The Premier's Debating Challenge for Years 9 and 10
A state-wide competition with zone winners progressing to regional and state-wide knockouts to determine the state champion.
Latest news
In their first year of debating, Lindfield Learning Village have defeated North Sydney Girls High School in the 2023 state final! They were successful in negating the topic 'That we should exclude smokers from the public healthcare system' in a close and excellent debate, which you'll be able to check out in in its entirety below as soon as we've edited it together. Congratulations to them and to the North Sydney Girls team, as well as to all the students and teachers who made the 2023 tournament such a massive success.
You can access the detailed information on how the competition runs by downloading the 2023 Years 9 and 10 Debating information (PDF, 1.3 MB), and you can use this link to see a summary of the teams in their zones and their win/loss record. Best of luck to everyone in the competition!
About the competition
This competition began in 1950 with the donation of a trophy by Charles and Fred Teasdale for an annual debating competition at intermediate level between high schools on the north shore. Over the years it has expanded into a state-wide competition for all government schools.
Format of the competition
Teams will be organised into zones of six (occasionally fewer depending on entries) and will receive their draw before the start of Term 2. Each team will complete 3 debates against other teams from their zone whenever suits them before mid-Term 3. Once those 3 rounds are completed the team(s) with the best record will be declared the zone champions and will compete in a knockout finals series to determine the state champion. The state final will be held in November.
Watch past Years 9 and 10 state finals
