The English-Speaking Union Schools' Mace is an annual

debating Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

tournament for

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The competition was founded in 1957 by the journalist Kenneth Harris of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' newspaper, and was initially known as The Observer Schools' Mace. Since 1995, the tournament has been organised by the

English-Speaking Union The English-Speaking Union (ESU) is an international educational membership organisation headquartered in London, England. Founded by the journalist Sir Evelyn Wrench in 1918, it aims to bring together and empower people of different languages ...

, with assistance from several regional convenors.Schools Mace Debating Competition
/ref> Schools across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

are eligible to enter one team in the championships each year, made up of three student debaters from the school. Teams compete in multiple rounds before regional finals, the winners from each of the twelve regions going on to the national final day. Final day is made up of two rounds: the semi-finals, in which the regional champions are split into two groups of six, with the winning team of each group moving on to the last round, and the grand final, the winner of which is crowned national champion, receiving medals and a trophy, as well as having their names put on the Silver Mace the competition is named for. The equivalent competition for universities in the UK and Ireland is the John Smith Memorial Mace.

Past champions

References

External links

Page on the ESU Schools Mace at the English-Speaking Union website
* {{usurped,
Page on the ESU Schools Mace at britishdebate.com
} European debating competitions Schools debating competitions

Past champions

See also

References

External links