One of the Caribbean’s longest-running youth debating competitions is poised to launch its 2026 season, with 18 secondary school teams across Grenada already deep in preparations for the opening preliminary round scheduled to launch later this month.
To set participating students and their coaching staff up for success, a mandatory orientation and skills-building workshop was held on Friday, September 4, ahead of the competition’s official start. The full-day training session centered on building core competencies critical to competitive debating success, with targeted modules covering impromptu debate strategy, rigorous research methods, structured argument development, and polished public presentation techniques. Beyond skill-building, the workshop also created a collaborative space for teams to raise clarifying questions about competition rules, logistics, and judging criteria, resolving any uncertainty ahead of the qualifying rounds.
Organized and sponsored by Grenlec, the annual initiative has built a 18-year legacy of empowering young people since its launch in 2008. In a statement ahead of the new season, company representatives expressed sincere gratitude for the enduring cross-sector collaboration that has kept the program running for nearly two decades. The initiative relies on ongoing partnerships with participating secondary schools, classroom educators, family supporters, participating students themselves, and stakeholders from both the private and public sectors to deliver the program to young debaters each year.
Unlike many youth competitions that focus on narrow academic topics, the Grenlec Debates are designed to push students to engage with real-world issues. Participants are challenged to research, refine, and articulate diverse perspectives on pressing topics that impact both local Grenadian communities and global society at large, fostering critical thinking and civic engagement from a young age.
The 2026 Preliminary Round is set to officially get underway on September 21, with advancing teams moving on to later rounds of the competition in the coming months. This story was distributed via NOW Grenada, which notes that it holds no responsibility for opinions or statements shared in contributed content, and provides a channel for users to report abusive content if encountered.