On February 6th 2025, we held our annual Frankly Speaking debate competition in collaboration with the US Embassy London and the DAR Walter Hines Page Chapter. We welcomed 35 upper secondary school students from across 8 UK schools to participate.

The teams were challenged to debate motions across a range of topics such as social media, AI, and UK/US relations.

This year, the competition was held at the US Embassy building in Nine Elms, London. Competitors had a marvellous opportunity to debate in the main hall of the Embassy building and all participating students impressed the judges and engaged in highly intellectual and persuading debates.

In addition to student debaters, this year’s competition marked the third time that the competition was chaired by student invigilators. Students from across the participating schools stepped up to help coordinate the competition and proved valuable assets in the smooth running of the day.

The winners of the competition were;

Rapolas Venckus is nominated to join students from across Europe on the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Summer Institute at Purdue University in Indiana to explore American culture and politics, while learning about the opportunities and challenges of civil society.

We’d like to thank all the schools for their participation and support, we are already looking forward to the 2026 competition!