András and Kristóf (Year 10) took part in the International Competition for Young Debaters 2016, the world’s largest debating competition for students under the age of 15.
They successfully advanced through a regional round in Hungary to qualify for the Finals of the competition, which was held at the Oxford Union in Oxford last weekend, on 30 April, 2016.
The International Competition for Young Debaters (ICYD) is a rather prestigious event, with over 600 teams initially applying, so naturally it was a great thrill when my debating partner, Kristóf and I, András, made it through to the best 72 teams. After coming second in the national round in Hungary, we had the chance to go to Oxford for the finals. Besides having the opportunity to take part in the competition itself, which was held at the renowned Oxford Union, we also got the chance to visit many of the beautiful colleges in Oxford (eg. Balliol, Merton, Sommerville).
The teams we competed against were incredibly skilled but despite this being our first debating competition, we still managed to get a decent placing (around 30th). Although we started off not too well, as we lost the first 2 motions, we came third in the next one and we won the last debate; however this was not enough to get us through to the semi-finals.
All-in-all it was a fantastic experience and we hope to pursue debating further and achieve even better results in the future.
András (Year 10)