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Eligibilities

All secondary schools registered with the Education Bureau are eligible to participate in the competition.

Each participating school must:
- assign at least one qualified teacher with debating/ liberal studies/ language teaching experience to be one of the judges during the Preliminaries;
- provide venue for the competition for at least one day; and
- suggest 4 motions for use in the competition.

Once teacher/coach of participating school has appointed as judge of designated competition, teacher/coach must attend on time. If he/she fails to attend due to circumstances, he/she must notify the Organising Committee 3 days before the competition and provide a substitute teacher/coach to act as judge. If he/she is absent for no reason, the school’s eligibility to participate in the competition this year and/or next year may be affected.

Each participating school can send a maximum of two teams to take part in the competition, one team for the English Section and the other team for the Chinese (Cantonese) Section.

Each team should consist of 4 to 10 members, 3 of whom as formal representatives of the school for the competition and the remaining 1 to 7 members as standbys.

Each team should be led by a coach who will also act as the coordinator.

Each team should assign representatives to attend the Briefing Seminar.

Remarks
1.	Owing to the limited quota for participation, applications will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis according to the time of successful receipt of the applications online until the quota is full.
2.	Please contact the Organising Committee via phone or email if there are any technical problems during online enrolment. The application results will not be altered because of technical problems in online enrolment.
3.	The sixteen finalist teams in the Chinese Section and the eight finalist teams in the English Section of the competition in the preceding year may enter the competition this year directly after submitting applications before the deadline. They will be evenly distributed in four groups in the tournament list and their competition sequences will be decided by a draw to be conducted in the Briefing Seminar on 16 October 2024.
4.	Should any school fail to assign a judge for the Preliminaries or provide a venue for the competition for at least one day, the concerned school’s eligibility to participate in the competition next year may be affected. The Organising Committee will strictly execute this requirement.

Format of the Competition

1.	The competition is divided into English and Chinese Sections. Participation is limited to 64 teams for the English Section and 152 teams for the Chinese Section.
2.	The competition will be conducted on a knockout basis. Winning teams of each round of the competition are qualified for the next round of the competition.
3.	The tournament list will be decided by a draw to be conducted in the Briefing Seminar on 16 October 2024. Briefing Seminar will be conducted in an online mode.

Interrogative Debating Session

To add spice to the competition, an 'Interrogative Debating' session will be included during the Preliminaries to Quarter Final competition sessions to assess debaters' instant analytical and debating abilities. Please visit the Interrogative Debating Session for details.

Venue

All participating schools are required to provide a venue for the competition for at least one day. Students and teachers of the schools concerned shall be responsible for on-site arrangement of the competition, for example venue set-up and taking up the role of the master of ceremony of the competition. If any school fails to comply with this requirement, the eligibility of the concerned school to participate in the competition next year may be affected. Venue of the Grand Final will be announced later.

Competition Schedule for Chinese Section

1^st Preliminary	2 November 2024 (Sat)
2^nd Preliminary	16 & 30 November 2024 (Sat)
3^rd Preliminary	14 December 2024 (Sat)
4^th Preliminary	18 January 2025 (Sat)
5^th Preliminary	22 February 2025 (Sat)
Quarter Final	8 March 2025 (Sat)
Semi Final	29 March 2025 (Sat)
Grand Final	7 May 2025 (Wed)
*Participating teams are not allowed to choose a particular competition date and time.

Competition Schedule for English Section

1^st Preliminary	9 November 2024 (Sat)
2^nd Preliminary	7 December 2024 (Sat)
3^rd Preliminary	11 January 2025 (Sat)
Quarter Final	8 March 2025 (Sat)
Semi Final	29 March 2025 (Sat)
Grand Final	7 May 2025 (Wed)
*Participating teams are not allowed to choose a particular competition date and time.

