January is looking like a busy month at UN Youth Tasmania! Upcoming events include a social BBQ, a social Model United Nations event and a general meeting!

The social BBQ will take place at Parliament Street Park in Sandy Bay on Friday 6th January from 5pm to help celebrate the succussful year that 2011 was for UN Youth Tasmania and look forward to the rest of 2012! UN Youth Tasmania would love to see all members, old or new, there! More details can be found here at www.unyouthtas.org.au/welcome-to-2012-bbq

On January 15th UN Youth Tasmania will also be hosting our inaugural SUNMUN! This will be a relaxed and social afternoon of Model United Nations (MUN) debate and is open to both experienced and new MUNers! More details about this exciting event can be found at www.unyouthtas.org.au/SUNMUN-2012

UN Youth Tasmania, The Evatt Trophy Competition 2011 and the United Nations Association of Australia are proud to present a public lecture from Richard Woolcott entitled "A Seat at the Table: Australia's bid for the United Nations Security Council." 

Last Wednesday evening (16th November 2011) the first of what is hoped to be many public UN Youth Tasmania lectures took place. Kicking off the lecture series was Tim McCormack, University of Melbourne Professor and Special Adviser on International Humanitarian Law to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Professor McCormack is an engaging speaker and a favourite among many UN Youth Tasmania members who has previously given lectures in Tasmania (having grown up a Burnie boy).

UN Youth Tasmania held the grand final of its inaugural Junior Public Speaking Competition today on 12th November 2011, where some of the best public speakers from grades 7–10 in Tasmania descended on the University of Tasmania to compete in both prepared and impromptu speech rounds.

Congratulations to the winner and runner up of the Junior division, Jessie Horder-Geraghty from Launceston Church Grammar, and April Underhill of Scottsdale High.

Congratulations also to the winner and runner up of the Senior devision, Laura Wood of St Brendan-Shaw College and Isabel Cooper from Scotch Oakburn.

Make sure you like UN Youth Tasmania on Facebook to check out some of the photos from the event. 

UN Youth Tasmania will be running a public lecture from 6:30pm-8:00pm in Lecture Theatre 1 at the UTAS School of Law on Wednesday 16th November. This event will be free entry, and open to members of the public.

Registrations are still open for the 2011 UN Youth Tasmanian Junior Public Speaking Competition. This exciting new competition is open to students in years 7-10 and allows students to engage with the world, improve their public speaking skills and have some fun.

Rounds for this fantastic event will be held around Tasmania on the following dates:

• Hobart: Tuesday 11th October, 4:30pm, The Friends' School - Aston Lecture Theatre

• Launceston: Thursday 20th October, 4:30pm, uTas Launceston Campus


• 
Burnie: Thursday 27th October, 5:30pm, uTas Burnie Campus

Students deliver both a prepared and impromptu speech over the duration of the event. Prepared topics include; War and Peace, Our Biggest Failure, Sending the Message, A Fighting Chance and Trial and Error. 

^{Student Matilda Brown delivers a speech}

Sign up now to be part of this excellent opportunity, or click here to find out more.

The Tasmanian Round of the Evatt Trophy has wrapped for another year. After two fantastic days of debate the judging panel consisting of Matt Killingsworth (uTas School of Government), Lucy de Vreeze (uTas Law School) and Kate Stockford (UN Youth Tasmania Alumni) had a tough time separating all the teams. However, the following teams were chosen to be most outsounding throughout the weekend:

1st Place: Jethro Cohen and Andrew Dunn-Lobban (Friends’ School) who represented Brazil

2nd Place: Andrew Lonergan and Patrick Cordwell (Elizabeth College) who represented Pakistan

3rd Place: Martika Palmer and Matilda Brown (Scotch Oakburn College) who represented France

In case you missed it here’s a wrap up of what happened on day one of the Tasmanian Round of the Evatt Trophy. Day two held many more thrills and spills for delegates. The already high standard of debate was lifted even further as delegates debated contentious resolutions on the Falkland Islands, ‘One China’ and reform of the Security Council.

UN Youth Tasmania would like to once again congratulate all the delegates who participated in the Tasmanian Round of the Evatt Trophy for 2011 for their excellent standard of debate. UN Youth Tasmanian also extends a warm round of congratulations to the Organising Committee of the 2011 Tasmanian Round of the Evatt Trophy, especially convenor Aaron Moss.

Make sure you’re on UN Youth Tasmania’s Mailing list, fan on our Facebook page and following us on Twitter in order to find out about the next exciting UN Youth event!

Fierce debate has kicked off day one of the 2011 Tasmanian Round of the Evatt Trophy today at Tasmanians Parliament House. Evatt Trophy is Tasmanian’s premier Model United Nations competition, where teams of two represent nation states of the United Nations Security Council. Topics debated today were the question of South Sudan, the UN’s response to the ‘Arab Spring’ and a resolution on Cyber Warfare. Convenor Aaron Moss was ‘immensely proud of the quality of debate and negotiation skills of all delegates.’ Mr Moss also expected debate to hot up even further tomorrow morning, as delegates tried to solve complex and delicate international issues.

^{Delegates during debate today}

This evening delegates enjoyed a reception with members with political figures and dignitaries including; Federal Member for Denison Andrew Wilkie, State MP’s for Denison and Franklin Elise Archer and Jacquie Petrusma, Hobart Lord Mayor Rob Valentine and a representative from the office of Tasmanian Senator Carol Brown.

UN Youth Tasmania invites members of the public to come along and watch these fantastic young delegates go head to head again tomorrow from 9am to 4:15pm.

Make sure you like UN Youth Tasmania on Facebook to see photos from todays proceedings. You can also follow along live on Twitter by following UN Youth Tasmania's account (@UNYouthTas) or via the hashtag #TasEvatt11.

This weekend 37 excited delegates from around Tasmania will converge on Hobart for this years Tasmanian Round of the Evatt Trophy. The Evatt Trophy is Australia’s premier debating competition and takes place in the form of a mock Security Council, where teams of two students represent a Member State of the United Nations Security Council.

^{Delegates at a recent MUN}

The Evatt Trophy is not only a debating competition it’s also a workshop in leadership, diplomacy, international relations and fun, including a reception with political figures and dignitaries on Saturday night.

Over the course of the weekend, delegates will represent their country and debate other members of the Security Council over a diverse range of topics including; the Falkland Islands Conflict, Cyber-Crime, ‘One China’ and Security Council Reform.

Members of the public are invited to come and watch the best and brightest of Tasmania’s youth debate International Issues over the duration of the weekend. Debate begins Saturday 24^th September from 12:30pm until 5:30pm and Sunday 25^th September from 9am until 4:15pm at Parliament House.

Rounds will be held around Tasmania on the following dates:  

• Hobart: Tuesday 11th October, 4:30pm, The Friends' School - Aston Lecture Theatre
• Launceston: Thursday 20th October, 4:30pm, Utas Launceston Campus

• 
Burnie: Thursday 27th October, 5:30pm, Utas Burnie Campus

Students are encouraged to register now for an opportunity to participate in JPSC 2011! Click here for further details.

The 2011 Junior Public Speaking Competition is proudly supported by the University of Tasmania.