This competition is now in its 41st year helping to cultivate the finest minds of their generations, or maybe just keeping them off the streets. Previous winners in both the individual and team competition include prominent figures in the law, politics, and the media.

The website was developed by Colm Flynn, a former Auditor of the UL Debating Union, and currently Irish delegate to the World Debating Council. It is a comprehensive guide to the competition.

Since 1980 there has been a ban placed on past winners re-entering the competition and a member of the winning team cannot also win the individual prize. However, multiple wins before that date have strongly contributed to UCD Literary & Historical Society winning a total of 19 awards over the years. Trinity's History Society are running them close on 16. King's Inns on 12 and UCC's Philosoph on 11 are the only other societies on double figures. With both UCD and TCD having two winning societies, only 13 colleges are represented on the winners tables.

This is something that this year's convenor, Rossa Fanning (himself a former winner of the Christina Murphy trophy for best individual in 1999, and a team finalist in 1997 and 1998) would like to see change. "One of my goals as this year's convenor is to improve participation in colleges and institutions that have been under-represented in recent years," he says on the site.

This year there are more first-round debates than before, and more speakers will qualify out of every first round debate. The competition begins in November with heats throughout Ireland, and a grand final at the end of February. Entry details are available at this website, in EL, and from participating debating societies and Students' Unions in your college. Entries close on Friday, 20th of October.