The FAST Universities Debating Championship 2009 (FUDC 09) -- the biggest style debating competition of the region -- took place recently. FUDC first started in October 2008 when it was just a day's event, however, the response the hosts got was amazing and hence it was expanded to a three-day event this year. This indeed was a challenge when they started working on it, but by the end of the first day, it seemed like the hard work had paid off. Through FUDC, the youth belonging to every area of Pakistan get the chance to appreciate the diversity that exists in our country and exchange their views and thoughts.

The three-day event started on October 3 with Samir Anwar Butt, the Convener and President of FUDC '09 opening the event. He called upon the guests of honour to share a few words with the audience. Dr. Aftab Maroof, Director FAST-NU Islamabad campus, Dr. Ayub Alvi, Dean of FAST-NU, Dr. Amir Muhammad, Rector FAST-NU and Dr. Grace Clark, Executive Director USEFP graced the opening ceremony with their presence and shared some very thought provoking words and ideas about the issues and problems the world is facing and the importance of debating at large. The end of the opening ceremony caused excitement among the participants as they could begin debating and face challenging competitions. Participants were already divided into teams, with different adjudicators to work with.

Two rounds of debating took place on the first day. At the end of the day there was a concert to entertain the participants. A local metal band called Cadaver's Crawl performed a couple of rock songs. Their act was followed by a performance by Roxen! The audience had the time of their life!

The next day was the beginning of an even more challenging and exciting debating session because this was the day when the teams would start getting disqualified. The third round began which went on for an hour and a half. The next motion was announced after a tea break, but before that the chief adjudicator solved all the queries and problems that the participants faced. A lunch break was provided to the participants to energise and freshen up and kick away the fatigue, which rounds after rounds of debating had caused. The next round then took place, which was also the last round before the semi-finals the next day!

On the second night of the event, the FUDC team had organised a comedy night on campus where The Party Quirks came to perform live! The Party Quirks, Islamabad's first and very own comedy troupe came up with one skit after another and had the audience in stitches. It was one of the best comedy acts seen by us in a very long time.

The semi-finals began on the third day. Another highlight of the third day was a speech by Imran Khan. To a packed auditorium Imran talked about the political scenario and how youth could bring about a change!

After Imran Khan's lecture, the final round began! Everyone wanted to know who would win the Fast Universities Debating Championship 2009, and take home the trophy and the winning prize which was Rs.50000 for the winning team and Rs.20000 and Rs.10000 for the second and third teams respectively. Finally the results were announced and GIKI won the championship, while Headstart School, Islamabad took home the second prize and Westminister, Islamabad got the third position!