Asian Unity Tournament

The Asian Unity Tournament is a Asian Style debating championships open to all institutions of higher learning in Asia. It was conceived in January 2008, as an alternative to the two tournaments currently existing in Asia, as a means to resolve the split in Asian Debating.

The Guiding Principles of the Asian Unity Tournament are

1. Unity

A debate tournament must be competitive and challenging, but it is also a place to bond and build networks. Asian institutions have a lot to learn from each other, and should be able to lean on each other irregardless of their differences. They should also have a common place to discuss, decide and develop what is best for all of Asian debating.

2. Competitive debate

The core of a debate tournament is the need to compete and persuade. It is also strong and open competition that helps and motivates people to develop. Competition however should be a principle that is adopted openly on all fronts (ie, not just in the debate room, but among adjudicators, bids, debate theories, council meetings) and diverse. We want to create a competitive framework that is vibrant enough to be a training ground for Asian teams to do well at other larger international teams but also open enough to allow younger debate institutions to find value.

3. Adjudication

Poor adjudication frustrates debaters and doesn't help development. A strong tournament and debate institution are those that value and develop their adjudication talents. We need to support adjudication the same way we support debating - accurately discern talent, improve adjudication abilities and nurture young talents.