Exhibition Debate

As part of the lead-up to AWDC 2005, the Organising Committee held an exhibition debate on Friday the 22nd of July. The purpose of the debate was to publicise and raise the profile of women's debating and of the tournament. The debate was advertised and open to the public. And to our gratification a decent sized crowd turned out. Some of the ANU's most experienced debaters spoke at the event, Jenny Bowles, Aparna Rao and Simone Gubler appeared for the affirmative, and Claudia Newman-Martin, Madeleine Moss and Emily Byrne spoke for the negative on the topic: "That there should be affirmative action in the Australian Federal Parliament". Both sides put forward excellent cases and the debate was followed by an enjoyable (and ample) supper prepared by committee members.

Bake Sale

Our organising committee again put its collective baking skills into good use on Thursday the 28th, to raise money for the ANU contingent. Held concurrent with the ANU's annual campus Scavenger Hunt, the stall sold cakes like hotcakes; offering an awesome range of range of cakes, biscuits, scones, crackles, chocolates, brownies, jelly, and muffins to the hungry Scavenger Hunt audience.

The stall was a huge success and raised quite a lot more than expected. We hope that this will facilitate a healthy turnout of ANU debaters for the 2005 tournament.

Raffle Draw

Over the last few months, the Organising Committee has also been busy arranging a fundraising raffle. This was a huge success, thanks to the kindness of local businesses who donated some excellent prizes (see our Sponsors page) and the enthusiasm of the many people on campus and throughout Canberra who bought tickets.

The draw has taken place, and winners have been notified. Results will be published soon.