Three ANU students have had extraordinary success at the National Debating Championships.
The winning team, ANU 1 of the ANU Debating Society, became the national debating champions after winning the Australian Intervarsity Debating Championships last month.
ANU 1, featuring Jordyn Gibson, Gypsy Polacheck and Tetsushi Kajihara, won nine debates during the tournament to take the Championship. The team also won three smaller tournaments in preparation for the championships.
Gypsy was recognised as the equal best novice speaker of the tournament, while Jordyn received a prize for best speaker in the grand final against UNSW 1.
The Australian Intervarsity Debating Championships is Australia's annual highest-level intervarsity debating competition. The competition this year was jointly hosted by the University of Technology Sydney and Macquarie University.
Despite numerous grand final appearances, the 2023 championships mark the first time ANU has won the tournament since 2006.
"This achievement is a huge testament to Jordyn, Gypsy and Tetsushi's skill, as well as the commitment of every single member of ANU Debating who trained with and against the team and supported them during the tournament," said Ally Pitt, President of ANU Debating.
ANU winner Jordyn Gibson had a fantastic time at this year's championships.
"My teammates and I were keen to give it a shot. We knew this year wouldn't be easy and we put in a tremendous amount of work competing at smaller competitions and trying to read as much about the world as possible."
"Once we got to Nationals, we had already won every tournament in the leadup and seemed to be one of the favourites to win - and thankfully, our hard work paid off!"
Jordyn acknowledges the ANU Debating Society for helping her develop her skills and confidence as an accomplished debater.
"I'm extremely proud of the ANU debating community for having become more inclusive and being able to recognise ability even in people you might not expect it from."
Another ANU winner, Tetsushi Kajihara, credits the ANU Debating Society for helping him develop English language skills and knowledge about current world affairs.
"[Debating] is very significant for me particularly because English is my second language. Debating often requires a high English proficiency because persuasion is at the core of debating. I feel like my success is a proof of the improvement in the language. I am happy that I can deliver my ideas with English, even if the topics are complicated."
Ally hopes that Jordyn, Gypsy and Tetsushi's success will inspire other students to get involved in debating at ANU.
"We hope that this success at a national level will encourage people who might be interested in debating to come along to a few events to try it out: we are very lucky to have experienced members who run training seminars every week and members whose experience level in debating ranges from being entirely new to several years of internationally competitive experience."
The ANU Debating Society is one of the largest and most active societies on campus, providing members with opportunities to participate in thought-stimulating discussions, travel the world and be part of a supportive and welcoming community of students.
They warmly welcome you to join every week on Tuesday at 6pm in Marie Reay 3.02.
For more information about the ANU Debating Society, please email [email protected].
