Debaters are best society

The Warwick Debating Society walked away with the top prize of £200 at the Societies Awards Party held last month in the Copper Rooms, beating fourteen other societies in the process.

The Societies Awards, an annual event held since 1996, is judged by members of the Societies Committee. There were at least sixty nominations submitted across four categories, for which societies submitted creatively designed packs that best described their society’s achievements over the past year.

In the other categories, Warwick TV claimed the title of ‘Most Improved Society’ and Engineers Without Borders won the ‘Deloitte Award for the Best New Society’. Both were similarly awarded £200 in prize money.

The title of ‘Best Social Event’ was taken by the German-speaking society Stammtisch, which organized the university’s inaugural Oktoberfest, while TEDx Warwick won ‘Best Non-Social Event’ for its TEDx Conference. They were given £100 each to be used towards a Union event.

“The Warwick Debating Society have had a very successful year,” Societies Officer James Hall told the Boar, adding that the judging was conducted over a “mammoth” five-hour-long meeting. “Their active membership has more than doubled, and they have had several teams going to (and succeeding in) national tournaments as well as getting speakers in themselves.”

Hall noted that Warwick TV had improved by leaps and bounds this year. “The 08/09 exec was fragmented, membership numbers were dwindling and activity and output were very low,” he said. “They have undergone a complete rebrand, seen membership numbers increase to over a hundred, and had three regular outputs as well as other projects.”

For the judges, the events held by Stammtisch and TEDx Warwick particularly stood out among the other nominations. The former’s Oktoberfest, said Hall, was “a cracking new innovative event” that received the largest attendance to a student-run night event outside One World Week, while the latter brought “one of the first TED conferences to Europe” and had now “firmly cemented” itself into Warwick’s annual calendar.

The Warwick Debating Society’s President Gareth Williams credited the society’s win to their “strong performance in many areas” such as the regular training provided for their members, and their efforts in extending debates to involve other societies such as Amnesty.

However, when asked what the society intended to spend their prize money on, Williams admitted that they had yet to decide on that.

“We are not sure what we will spend our prize money on, but it will likely be funneled back into the society, to ensure that we continue to provide a top-quality service to our members and widen participation, and continue to fund our debates and events on campus.”