QatarDebate, the national debating organisation for Qatar and a member of Qatar Foundation, is delighted to announce its intention to bid in Washington D.C for the 2010 World Schools Debating Championships.

Below is an outline of how far debating has come in Qatar in recent years, what we think we can offer as hosts and the benefits WSDC 2010 could have for debate across the Arab World:

Qatar: A vibrant debating community

Qatar 2010: A tournament like no other

Beyond 2010: Developing debate in the Arab World

We look forward to seeing you all in Washington in a few weeks time. If you have any questions please have a look at our website – www.qatardebate.org - or send an email to doha2010@qatardebate.org

The first Qatar National Debate team have just returned from London where they have completed a successful 10 day program of intensive coaching to prepare them for the 2008 World Schools Debating Championships which will be held in Washington D.C in September. Team Qatar are supported by QatarDebate, a member of Qatar Foundation, a new organisation which aims to promote discussion and debate in Qatar and the Arab World.

Five high school students have been selected for the first ever National Debating Team to represent Qatar at the next World Schools Debating Championships in Washington DC in September.

The team members were chosen from 17 high school students who attended trials over the weekend at Education City. The trials were organised by QatarDebate, the national debating organisation for the country, which is a member of Qatar Foundation.

The members of the National Schools Debating Team for Qatar are:

Talal Burshaid from Qatar Leadership Academy
Vartan Shadarevian from Doha College
Tina Niaki from Doha College
Fatima Hijran from Al-Bayan Independent School
Ayesha Batley from Doha College

Doha College has been crowned Qatar’s first ever debating champions after a fiercely contested day of competition at the inaugural Qatar National Schools Debating Championships. The event took place at Education City and was organised by QatarDebate – the national debating organisation of Qatar – which is a member of the Qatar Foundation.

20 teams from schools across the country took part in the competition, which was judged by QatarDebate coaches and by teachers who had taken part in QatarDebate faculty workshops.

The full tab from the competition and list of students selected to trial for the Qatar National Schools' Team can be found here: Qatar National Schools' 2008 Results

The first annual Qatar National Universities Debating Competition was held in Education City on Friday 14th March, with 10 university team competing in 3 rounds of debate, breaking to a grand final. The competition was organised by Qatardebate, the national debating organisation for Qatar, and is the culmination of a programme aimed at encouraging universities in Qatar to form debating societies, trained by QatarDebate's international coaches.

The competition was won by Cornell Medical School Qatar B (Marwa Saleh, Rahima Sanya, Nadine Saad), who beat another team from Cornell (Anas Abou-Ismail, Adam Khader, Anas Ahmad) in the Final on the motion THW never censor political comment.