Publication date: Wednesday 31st March 2010
Great Debate Final 2010
Marie Stopes in her laboratory, 1904
The Great Debate Final 2010 took place on Saturday 13th March at Clare College, Cambridge.
Click here to view the finalists performances!
During the autumn and winter 2009/2010 the Historical Association ran a nationwide historical debating competition across schools in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Over 150 schools were involved and over 230 students took part in the 20 heats. Students aged between 16 and 19 debated the question:
"Why does your local hero matter?"
Each competitor was given five minutes to present their case and then fields questions from the judges.
The standard of the entrants in all the heats were incredibly high and the choices of local heroes very diverse. Podcasts were taken of the heats in Somerset, Norwich, York, Belfast, Edinburgh and London and are available on the HA website here...
The final took place at Clare College, Cambridge on Sat 13th March 2010. The winners of the regional heats competed against each other representing their local heroes in the same format as the heats. The judges were Professor Anne Curry, President of the Historical Association, Dr Dave Musgrove, Editor of BBC History Magazine, Dr Robert Baldock, Managing Director of Yale University Press and Andrew Preston is Senior Lecturer in History and a Fellow of Clare College at Cambridge University.
We had an intriguing range of heroes. Some were well known but were presented in a new light. Others were plucked from obscurity by a passionate oration. The enthusiasm of all speakers was boundless but also impressive was the serious historical research and reflection which underpinned their speeches.
The quality of all the finalists performances were truly astounding and made deciding on a winner and runner up particularly hard but in the end the choices made by our panel of judges was unanimous.
The winner of the Historical Association Great Debate was Reuben Vandercruyssen from Sullivan Upper School, Belfast.
Our runner up was Anna McCrory from Bolton School Girls' Division.
Click on the links below to view the following local heroes:
The Winner: Reuben Vandercruyssen on Dr Frank Pantridge
Runner Up: Anna McCrory on Lord Leverhulme
Alexandra Rutterford on Boudicca
Bryony Milliken on Wilfred Owen
Chris Wood on Walter Tull
Claire Hudson on Alan Turing
Eoghan Sheehan on Tom Johnson
Boadicea Haranguing the Britons by John Opie
Jacob Bryning on Aneurin Bevan
James Clements on Jane Haining
Madeleine Avery on Anita Roddick
Matthew Cowan on John Fancy
Robert Smith on George Cadbury
Rosie Russell on Marie Stopes
Sarah Wallace on John Hume
Sarah Woon on Lady Elizabeth Hastings
Seren Sandham Davies on Betsi Cadwalader
Shreya Das on Edward Jenner
Tegan Moran on Robert Hooke
William Brown on Mark Firth
