Introducing: IndoDebate's Debater of the Year Table

IndoDebate plans to monitor the performance of Indonesian varsity debaters in a specific year to find the speaker with the most achievements through out a period of 12 months who will take the title of Debater of the Year (DOTY) in December.

The DOTY 2011 table considers tournaments in Indonesia this year that do not restrict participation on the basis of geography or educational choice. That excludes area-specific debates, regional NUEDC selections and competitions that only allow students of a particular major to compete like the International Humanitarian Law Debates, which barred non-International Relations students from joining. The list includes debates with a specific subject like finance-themed NDC-NES and IFF, which were open for non-economics students this year. In fact, there was only 1 economics student among the 6 debaters in IFF 2011's last debate while all speakers in this year's NDC-NES final came from an engineering school.

The table will also include tournaments that mix tertiary and secondary level students, as long as, the event is varsity-heavy and not the other way around. There are some school-held debates in Indonesia that invite university students to add pizzazz but they do not ensure high-level competition and, sometimes, struggle to attract the best varsity speakers to come. The yardstick to gauge the ability of mixed tournaments to enter the list is EDSUI's Founders Trophy, which invites varsity, high school, and alumni teams without sacrificing the quality of the debates. In 2004, SMA Kanisius won FT, beating IVED champs in the final.

The ranking in the table follows a simple point-based system. A speaker wins 1 point whenever s/he grabs a spot in the semifinal or final of a listed tournament or is part of the winning team. A debater also gets 1 point whenever s/he enters the top 10 or best 5 speakers of a recognized competition or tops the speaker tab. For example, someone who wins a tournament and its best speaker title will get 6 points after results are out. Three points from winning a trophy, which also means reaching the semi and final round, and 3 more from becoming the top speaker, which also proves s/he is part of the top 5 and best 10.

The list will not have a different set of points for different competitions. The intention is to find a special individual, regardless of origin and that means composites are no different to school squads and open tournaments are at equal footing  with national championships. A speaker is associated to a school only for the sake of clear identification.

Some may think NUEDC with participation from all 33 provinces is tougher that the 14-team IFF 2011 and deserves more points. Others can argue wide representation does not mean high competition because of the geographical imbalance in talent and NUEDC only allows one pair from each school, no matter how strong the university is. IndoDebate feels it is hard to find a gold standard for classifying events in Indonesia if top varsity debaters nationwide are allowed to join a tournament. IFF 2011 had a tiny number of teams but there were past IVED, NUEDC, JOVED, FT and BIND winners among the debaters. Arguably, IVED 2011 had a less illustrious line-up. ALSA Unpad was known as a training ground for new debaters but the final of this year's edition had a team with an IVED champ against a squad led by a WUDC veteran.

While debaters who compete in more tournaments have bigger chances to win points, there is no score for attendance. Those who just have the habit of entering competitions without the ability to improve skills and eventually win may end up lower than a speaker who select targets carefully, learn from mistakes and collect points. Up to mid-May, the table took into account 7 tournaments in 2011: IVED, SEO, ALSA Unpad, IFF, NDC-NES, EF and ALSA UI. If there was any other deserving tournament, please send a note to achmad_abu@yahoo.com. The cacth is it must be a competition that invited varsity debaters from different parts of the country and publicly posted the results.

All ranking systems have weaknesses and IndoDebate's DOTY table is no exception. It depends on organizers to post accurate results and has no mechanism to check their validity other than feedback from readers who notice the errors. Some may object to the way points are distributed. Nonetheless, it still can show a picture of how a debater stands among the crowd. Hopefully, the table can motivate speakers to aim higher and debate better in future events.

To find out the complete, active table, click the DOTY button on the main panel.