The Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament

The Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament is a national debating competition held throughout the year in Scottish Secondary Schools. It is one of the leading debating tournaments in Scotland and is organised annually by the Law Society of Scotland. It was created in 1999 to mark the Law Society of Scotland's 50th anniversary. It was later renamed in order to remember the life, work and passion of Donald Dewar, the first First Minister of Scotland. Since 2006, the final of the tournament has often been held in the debating chamber of The Scottish Parliament, in Edinburgh. In 2015, Jamie MacLeod and Ewan Redpath won the competition for Madras College. The 2016 competition had 128 teams participating, with winners Finlay Allmond and Caitlin Sherret from Nairn Academy.^[1] Charlie Holder and Fraser Cordiner went on to pick up a second win for Nairn in 2025, debating "This house would rather get an education in the year 2000 rather than 2025"^[2] Craigmount High School have won the competition a record three times- in 2007^[3] 2012,^[4] and 2014.^[5] Madras College, Glasgow Academy, Peebles High School, and Robert Gordon's College are the only other schools to have won the competition more than once.