This past weekend we had four teams compete in the Otago Regionals Debating Competition. This is a widely attended, two-day tournament consisting of six debates, plus the semifinals, and a final. These are very long and taxing days, but all of our teams did extremely well—especially our junior teams, who have less experience with debating. 

OGHS 1 broke into the semi finals with 4/6 wins, and competed against Trinity College, but after a very tight debate did not proceed to the finals. 

Otago Regionals is also a way for organisers to scout out Dunedin debaters for Nationals and various other further debating opportunities, and we were pleased to see some familiar faces called up at the prizegiving Sunday afternoon! 

Congratulations to Chihiro Smithies on her acceptance into the Otago Development Squad, Phoebe Ashdown on her Highly Commended speaker award and her acceptance into the Otago Development Squad, and Ciara Coffey who will compete with the Otago Regional Team and attend the National Championship in May.