International Debate Organizations & Events
World Schools Debating Championships The World Schools is a competition involving national teams. the host country changes each year. The event uses World Schools Debate format, which involves teams of 3 debaters on each side. Each country sends one team of from 3 to 5 debaters -- having 4 or 5 debaters rather than 3 allows a team to vary which 3 people debate from round to round and provides additional pople to help with preparation.
World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships The World Individuals is a competition where students compete as individuals rather than as part of a national team, although each country does select which students are able to attend. Each competitor competes in 4 events: Debating, Persuasive Speaking or After-Dinner Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, and Interpretive Reading. There are winners in each category and an overall champion based on the scores in all 4 categories. The host country changes every year.
International Independent Schools Public Speaking Championships The Internationals is a public speaking competition involving 3 person teams from a large number of Independent Schools. Students compete as individuals at the Internationals. There are a number of different events at the competition, and each student enters 3 of them.
There are a number of other competitions that welcome competitors from more than one country, for example the EurOpens, Durham Schools, and the Harvard Schools Debate Tournament. In some cases they are national events that are happy to have teams from other countries enter while in other cases they are designed as multinational events.