ESU Schools Mace

The ‘Mace’ is the oldest national debating championship in the UK. It is an exciting and challenging debating competition, open to school pupils from key stage 3 onwards, and participants gain a valuable set of skills and knowledge as well as building and enhancing their analytical and conceptual understanding.

• This competition is for teams of two students from key stages 3, 4 and 5. We encourage you to start or use the school debating club to find your team.
• The format requires direct analysis and response to the arguments of the other team. The motion (for example, This House Would Legalise Cannabis) will be sent to the school, along with the position you are arguing (proposition or opposition) two weeks before your first round.
• Round one takes place before Christmas, the second round and/or regional finals are complete by March. The national final takes place around Easter.

Background

The Schools Mace has been encouraging the discussion of controversial topics and current affairs since 1957. The competition is the largest and oldest schools debating tournament in the country, and former winners have gone on to be MPs, well-known journalists, captains of industry, senior lawyers, and prominent scientists. Establishments of all types enter the competition: further education colleges, comprehensives, private schools, grammar schools, schools with and without sixth forms, specialist status schools and city academies.

All schools in England can enter the competition via this website. Schools in Scotland should enter through ESU Scotland. Schools in Wales and Ireland have their own national competitions, the Julian Hodge Cup run by CEWC-Cymru, and the All-Ireland Schools Debating Competition run by a consortium of Irish university debating societies. The winners from all four of these national competitions meet in the ESU's own International Final.

Judging the national championship

The ESU Schools Mace, more than any other debating competition, relies on the generosity of large numbers of people—the debating community, teachers, ESU branch members and members of the public—who give up their time to assess the early heats. At the heart of the ESU’s beliefs about debate is the conviction that it should represent real-world persuasive skills and debate skill can be evaluated by intelligent and fair-minded lay people with no special expertise in competitive debate. If you are interested in helping the competition to run, you could be an adjudicator. Please register your interest by e-mailing speech.debate@esu.org.

Related downloads

Schools Mace & Public Speaking Competition 2009-2010 Schools Competitions Handbook Guidelines for chairperson and timekeeper Guidelines for coaches Guidelines for debaters Guidelines for hosts Guidelines for judges Download How a debate works Judging notes sheet Recording permission slip Sample order paper