Regulations

1.	Participating schools must assign one qualified teacher with debating/ liberal studies/ language teaching experience to be one of the judges during the Preliminaries for at least once. If a participating school is unable to provide any venue for the competition, the school is required to assign a teacher to be one of the judges for the Preliminaries for at least twice. Should any school fail to comply, the concerned school’s application to enrol in the competition next year may not be accepted.
2.	Motions and other details of each competition round will be announced on the competition website 7 days before the respective round. All participating teams are required to check out the website by themselves.
3.	Participating teams should submit the Order of Speakers form together with 2 additional motions to the Organising Committee online 4 days before their respective competition rounds.
4.	Change of the competition date and time by any participating teams will not be accepted. All teams must attend the competition sessions on the date as arranged.
5.	If a team is absent from a competition session without the consent of the Organising Committee, its eligibility to participate in the competition next year may be affected.
6.	Participating teams must arrive at the venue 15 minutes before the competition commences. The Organising Committee reserves the right to refuse late comers from participating in the competition.
7.	During competitions, debaters are forbidden to communicate with the audience in any form or else the team’s participating right may be forfeited instantly.
8.	Participating teams are not allowed to use any watches or timing devices to measure time during the competition.
9.	All debaters must be seated as arranged by the Organising Committee and cannot switch seats during the competition.
10.	All students participating in the debate must declare that they will use foreign languages (names, proper nouns, book titles, etc.) during the competition for the purpose of judging. If students use undeclared foreign languages (names, proper nouns, book titles, etc.) during the competition, the judges have the right to deduct points.
11.	No personal attack or libel is allowed during the competition.
12.	Debaters are only allowed to bring cue cards with a size not larger than 101.6mm x 152.4mm to the stage; no other belongings are allowed; organisers will provide draft paper to debaters for taking notes.
13.	Participating schools are not allowed to host or adjudicate any round of the competition involving their debating teams.
14.	Participating schools are allowed to assign one representative to check the score sheet after the result announcement. Any request to do so afterwards will not be accepted.
15.	The result shall be announced on the same day of the competition. If there are any disputes regarding the competition, requests must be made before the result announcement. Any request to do so afterwards will not be accepted. As any dispute may affect the final result, the Organising Committee reserves the right on postponement of the result announcement. All participating teams shall raise no objection.
16.	Decisions made by the judges and the Organising Committee are final. No requests for review will be considered.
17.	If any team or its members causes an obstruction to the competition, the team’s eligibility to participate in the competition this year may be affected. If any form of violation to the competition rules or suspected behavior that affects the fairness of the competition is found, marks deduction or disqualification, depending on the severity on rules violation, will be executed. The penalty will strictly be implemented and please comply with the above accordingly.
18.	The Organising Committee has the right to make the final decision in case of any emergency incidents.
Should any team fails to follow the above regulations, its right to participate in this year and/or next year’s competition may be forfeited.

Rules for audience

1.	All members of the audience must keep silent and maintain proper conduct during the competition.
2.	All members of the audience must switch off their mobile phones and any devices with alarms.
3.	All members of the audience must not interact with the team members in any form or means.
4.	All members of the audience must not cause any obstruction to the competition and presentation ceremony. The Organising Committee may expel any members of the audience and reserves the right to pursue legal action.
5.	The Organising Committee retains the right to forbid any items that might cause obstruction to the competition and presentation ceremony, including but not limited to, loud speakers and banners. The Organising Committee has the right to forbid the offending party to enter the venue or request the offending party to leave the venue immediately.

Others

1.	Participants consent and understand that photos and videos may be taken during the event. The captured images and video clips may be used for future promotion and publicity by Sing Tao News Corporation. If you do not agree with the above arrangement, please inform the staff on the day of the event and you will be required to sign a form stating "Unauthorized Use of Event Photos and Video Clips for Promotional Purposes."
2.	If students want to attend the debate session, they must submit an application to the debate organising committee via email at least five working days before the competition day. The committee will review the application and make a decision based on the venue's seating capacity. The review process and decision has no bearing on the participating school's eligibility to compete in the competition.
3.	The Organising Committee reserves the rights to accept or reject any application and to amend any guidelines and judging criteria of the competition without prior notice.

Enquiries
E-mail :	[email protected]
Hotline :	3181 3370 (English Section) 3181 3753 / 2798 2537 (Chinese Section)