2023 Evatt Competition
The New South Wales Evatt Competition is the NSW state round of the UN Youth Australia Evatt Competition, Australia’s premier Model United Nations (MUN) competition. The competition is named after the notable Dr Herbert Vere Evatt, commonly known as ‘Doc’ for his Doctor of Laws degree, who was an Australian politician and remains the youngest ever Justice of the High Court of Australia. Doc Evatt was later elected as the President of the United Nations General Assembly and helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Evatt Competition takes the form of a MUN debate simulating a session in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) chamber. Students in years 9-12 compete in teams of two where they debate, amend, and vote on resolutions about current world issues from the perspective of the country they are representing, hence they are referred to as delegates. Each team will be allocated one of the fifteen member states of the UNSC in 2023.
In the course of the debate, students will:
- Deliver speeches to the Council to persuade other teams of their country’s point of view
- Lobby and negotiate with other teams during caucus time, and also in a separate Negotiation chamber, that can be requested during the debate
- Propose amendments to the resolution to suit their country’s agenda
- Ask questions to other countries like in parliamentary Question Time
- Vote on the final resolution
The delegates judged the most effective diplomats will proceed to the next round. The Evatt Competition helps participants develop a range of skills such as public speaking, negotiation, teamwork, research, and diplomacy.
Round Structure of the Evatt Competition
The top thirty teams from the preliminary rounds are selected to compete at the state semi-final where they will debate more challenging resolutions. From there, the top fifteen teams are selected to compete at the state grand final, held at NSW Parliament House! The top five teams from the state grand final will be invited to compete and represent NSW in the Evatt National Finals.
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Important Information
Country and round allocations, and the prepared resolutions will be emailed to students at least two weeks prior to the date of their preliminary round. An additional impromptu resolution will be disseminated and debated on the day of the round. Competitors are strongly encouraged to research the content of the prepared resolutions to determine their country’s stance.
Please see the FAQ section below to have any of your questions answered. If you have any further questions, please contact the 2023 NSW Evatt Convenor, Abigail Quadros, at nswevatt@unyouth.org.au.