2012 CDL Season Awards presented

Audience assembles prior to the Awards Ceremony

The 2011/12 CDL Season Awards were presented at the Chicago Debate Championship. Aubrey Monks, coach at Austin High School, one of our ‘AA’ Conference schools, won the 2012 Golden Gavel Award, given to the CDL debate coach of the year, for her deep commitment and her impact in elevating not only the team, but also the school itself, through her work on debate. One of Austin’s teams advanced to the elimination rounds at the Chicago Debate Championship, capping off an exceptional year at Austin Debate.

2012 Voltaire Sterling Debater of the Year Hakeem Muhammad, King College Prep

Phoenix Academy won two CDL Season Awards. Senior Carlos Ballesteros was the Richard M. Daley Leadership Award winner, and Ferdinand Wipachit won the Principal of the Year Award. As presenter Principal Janice Jackson noted, Mr. Wipachit was honored for dedication to his debate program, even to the extent of wearing his winning debaters’ medals for a week or so after each tournament. And finally, senior Hakeem Muhammad from King College Prep was named the Voltaire Sterling Debater of the Year. Said Hakeem, “before I joined debate, I was aware of many injustices in the world but had no outlet to express my outrage and indignation. When I found debate, my research skills improved drastically and I found colleges sharing my desire to fight for justice.”

See the Chicago Debate League’s “Pages of Fame” for all current and past winners of the Chicago City Championships, top speaking honors, and winners of the CDL’s most prestigious end-of-year honors.