Middle schoolers debate their way to top prizes

From left, Yang Sung-soo, Park Chan and Ko Ye-jin were runners-up, while Jin Swann, Hahn Ye-lin and Han Ki-woong triumphed. By Kim Hyun-dong

Middle school students from around the nation came together at Kyung Hee University’s Chungwoon Hall in Seoul over the weekend to test against each other their debate skills and knowledge of current events.

Team Capella was named grand champion Sunday after defeating Demagogue at the 3rd Korea English Debate Championship for middle school students.

The three members of the winning team were ninth graders Jin Swann from Daemyeong Middle School and Hahn Ye-lin and Han Ki-woong from Daewon International Middle School.

This year’s event was organized by the Korea JoongAng Daily in an effort to encourage young Koreans to be aware of current events and to sharpen their logic and debate talents.

The two teams debated for an hour about whether to give prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment the option of choosing capital punishment.

The two finalists defeated 48 teams of three on Saturday to reach Sunday’s main competition.

Other awards presented Sunday were for top rookie speaker, which went to Yang Seon-je, an eighth grader at Cheongshim International Academy. Main speaker awards were given to 10 individual speakers.

The Main Speaker Gold Award was presented to Demagogue’s Park Chan, a ninth grader at Sincheon Middle School.

The final was judged by 11 university-student adjudicators. Awards were also given to the top three judges. Lim Hee-yun, 22, from Korea University won first prize.

Information about the next championship scheduled for the summer will be posted on the Korea English Debate Championship’s Web site, http://kedc.or.kr.

By Yim Seung-hye [enational@joongang.co.kr]