounds of debating, the “A” team from Halifax Grammar School was in the lead so the second place “A” team from Sacred Heart School of Halifax chose the topic and Halifax Grammar the side. The Sacred Heart team selected the impromptu resolution and the Halifax Grammar team the affirmative. In the championship match, the team from Halifax Grammar School won the Atlantic Institute of Education Shield by a 3-2 verdict over the runner up team from Sacred Heart School of Halifax. Members of the champion team were Ben Gillis, Jack Farrell, and Edison Li.; the runner up team consisted of Catherine Burke, Maria Samman, and Sarah Bjornson.

In individual standings, Ben Gillis of Halifax Grammar School earned the Gold Gavel Award and the Karen Pugh Citation. Harper Metler of Middleton was runner up. Ben Gillis was the best grade 9 debater, Gabriel Duguay of Truro Junior was the best grade 8 debater, and Cecilia White of Truro Junior was the best grade 7 debater.

The top ten team and individual rankings were as follows (lopped scores):

School Team	Totals	Rank	Individual	Total
Halifax Grammar “A”	238.81	1	Ben Gillis	81.38
Sacred Heart “A”	238.17	2	Harper Metler	80.33
Middleton “A”	235.69	3	Catherine Burke	80.15
Truro “A”	235.02	4	Sarah Bjornson	79.96
Fountain “A”	230.83	5	Jack Farrell	79.63
Halifax Grammar “B”	228.88	6	Gabriel Duguay	79.17
Truro “B”	228.17	7	Eamon McCarron	78.54
Hybrid Team	226.94	8	Maria Samman	78.06
Middleton “B”	226.69	9	Edison Li	77.81
Antigonish Debaters	225.29	10	Mia Fraser	77.75

We wish to thank the following individuals and institutions for helping to make our 2014 Junior High Championships a success, namely:

• Sacred Heart School of Halifax for permitting us to use its facilities;
• The Sacred Heart organizing committee and in particular Brian Casey and Patricia Donnelly
• The numerous debate judges, moderators and timers;
• Josh Judah and Brian Casey for running the tab room
• John Filliter for briefing the judges
• Coaches and parents who brought debaters to the tournament, helped them to prepare for it, and generally assisted with the administration of the event

To all who contributed, our sincere thanks.

2014 Junior High Nationals

The event is being hosted by University of Toronto School, May 8th to 11th. Based on the junior high championship results, and our policy (which permits only two students per school to attend), the top ten students are eligible to attend.

If any delegates are unable to attend, their positions will be offered to the next highest debaters in the standings at the provincial championships.

Good luck to the organizers and to all of our delegates!

2014 National Seminar

As a result of their standing at the junior high provincials, Sarah Weston and Keegan Martin, the top two grade nine students not to have gone to a national event, have qualified to attend the Seminar. Two other students (one from Cape Breton and one from elsewhere in Nova Scotia) will be selected to attend from the Senior High provincials.

I attach the individual tab and the team tab.  The individual score sheets are found here. You may need to download them to view them.