Asia World Schools Debating Championship, commonly coined as AWSDC, is an international debate competition founded by the World Schools Debate Championship's Asia steering committee in 2013. The 1st Asia World Schools Debating Championship was held from 1–8 August 2013 at Anglo Singapore International School's Campus in Sukhumvit 64, Bangkok, Thailand including 7 preliminary rounds, and single elimination playoffs thereafter. The tournament was centered on the theme, "Youth Activism: It's Our Turn". 100 teams from all over the world participated; including the national teams of New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Philippines, Korea, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa. The team from Anglo Chinese Junior College (Singapore) emerged as the tournament's first champions, going undefeated in all of its 11 matches.
The 2nd AWSDC was held once again in Bangkok, Thailand from 31 July- 4 August 2014 at Anglo Singapore International School. It is the official pre-tournament of World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) Thailand 2014.
Tournament Format AWSDC adapts the World Schools Style debate format which is a combination of the British Parliamentary and Australia-Asian formats. All debates are carried out in English only. Each team consists of 3-5 debaters who each make 8-minute speeches either as side proposition or side opposition for or against a motion respectively. AWSDC emphasizes world-class debates and adjudicating in order to provide a platform for young student debaters to improve and achieve their full potential. It also encourages friendly competition where young debaters not only gain academic knowledge but also build friendships with people of diverse backgrounds.
Adjudication Core
AWSDC Adjudication Core 2013 Co-Chief Adjudicator: Kip Oebanda (Philippines) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Usjima Vittayaamnuaykoon (Thailand) Deputy Chief Adjudicator: Iris Hui Zhang (Hong Kong) Deputy Chief Adjudicator: Syed Saddiq (Malaysia) 2014 Co-Chief Adjudicator: Gemma Buckley (Australia) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Wen-Yu Weng (United Kingdom & Thailand) Deputy Chief Adjudicator: Ashish Kumar Deputy Chief Adjudicator: Mai Mokhsein 2016 Co-Chief Adjudicator: Lucas Li (Singapore) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Jazlina Sutanto (Thailand) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Jainah binti Jaafar Sidek (Malaysia) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Leomar Jose N. Doctolero Jr (Philippines) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Josh Jeong (South Korea) 2017 Co-Chief Adjudicator: Kip Oebanda (Philippines) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Harish Natarajan (United Kingdom) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Tamara Fernando (Sri Lanka) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Jazlina Sutanto (Thailand) 2019 Co-Chief Adjudicator: Joshua Park (Korea) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Ameera Natasha Moore (Malaysia) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Lucia Arce (Mexico/United Kingdom) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Brian Wong (Hong Kong) Co-Chief Adjudicator: George Chen (China) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Yoni Cohen-Idov (Israel) 2023 Co-Chief Adjudicator: Benjamin Goh (Singapore)) Co-Chief Adjudicator: Huw Jones (Wales) Deputy Chief Adjudicator: Geneva Roy (New Zealand) Deputy Chief Adjudicator: Joshua Park (Korea) Deputy Chief Adjudicator: Ruth Selorme Acolatse (Turkey)
Tournaments
Series Dates Grand Finals Venue 1st AWSDC 1 - 8 August 2013 Anglo-Singapore International School 2nd AWSDC 1 - 4 August 2014 Novotel 3rd AWSDC 6 - 10 July 2016 Novotel 4th AWSDC 24 - 28 July 2017 Queen Sirikit Convention Centre 5th AWSDC 15 - 20 July 2019 Queen Sirikit Convention Centre 6th AWSDC 10 - 15 July 2023 Novotel 7th AWSDC 29 June - 3 July 2025 Anglo-Singapore International School
Winners
Tournament Year Winner Runner-up Tournament Best Speaker Novice Champion 2013 Anglo-Chinese Junior College(Singapore) Team South Africa (South Africa) Annette Yeo ~ 2014 Team Malaysia(Malaysia) Team South Africa (South Africa) Samuel Wittberger ~ 2016 Team India (India) Team Singapore Development Squad (Singapore) Sampada Sudheesh Venkatesh Royal College (Sri Lanka) 2017 Team Peru A (Peru) Team Philippines (Philippines) Rafael Shimabukuro Team India Development Squad 2019 Team China (China) Team Malaysia (Malaysia) Brian Li Team Bangladesh 2023 Team China (China) Team India (India) Teioh Nuan Ning WSDC Thailand Development Team 2025 Team Malaysia (Malaysia) Team Pakistan (Pakistan) Teresa Chen Team Kenya WSDC Development C
References
External links 1st AWSDC (2013) Official Website 2nd AWSDC (2014) Official Website 3rd AWSDC (2016) Official Website 4th AWSDC (2017) Official Website