The Leeds Salon is a public discussion forum founded in February 2009. The Salon organises discussions around political, cultural and scientific issues, with the aim of challenging any orthodoxies along the way, defending and developing the legacy of the Enlightenment and, above all, providing a space where free speech can take place. Find out more.
salon & school debating news
The next Leeds Salon will be spring 2026
Womble Bond Dickinson / Leeds Salon Years 10&11 Debating Competition 2026 Final
The final of the ‘Womble Bond Dickinson / Leeds Salon Years 10&11 Debating Competition 2026’ takes place on Wednesday 1st April at the Leeds office of leading transatlantic law firm Womble Bond Dickinson – the fourth year as Headline Partner in the thirteenth year of our annual competition for 14-to-16 year-olds.
Congratulations to the four qualifying round winners – Abbey Grange CofE Academy, Carr Manor Community School, Guiseley School and Mount St Mary’s Catholic High – who will now compete to become 2026 champions.
There will also be three individual prizes to be awarded by our team of Individual Judges.
Prize Sponsors to be announced.
Details will appear here soon.
Sixth Form Debating Competition 2025
Tuesday 25th November the Royal Armouries Museum (Leeds) hosted its third, annual sixth form debating competition in partnership with The Leeds Salon, and this year sponsored by the UK’s Real Estate and Infrastructure Investment Forum – UKREiiF.
The competition was expanded for the second year running to now include eight Yorkshire schools: Abbey Grange CofE Academy, Beckfoot School, Bradford Grammar School, Grammar School at Leeds, Guiseley School, Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College, Pudsey Grammar School and Queen Ethelberga’s School.
The schools were divided into two groups conmpeting in a knock-out format, Group winners Bradford Grammar School and Abbey Grange Academy met in the final debating ‘Trial by jury should be removed in certain cases’. And, after a high quality debate, the judges’ declared Abbey Grange Academy as Royal Armouries Champions 2025.
Read about it in the Yorkshire Evening Post and on the Abbey Grange news page.
There were also three Royal Armouries individual prizes, which went to:
- Best Individual: Ruth Rudman, Abbey Grange.
- Highly Commended: Iris Podesta, Guiseley School.
- Commended Individual: Nathan Powley, Abbey Grange.
And a separate Leeds Salon Individual Prize was awarded to the person who best represented the spirit of Enlightenment inquiry by asking lots of good questions, and this went to Eliza Salmon from Guiseley School.
The competition uses the format and topic guides of Debating Matters.
Sponsored by:
Prize Sponsors:
