Tuesday 30 September


Last night, the University of Sydney's proud debating record received another serving of success at the Australian Women's Debating Championships.

It was a night of dominance for the women from Sydney University, with five teams breaking into the semi finals, and eight of the top ten individual speakers coming from Sydney.

Female debaters from universities across Australia and New Zealand converged upon the University of New South Wales to compete in the three-day tournament, one of the most prestigious in debating.

In the end it was Sydney 5's combination of Katherine Connolly and Steph D'Souza who took the crown, overcoming Sydney 3 (Bronwyn Cowell & Giselle Kenny), Queensland 1 and Victoria 1 in the grand final on the motion that 'This house would require Catholic health agencies to provide abortions'.

Further highlighting Sydney's supremacy was the best individual speaker rankings, in which Sydney speakers took 8 of the top 10 spots.

Naomi Oreb scored a total of 412 points to take Best Speaker honours by a margin of eight over second placed Julia Featherson.

Katherine Connolly, Bronwyn Cowell and Eleanor Jones completed the top five, while fellow Sydney women Steph Paton, Mel Brooks and Steph D'Souza also ranked in the top ten.