BOBBY BENEDICTO
CHIEF ADJUDICATOR

Bobby claims that Ateneo Australs will be his "absolutely last debate tournament, ever." Though we're sad to see him go and pursue his, um, other interests, we're happy to have him on board. There are few individuals better situated to CA an Australs. Now based in Melbourne, Bobby has been DCA for three Asian Championships (2004 All-Asians, 2005 AUDC, 2007 All-Asians), for the 2005 Australs, and for an unknown number of local tournaments. As a debater, Bobby won two National Championships (2000, 2001), two Asian Championships (2002, 2003 - also Best Speaker, Best Speaker in the Final), made two Australs semis (2002, 2003), and broke twice at Worlds (2002, 2003). During his free time, Bobby reads books that no one can understand, listens to "post-rock," and does "research" on sexual politics for his PhD.

LIZ SHEARGOLD | University of Melbourne
DEPUTY CHIEF ADJUDICATOR

Liz Sheargold (who was once known as Elizabeth) is currently in her 6th year of an Arts/Law degree at the University of Melbourne - no one quite knows how many more years of study she has left. During her degree, Liz has managed to "cap out" of both Australs and Worlds, as well as attending many mini-tournaments in Australia. Highlights of her obsession with debating include: breaking at five Australs (2002-06), winning three Australian Women's Debating Championships (2002, 2004, 2005), winning Sydney-Mini (2006), being three-time Best-Speaker at Melbourne-Mini (2003, 2005, 2006), making the quarter-finals at Worlds (2006) and ranking Best Speaker at Australs 2006. Liz has also been the President of Melbourne University's Debating Society, DCA of the Australian Easters in 2007 and CA of the Australian Women's Debating Championships in 2007. When she is not debating, Liz is most likely to be spending money (up to the limit of her credit card), drinking gin and tonic's, and/or organizing weddings.

ROB LEEDS | University of Queensland
DEPUTY CHIEF ADJUDICATOR

Rob Leeds is in his final year (he hopes) of a Journalism/Law degree at the University of Queensland. Like many before him, Rob is not going to let graduating from uni get in the way of him coming back to future debating tournaments. Rob has been attending tournaments since 2001 - mostly as an adjudicator. He has adjudicated four Australs, 2002 (Semis and ESL Grand final), 2004 (Grand Final), 2005 (Chief Adjudicator) and 2006 (Semi-Final). He has also been to five Worlds as an adjudicator (2002, 2004-2007) and has broken on four of those occasions. Rob has also adjudicated at Easters every year from 2002-2007 being Chief Adjudicator in 2003 and adjudicating to at least the Semi-Final rounds every other year. He has also served as VP Adjudication for AIDA and held executive position on the University of Queensland Debating Society from 2002-2006. When not debating, Rob can be usually be found either on a dance floor somewhere or propping up the bar or of course at his job at the Environmental Protection Agency.

TATE THOMAS | Multimedia University
DEPUTY CHIEF ADJUDICATOR

Suthen "Tate" Thomas disappeared briefly from the international debate circuit in 2006. But the lure of software programming wasn't enough to keep him away and Ateneo Australs is taking full advantage of his return by bringing him on board our adjudication team. In 2004, Tate made history as part of the first Asian team to ever reach the Australs Grand Final. He made the semifinal the following year and was also named the tournament’s 3rd best speaker. Tate made the All-Asians Grand Final in 2003 and won the title at the 2005 championship at Universiti Malaya, where he was also the overall 2nd Best Speaker and the Grand Final Best Speaker. He was most recently a Grand Final adjudicator at the 2008 World Universities Debating Championship. When not involved in debating, Tate can be found playing with his toys - computers, that is - or working on his Master's degree at MMU.