Competitions Guide

This is our working guide to  oracy-related-related competitions your school may want to enter. Please note, that this currently only includes competitions open to UK Secondary schools.

We will try our best to keep this list accurate and up to date, but  information does change so please check with the organisers. Similarly, this list is not comprehensive – if there are other great competitions we should have included, please let us know in the comments or email info@noisyclassroom.com


Entering competitions can be an exciting and educational experience. We have written several blogs posts all about debating competitions (to be published over the next week), which you may find useful to read first.

DEBATING COMPETITIONS

English-Speaking Union Schools’ Mace – Regional Rounds & Finals Day (Dates TBA)

  • Registration open: Until early October
  • Format: Mace format, teams of two
  • Age range: KS3 and up
  • One team per school
  • Regional rounds in Winter/Spring, England Final usually around Easter
  • Price: £30
  • Bursaries/Subsidies: Offered to some State Schools
  • Location: Regional rounds locations TBA, England final at ESU headquarters in Central London
  • Contact email: competitions@esu.org
  • Website

PiXL UpForDebate – Regional Rounds & Finals Day (Dates TBA)

Noisy Classroom run this competition in association with PiXL Edge

  • Registration open: Now
  • Format: Up For Debate format
  • Age range: Years 7 – 9
  • Open only to PiXL schools
  • Price: £50 for PiXL Edge schools, £200 for PiXL schools (registration also includes access to the UpForDebate scheme of work and website)
  • Regional rounds around Easter, Masterclasses in May and Finals Day in July
  • Contact email: debating@pixl.org.uk
  • Website

Cambridge Schools – Regional Rounds & Finals Day (Dates TBA)

  • Registration open: Now, places allocated on a first-come first-served basis
  • Format: British Parliamentary, teams of 2.
  • Age range: 11 – 18
  • Up to 4 teams per school
  • Regional rounds, then the top teams go through to Finals Day
  • Price: £50 per team
  • Bursaries/Subsidies: Available on application to teams when they register
  • Location: Regional rounds location TBA, Finals Day at the Cambridge Union
  • Contact email: convenor@cambridgeschools.cus.org 
  • Website

Oxford Schools’ Debating Competition – Regional Rounds & Finals Day (Dates TBA)

  • Registration open: Now until Thursday, 2nd November 2018
  • Format: British Parliamentary, teams of 2.
  • Age range: 11 – 18
  • Up to 3 teams per school
  • Regional rounds, then the top teams go through to Finals Day
  • Price: £25 per team for state schools with a comprehensive intake. £45 for all other schools
  • Bursaries/Subsidies: To apply for a bursary, email oxfordunionconvenor@gmail.com with a subject line: BURSARY
  • Location: Regional rounds location TBA, Finals Day at the Oxford Union
  • Contact email: oxfordunionconvenor@gmail.com
  • Website

Durham Schools – March

  • Registration open: From October
  • Format: British Parliamentary, teams of 2.
  • Age range: 11 – 18
  • Two day competition, no regional rounds
  • Price: Range of prices, depending on whether schools opt for accommodation or not, see    website for more details
  • Bursaries/Subsidies: See website
  • Location: Durham, UK
  • Contact email:durhamschools@gmail.com
  • Website

SOAS Schools – Spring term

  • Registration open: autumn term
  • Format: British Parliamentary, teams of 2.
  • There is no upper limit on the number of teams schools can register
  • Age range: 11 – 18
  • One day competition
  • Price: £45 per team, with a £20 discount for state schools
  • Bursaries/Subsidies: None other than state school discount
  • Location: SOAS Campus, Russel Square, London
  • Contact email:soasdebsoc@gmail.com
  • Website

International Competition for Young Debaters – Spring Term 

  • Registration open: Autumn/Spring term
  • Format: British Parliamentary, teams of 2.
  • Age range: 15 and younger
  • Multi-round competition
  • Website

PUBLIC-SPEAKING COMPETITIONS

English-Speaking Union National Public Speaking Competition – Regional Rounds & Finals Day (Dates TBA)

  • Registration open: Until early October
  • Format: Teams of 3, comprising a Chairperson, Speaker, and Questioner
  • Age range: Years 9 – 11
  • Up to two teams per school
  • Price: £30 per team
  • Bursaries/Subsidies: Available on application
  • Regional rounds across the country, and the finals day is held at the ESU headquarters in Central London
  • Contact email: competitions@esu.org
  • Website

Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge

  • Workshop offered to at least 25 pupils . A workshop is run at your school, and then students from your school take part in a regional final
  • For Year 10 students in London and Essex
  • Website

OTHER COMPETITIONS/EVENTS

  • Young Citizens runs several different Mock Trial competitions for students aged 12 – 18. See their website for more details
  • Local Rotary clubs often run public-speaking competitions
  • Local schools in your area may run Model United Nations competitions

RESIDENTIAL DEBATING CAMPS & COMPETITIONS

  • The English-Speaking Union run a debating Summer camp called Debate Academy every July/August for Secondary School students. There are bursaries available. For more information, see their website
  • The World Schools Debating Academy in Slovenia runs every Spring/Summer. For more information, see last year’s website
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