Winners of Round One inaugural Speaker’s National Youth Debating Competition

Jun 16, 2021 News

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Kaieteur News – The inaugural Speaker’s National Youth Debating Competition yesterday kicked off with Queenstown, Essequibo Coast and Diamond/Grove groups emerging as the winners of round one, matches one and two.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, the host, and the judges were present in the Parliament of Guyana, while the debaters joined virtually.
The participants of match one were, Queenstown Youth Group, the opposing team, and Mahdia Youth Group, the proposing team. The two teams argued the moot, “Psychedelic drug use declines academic performance.”
In match two, the participants were, Diamond/Grove Youths in Development, the opposing team, and West Bank Young Achievers, the proposing team. Their moot was, “Drug rehabilitation is very effective in Guyana.”
The opposing team in both matches one and two emerged as the winners yesterday. It was noted by the judges that the debaters in match two did exceptionally well in the way they related their information to prove their points.

The members of the Queenstown Youth Group are; Tabitha Alves, Keira Mohammed, and Devine Ross who copped the best debater award for that match. The judges in that match were; Chief Administrative Officer of Parliament, Monette Garnette-Christopher; editorial consultant at Newsroom, Neil Marks; and the Chief Judge, Dr. Valerie Monica Goorasammy-Smith.
After the debate, the judges noted that they would have liked to see more from the debaters in eliminating the other team’s points, and pointed out the areas that they felt the debaters lacked.
However, it was an interesting debate as members of West Bank Young Achievers and the Grove/Diamond Youths in Development, battled neck and neck during their debate.
The judges for match two, Melissa Dow-Richardson and Monette Garnette-Christopher noted in their remarks that it was an interesting competition and commend the debaters on the way they introduced their points with statistics, research, and credit their source of information. The Chief Judge, Delon Fraser, stated that match two raised the bar of the level of the debate.
The members of the Grove/Diamond Youths in Development are Romario Sweatnam, Naresh Sugrim, and Bibi Yassin who copped the best debater award. That team came out as the winners with a mere 10 points more than the West Bank Achievers.
The Inaugural Speaker’s National Youth Debating Competition is slated to last two weeks with youths from around the country participating in debating competitions. The next debate will be held on Friday from 10:00hrs, the teams participating in that debate are Young professionals and Golden Om Youth Group and the finals will be held on July 9, 2021.

 

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