The Schools Mace is the oldest national debating competition in the UK. It has been running since 1957, encouraging the discussion of controversial topics and current affairs.

The Mace is an exciting and challenging debating competition for teams of two students in key stage 3 onwards. Students who participate in the competition develop their knowledge of controversial issues and world affairs, while enhancing their speech writing, public speaking and analytical thinking skills. The competition also helps develop confidence in its participants.Former winners of this competition have gone on to become MPs, well-known journalists, senior lawyers, prominent scientists and captains of industry. Institutions and establishments of all kinds enter the competition – further education colleges, comprehensive schools, private schools, grammar schools, schools with and without sixth forms and specialist status schools.

The competition runs with the academic year, beginning in the autumn term. The first rounds of the competition will take place between October and December. The second rounds of the competition will take place in January and February. The regional final will take place in March and the England final will take place in April.

The competition is open to schools in England only. The corresponding Scottish competition is the Scottish Mace and is run by ESU Scotland. The corresponding Welsh competition is the Julian Hodge Cup and is run by CEWC-Cymru. The corresponding Irish competition is the All Ireland Schools Debating Competition and is run by a consortium of Irish university debating societies.The winners of the four national competitions compete in the International Final of the ESU Schools Mace. The 2010-2011 international final was held in Dublin, Ireland. The 2011-2012 international final will be held in England.

The new Speech and Debate Competition Handbook for Schools is now online and is available to download. The handbook contains a glossary of commonly used debating terms, the rules of the competition, details of the competition format, as well as guidelines for speakers, coaches, adjudicators and organisers.

The Speech and Debate Competition Handbook for Schools