Eurasian Schools Debating Championship

Eurasian Schools Debating Championship
General Information
Established	2011 by Robert College Debate Society
Website	esdc.info
Location	Istanbul, Turkey
Venue	Robert College
Organizer	Robert College Debate Society
Style	World Schools Style Debating (WSDC)
Social Media
Instagram	eurasianschoolsdebate
Facebook	Eurasian Schools Debating Championship 2025
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The Eurasian Schools Debating Championship (ESDC) is an annual open English-language debating tournament for high school-level teams representing different countries that takes place in Robert College, Istanbul. ESDC is open to international and school teams alike, depending on team cap. ESDC is organized by members of Robert College Debate Society. ESDC is the world's first and only international WSDC debating championship that is organized completely by high-school students.

The first edition was hosted by the Robert College Debate Society in Istanbul with 50 teams from 20 different countries. ESDC 2025 will be held between 18-20 January.

Eurasian Schools Debating Championship debates use a special format known as 'World Schools Style Debating' as most of the teams esteem the tournament as a preparation for WSDC. World Schools Style is a combination of the British Parliamentary and Australian formats. In each debate there are eight speeches delivered by two three-member teams (the Proposition and the Opposition). Each speaker delivers an eight-minute speech; then both teams deliver a "reply speech" lasting four minutes, with the last word being reserved for the Proposition. Between the end of the first and the beginning of the last minute of an eight-minute speech, the opposing party may offer "points of information". The speaker may refuse these, but should take at least one or two points during his or her speech.

Teams in ESDC debate six rounds before "breaking" into partial octo-finals. After first round, teams are paired with each other with power pairing. Team with the same number of wins play against each other. If there are more than one teams on the same point, then teams are paired randomly. Top sixteen teams with highest number of wins and speaker points advance into single elimination octo-finals.

• Openness: ESDC will remain open to all teams of any formation as long as the space allows
• Flexibility: ESDC will seek to govern itself in a non-bureaucratic way
• Innovation: ESDC will seek to try novel ideas in debating

Registrations to ESDC are done through https://www.esdc.info/registration.

The 15th annual Eurasian Schools Debating Championship will be held on 18-20 January 2025 at Robert College.

• esdc.info
• [1] Archived 2011-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
• [2] Archived 2011-01-15 at the Wayback Machine
• [3]
• [4]
• [5]
• [6] Archived 2011-01-15 at the Wayback Machine