WUDL Student Choice Awards are chosen by the students, to recognize those that have the respect of their peers. Each team gets one vote, usually conducted by a captain or coach after a survey of the team as a whole. 

High School Debater of the Year: Madison Thorpe (Banneker High School) 

A highly competitive middle school debater at Stuart Hobson, Madison is now a freshman at Banneker High School. She was a big part of Banneker claiming the Sweepstakes Cup this year, and had several winning records in regional Varsity tournaments, despite being several years younger than most of her competitors. Madison has been the league’s resident feminism scholar since 7th grade, and always finds a powerful, creative way to advocate for women each season. 

Beyond her competitive success, Madison has a heart of gold, looking out for her fellow competitors. She notices that her peers are struggling before anyone else, and is the first person to lend a helping hand. She’s literally given the shirt off her back to a sick teammate, and is mature well beyond her years. You couldn’t ask for a better teammate. 

Middle School Debater of the Year: Mandolyn Brown (DC International) 

Mandolyn started debating last year, but took their participation to new heights this season, rising to JV, winning awards, and attending almost every tournament. Mandolyn even got their toes wet in the WUDL Travel Team, 

A big reason why DC International was named best High School, Mandolyn earned the respect of teammates and opponents alike this season. I expect that they’ll be in Varsity by Christmas. 

High School Team of the Year: Duke Ellington School of the Arts

The Duke Ellington team was founded by sophomores Victoria Ondrejcak and Amra Tesfaye last year when they were still new to the school and didn’t have class schedules yet. They recruited friends and peers and got to work, winning some great awards and almost qualifying to nationals last year. 

This year, they pushed the envelope further, embracing creative argumentation and welcoming in a big class of freshmen. Anna and Victoria made team history, advancing to elimination rounds at Pennsbury this year, the first time in school history they’d made it to elims at a regional tournament. Coach Ben Sayer has been along for the ride, except when he’s stepped out to compete himself at the college level representing Georgetown, where he qualified to the NDT as a first rounder this year. 

Middle School Team of the Year: MacFarland Middle School

WUDL has tried to start a team at MacFarland Middle School for three years now. This season, it worked like a charm, with two dynamic teachers, Jessie Gibian and Sydney McKinley partnering with AU sophomore Chris Stockburger to lead a great squad of debaters through their first season. From 8th graders Nichole and Norman, who didn’t lose for several tournaments and jumped straight from Novice to Varsity for MS National Qualifiers to 6th grader Emma Dence, who was top speaker in February, the team has consistently done well in each division they entered, earing the respect of their peers in the process! 

Judge’s Choice Debater of the Year: Zahra Dinkins (Walls) 

Zahra started debating in 6th graded, and was the top speaker and 1st seed at Middle School Nationals as an 8th grader. She even placed 3rd in a prestigious round robin that season for high school freshmen….the only black team entered and as two of 5 women participating. 

All of that was a long time ago at this point, with the senior at School Without Walls being one of the teams to beat for many years. She’s represented us at Nationals last year, and narrowly missed this year. She became the first Walls Debater to get an elimination round bye, and to advance to a ToC Qualifying Round this season. 

She’s been named both Middle School Debater of the Year, and voted by her peers as High School Debater of the Year in years past. This year, she was a finalist, one of 8 in the entire country, for National Urban Debater of the Year. Now, it was WUDL’s most active judges who recognized her as their favorite debater to judge. She is likely heading to Spellman in the Fall. 

Shoutout to Urban Debate National Championship and Tournament of Champions Qualifiers James and William Neuroth, Parker McCauley, Henry Blanc, Yudelkis Castellanos-Lima, Diana Ramirez, Jack Schmidt, and Margaret Applegate. They (and previous winners) weren’t eligible for any local awards due to their national recognition, but certainly would have been competitive candidates for these awards if eligible.