The Premier's Debating Challenge for Years 5 and 6
Open to NSW public school students, this age division culminates in a 3-day championship camp that includes workshops with some of the state's most experienced adjudicators.
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It's taken a lot of debates, but the round-robin section of the Years 5 and 6 competition is complete and of the 999 teams who began the tournament, 202 have been named zone champions and progressed to the regional knockout finals! Those teams will debate each other until they've decided the regional champion, and we'll announce the teams that win their regions below. The ten regional champions head to a 3-day debating tournament to decide the state champions, and you can download all the information about that camp here if you'd like a sneak-peek at how it works: 2023 Years 5 and 6 State Debating Championships information (PDF 1.19 MB)
| Region | Champion |
|---|---|
| Hunter/Central Coast | TBD |
| Illawarra and South East | TBD |
| New England | Timbumburi Public Blues |
| North Coast | TBD |
| Northern Sydney | TBD |
| Riverina | TBD |
| South Western Sydney | TBD |
| Sydney | TBD |
| Western NSW | Dubbo Public Remarkable Reds |
| Western Sydney | TBD |
You can still take a look at the overall draw for the state you can check that out here along with the win/loss records for all the teams and you can also download the official 2023 Years 5 and 6 Debating information (PDF, 229.27 KB) for a look at all the ins and outs of how things will run in this twenty-ninth year of the competition. Thanks to the thousand-odd teachers whose commitment to debating makes all of this possible, and best of luck for your debates!!!
About the competition
The Years 5 and 6 competition is the largest of the age divisions in the Premier's Debating Challenge. It began in 1995 when the Hunter region issued a challenge to the other regions of NSW to send their best primary school team to a championships in Newcastle, which is why to this day the state champion is awarded the Hunter Challenge Trophy. We expect more than 900 teams will take part in the 2023 competition.
Format of the competition
Teams compete in a series of one-hour unassisted preparation debates, meaning that the 4 team members of the team only find out the topic one hour before the debate, and are then given an hour without any assistance to prepare their case. Teams will be organised into zones of six or more. Each team will complete 4 debates against other teams from their zone at times and dates that suit the schools involved. Zone debates will occur from the start of Term 2 until mid-Term 3.
Once those 4 rounds are completed the team(s) with the best record will be declared zone champions and will compete in a regional knockout finals series. Following that, the 10 regional champions will attend a 3-day championships tournament at Stanwell Tops to determine the state champion. The championships will run in mid-November.
Watch the 2022 primary school state finals
