The annual event includes top Ivy League schools from the northeastern United States and schools from further afield such as Stanford University and the University of Chicago. The event marks the 25^th anniversary of the York Debating Society (YDS), which will co-host the debates alongside York’s Osgoode Debate Society.

The North American Debating Championship is the premier parliamentary debating championship in North America, sanctioned by the national university debating associations in the US and Canada, the American Parliamentary Debate Association and the Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate (CUSID). It has been held on an alternating basis between the US and Canada since 1991. It’s the first time the continental final for member schools of the American Parliamentary Debate Association and CUSID will be held at York.

Emmett Soldati, a fourth-year anthropology student and past president of the YDS, says the three-day competition will be “intense” but includes social events such as a formal banquet and comedy show. “For a while now, the people coming to this have been reading The New York Times, The Economist and listening to the BBC for at least two hours a day to prepare,” says Soldati, who is also a student representative on the York Board of Governors.

Soldati and debating partner Sarah Sahagian were finalists in CUSID’s British Parliamentary Championships held at the University of British Columbia in December. Soldati and partner Jeremy Larkins reached the novice finals of the North American Championships in 2007-2008.

Among the organizers are veteran Osgoode debaters Brent Kettles, also CUSID’s treasurer, and Rudi Lof, who won the top speaker’s award in the Hart House Invitational in October 2009, where the pair advanced to the semifinals. The two were also semifinalists in this season’s British Parliamentary Championship in Vancouver.

The event, held on York’s Keele campus, begins Friday with two rounds of debate, and heats up on Saturday as teams work their way through another four rounds. The semifinals and novice finals will be held on Sunday afternoon, with the finals set for Osgoode’s Moot Court at 3pm, followed by an awards ceremony.

With most of the top debating schools in North America entered, the championship will give organizers a chance to showcase Canada’s third-largest university. York previously hosted the Central Canadian Junior Championship in 2007 and the National Championships in 2000-2001 and 1993-1994. The French National Championships were held at the university’s Glendon College in the 1990s.

York also hosts a high school tournament each year and, in 2008, played host to a junior high school tournament.

For more information visit the York Debating Society website.

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Media Contact:

Melissa Hughes, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22097 / mehughes@yorku.ca