Oxford Cup Invitation

Preliminary Invitation

2016-17 Asper/Oxford Cup Debating Tournament

On behalf of the Manitoba Speech and Debate Association, I am pleased to invite you to the 2016-17 Asper Cup/Oxford Cup Tournament in Winnipeg from November 18 to 20. Teams should plan to arrive on Nov 17 because the rounds start early on the 18th, and can leave on flights that depart at 6 PM or later on Nov 20. Debates will take place at the Gray Academy for Jewish Education and St. John’s –Ravenscourt, but a number of Manitoban schools will be helping to run the tournament. Each province is welcome to send up to 6 two-person teams to compete.

For this year the Asper Cup, an annual British Parliamentary tournament held by Gray Academy, is being combined with the Oxford Cup, so the winners will get both trophies. The format of the debates will be British Parliamentary style, i.e. 2 two-person teams on each side, and the resolutions will be based on current affairs and issues. Speaking times will be 5 minutes. We are planning to have 6 preliminary rounds followed by the break rounds. The top two (or more, depending on what the Oxford Union agrees to) Canadian teams will win the right to attend the Oxford Debating Championships in March, 2017, assuming that the Oxford Union continues to extend an invitation to us as they have in previous years.

The registration fee for the Asper/Oxford Cup will be $200 per debater and $200 per coach, although the fee for coaches is reduced to $100 if they are willing to judge. Competitors and coaches will stay in hotels and they will have to cover the cost of the hotel themselves – it is not included as part of the registration fee. We have arranged for a special rate with the Fairmont Hotel and I have attached that information to this email. You should book by Oct 16 to get the special rate. We will arrange for buses to transport competitors and coaches from the Fairmont to and from the venues.

If your province would like to attend, please let us know by October 12th. We do not need names at that point, just numbers of teams. If that deadline presents problems, contact me. The information that we need you to email to us for this preliminary registration is as follows:

1) Is your province likely to attend and how many teams you would plan to send (initial maximum of 6 teams)?

2) If there is space, would you like to send any additional teams and, if so, how many?

3) When will you know the names of your competitors and coaches?

4) The name and contact information of the contact person in your province for the team.

We will send the link for the individual and team registration site once we receive that preliminary information. Registration of individual debaters and teams will be online, and we would like that information by November 1^st. Again, if that deadline is a problem, please let us know and we will see what we can do.

For more information, please email John Robinson at manitobadebate@gmail.com or phone (204)-960-1053. We look forward to seeing many of you in November.

Second Email

1. The hotel has extended its booking deadline to Oct 31. Let me know if that is not late enough for you and I will see what I can do.

2. Cheques should be made out to the Board of Jewish Education, and mailed to:

Attention: Andrew Kaplan, Board of Jewish Education, A202 - 123 Doncaster Street . Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3N 2B4

3. We are able to accommodate up to 8 teams from any provinces that would like to send more teams than the original 6.