A week after finishing as the top overall school at the International Independent School Public Speaking Championship, the Hotchkiss Speech and Debate Team returned to action in the Debating Association of New England Independent Schools (DANEIS) league, facing schools from around New England in a tournament at Hotchkiss on Oct. 30. For the third straight year, Hotchkiss defended its home turf against approximately 100 competitors, winning the Top School award. In fact, Hotchkiss brought two teams to the tournament and they finished in first and second place.

At the novice level, seven Hotchkiss debaters finished in the top 10, including the top six spots. Jacob Zweiback ’26, Vanessa Guerra ’25, and Max Salzinger '25 finished in first, second and third places in the Novice Overall category. Hotchkiss pairs took all three top spots the Novice Parliamentary standings: Jacob and Teo Everts ’26 in first, Vanessa and Libby Abelow ’25 in second, and Max and Maadhavan Prasanna ’25 in third. Jacob and Teo finished in first and second place in Novice Parliamentary. In Impromptu Speaking, it was also a clean sweep for Hotchkiss, with Jacob in first, Kavya Ramasamy ’24 in second, and Vanessa in third.

At the advanced level, the highlight was the performance of Peter Berlizov ’24. He finished in first place in both Advanced Parliamentary Debate and Advanced Impromptu, allowing him to also receive the Top Overall Advanced Speaker Prize and qualifying for the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships in Durban, South Africa, in the spring. Peter joins teammates Meilan Antonucci ’24 and Ben Who ’24 in qualifying for this event. Peter and Meilan were the Top Advanced Parliamentary Pair. Co-Captain Jason Shan ’23 finished in third place in Advanced Parliamentary Debate and third place in the Top Overall Advanced Debater category. Ben and Meilan finished in a tie for fourth place in the Top Overall Advanced Debater category. Five Hotchkiss debaters finished in the top 10 advanced speakers.

Debate is a team sport, and the Top School awards go to schools based on the records of all competitors from a school at both the advanced and novice levels. All Bearcats contributed important wins, including the whole novice group that finished 6-0 in their debates. That group included Vanessa Guerra ’25, Kavya Ramasamy ’24, Sam Rodrigue ’25, Libby Abelow ’25, Jacob Zweiback ’26, Max Salzinger ’25, Maadhavan Prasanna ’25, and Teo Everts ’26. The full advanced team of Peter Berlizov ’24, Jason Shan ’23, Ben Who ’24, Meilan Antonucci ’24, Vlad Grass ’24, Isaiah Stephens ’25, Parth Jain ’24, and Sahil Annamaneni ’24 contributed essential points and wins to the team victory.

Several faculty members spent the day judging and supporting the tournament, including Cera Fisher, Cory Stevens, Myrsini Manou Georgila, and Amanda McClure. Without their help, the team could not have allowed 16 Hotchkiss debaters to participate.

The team is now planning for the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School (BB&N) Debating and Public Speaking Tournament in Cambridge in December and the Yale Model United Nations in New Haven in January. Many novice debaters are preparing for these events and look forward to competing soon.