British School of Sofia debate team stars shine bright during World Scholar’s Cup championship
The World Scholar’s Cup Sofia round took place in mid-January 2025, giving British School of Sofia (BSS) students an opportunity to shine bright and win multiple awards.
Our debate team won First Place Debate Team Junior Division, Second Place Overall Team Junior division, as well as multiple individual distinctions for debate and writing.
The World Scholar’s Cup was founded in 2006 and the first event took place in Korea in 2007. This competition aims to teach students interesting non-academic skills and competencies, helping find the common ground between people coming from different backgrounds.
Each team has to partake in rounds like the Scholar’s Challenge, Debate, Scholar’s Bowl, and Collaborative Writing. Teams are organised in two divisions – junior and senior, based on the age of participants.
The activities within each of the rounds require knowledge of a specific curriculum that draws from disciplines like history, literature, social studies, science, technology, art, and music.
Collaborative writing as an event is based on arguments. Students have to pick one of six prompts linked to a subject within the World Scholar’s Cup curriculum. Each team member has to choose a unique prompt and any writing form is permissible within this round of the competition.
As a part of the Team Debate, each participating team is given 15 minutes to prepare and come up with a plan for the speaking portion of the competition. Individual speakers are given up to four minutes and there are 60 seconds for preparation before the next speaker is called.
Participants in the debate competition are graded on the basis of clarity and stage presence. How an argument is organised and the use of language will also be taken into consideration when individual performances are being assessed.