Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition

It is organised by the Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust (BBPT), and is sponsored by both the Telegraph Media Group and the T.E.

An average of over seventy schools enter the competition each year, with the first round usually beginning in late October.

Each team consists of two students, and each round's motion is chosen to reflect a particular civic, social, political or even economic issue of the day.

In the 2011 final, the motion was, "This House believes that Northern Ireland requires an official opposition because it has reached political maturity."

Guest adjudicators at the final have included Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education; Viscount Cranborne, now the Marquess of Salisbury and former Leader of the House of Lords; the historian, Andrew Roberts; Guy Black, Lord Black of Brentwood, Executive Director of the Telegraph Media Group; author and parliamentarian Lord Dobbs, and the journalist and leader writer of The Times, Rosemary Righter.