ACS Athens students are celebrating an outstanding debate season, marked by impressive performances at two major tournaments: the Moraitis Cup 2026 and the Athens Round of the International Competition for Young Debaters (ICYD) at Geitonas School.

The Moraitis Cup is a highly competitive British Parliamentary Debate and Impromptu Speaking competition hosted annually at Moraitis School. This year, six ACS Athens students participated in the tournament, held on February 6th-7th.

Throughout the competition, students had the opportunity to further develop their debating and impromptu speaking skills while engaging with peers from other schools who share the same passion for public speaking, critical thinking, and argumentation.

Notable distinctions include Kai Yuet Zhang and Nikolaos Loukatos, who qualified for the Debate Finals, while Timos Christodoulou and Pavlos Broustas narrowly missed advancing to the Semi-Finals by just three speaker points – an impressive accomplishment in such a competitive field.

On top of this, Kai Yuet Zhang, also qualified for the Finals of the Impromptu Speaking Competition and was ultimately named Winner of the Impromptu Speaking Tournament!

Congratulations to all participating students (in alphabetical order):

• Yasmine Baaklini
• Pavlos Broustas
• Timos Christodoulou
• Nikolaos Loukatos
• Evelin Nikolic
• Kai Yuet Zhang

Debate at ACS Athens continued its success at the Athens Round of the International Competition for Young Debaters, hosted at Geitonas School on February 14th.

A total of 10 Middle School and Academy students represented ACS Athens in a day filled with critical thinking, argumentation, collaboration, and enthusiasm for debate.

Special distinctions:

Timos Christodoulou and Themis Christou ranked 1st in the tournament out-rounds, qualifying for the Semi-Finals where they delivered an outstanding performance. They are one of only two teams selected to represent Greece and will compete at the International Finals of the International Competition for Young Debaters on May 2nd at the Oxford University Union.

Timos Christodoulou was also named 2nd Best Speaker in the tournament, and Natalia Papadoglou ranked 5th Best Speaker.

Participating students (in alphabetical order):

• Themis Christou
• Timos Christodoulou
• M.K.
• Li Li
• Natalia Myers
• Natalia Papadoglou
• Shuqi Wang
• Sun Xinyan
• Zhuojun Xuan
• Xuanrui Zhang

ACS Athens congratulates all students who participated in both competitions, recognizing their continued growth and dedication to debate.