‘AI to personal identity’ – Recap of the ISA Arts Public Speaking and Debating Competition 2023

On Saturday 28 January the annual ISA Public Speaking and Debating Competition took place. Kindly hosted by LVS Ascot, the event included three debates and a public speaking contest.

The debate motions were:

‘The UK should pay reparations for its colonial past’, ‘prison sentences are not an effective method of stopping crime’ and ‘advances in Artificial Intelligence have gone too far’.

Students delivered inspiring speeches, and debated with strong arguments, critical thinking and resilience. It was impressive to see their confidence grow throughout the day and we hope they enjoyed the experience.

ISA is delighted to work with the European Council of National Association of Independent Schools (ECNAIS) this year.

The winner of the debating competition will have the great opportunity to represent the UK in a European debating competition organised by ECNAIS in April in Lisbon, Portugal. The competition will include nine countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. We wish them the best of luck for the event.

For the Public Speaking arm of the competition we saw six passionate speeches, exploring personal identity, sexism, political correctness and conditions of women in Iran.

Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to our winners:

Overall winning team for the Debating Competition: St Catherine’s School

Individual Awards

- Organisation of presentation including time management: Gauri S, LVS Ascot
- Clarity of communication: Harriet R, Leighton Park School
- Cross examination and rebuttal: Cara E, St Catherine’s School
- Presentation style: Jabari R, LVS Ascot

Public Speaking Competition

- First Place: Angelina Y, LVS Ascot
- Highly Commended: Yeva K, Ibstock Place School
- Highly Commended: Harriet R, Leighton Park School

If you would like to know more about the competition please visit the Public Speaking and Debating Competion page on our website, or contact us [email protected].