Victoria University wins the Joynt Scroll

For immediate release
 
Victoria University wins the Joynt Scroll for 2010
 
Victoria University of Wellington has won the prestigious Joynt Scroll university debating competition which concluded on Monday in Wellington.
 
It is the fifth year in a row that Victoria has won the tournament and the 46th time since 1902, the most by any university.
 
The Joynt Scroll is New Zealand's second oldest sporting competition, and is competed for annually by Auckland, Otago, Canterbury, Victoria and Waikato Universities.
 
This year’s Grand Final was an all-Victoria affair, with the Victoria A and Victoria B teams squaring off against each other in Parliament’s Legislative Council Chamber on the topic “That housewives and househusbands should be paid for their work”.
 
The Victoria B team, who affirmed the motion, emerged victorious in a close 4-3 split decision.
 
The winning team comprised first year law and arts students Asher Emanuel and Nick Cross, alongside fourth year law and science student Richard D’Ath.
 
The runners-up were fifth year law and arts student Jenna Raeburn, and third year philosophy students Udayan Mukherjee and Paul Smith.
 
Sebastian Templeton, the President of the Victoria University Debating Society, said that the victory was just one of many for Victoria in recent months.
 
Earlier this year Victoria won the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Champs, the world’s second largest debating competition which involved over 100 teams from Australia, Asia and New Zealand, as well as the New Zealand impromptu debating tournament held as part of the University Games.
 
Remarkably, Victoria has won every New Zealand domestic debating tournament since April 2007 and holds the trophies for impromptu, prepared, and parliamentary debating in NZ.
 
Victoria's domination of the tournament was also reflected in the individual speaker prizes awarded. Richard D’Ath was named as the best speaker of the tournament and captain of the NZ Universities’ Prepared Debating Team. Udayan Mukherjee was also named as a member of the NZ Team, and Asher Emanuel and Paul Smith picked up highly commended awards.
 
Teams from Auckland and Canterbury were knocked out in the semi-finals
 
Ends