Oxford Women's Open‏

In contrast to the achte minute blog, PR organ of the umbrella organisation for German debating VDCH, it's not the purpose of this Blog to advertise upcoming tournaments or to glorify mediocre final debates. However, in this case, we will make an exception. This tournament promises to be great and we encourage all women debaters to take part in this unique event!

On Friday April 30th and Saturday May 1st, the first debating competition of its kind in IONA comes to Oxford!


Our world-class judging pool is headed by the team of:
- CAs Kirsty Russell and Sayeqa Islam
- DCA Jo Farmer

Women's is also a Pro-Am meaning that no team may have two speakers on it who have broken at Euros or Worlds - obviously both must be female! Reg is set at £40 per team, in return for which we promise you...

- World class judges in every room
- 5 rounds breaking to Semi-Finals
- Crash for two nights
- Two amazing socials

WHY?:
We think there’s a problem with retention of female debaters on the circuit, and this is no where more evident than in the Oxford Union Society itself. The top levels of debating simply do not bear out the kind of gender parity that IONA should be seeing after decades of female involvement and we believe all steps should be taken to change this. The Oxford Women’s Open intends to form one part of the drive to further nurture female debating talent, equipping competitors with the skills they need to break through on the circuit. It is only through such opportunities that we can expect to see a shift in the dynamics of debating any time soon.

HOW?:
Time for adjudication after debates will be double the IV norm, with an emphasis on training and improvement. To ensure that this feedback will be of the top quality, and therefore relevant to competitor development, we have packed our adjudication team with Worlds and Euros semi-finalists, finalists and champions. Every room, and every competitor, will receive world-class coaching throughout the tournament - there will be no ‘bin rooms’ that get neglected.

To reg please send an email with your names to oxford.womens@googlemail.com

See you there!
The Oxford Women's Team