The Evatt Trophy Competition is one of Western Australia's most prestigious debating competitions, as well as one of UN Youth Western Australia's flagship events. 

The competition gives students from years 9, 10, 11 and 12 the opportunity to represent a member state at a mock session of the United Nations Security Council. Teams are comprised of two students from the same school who will share the work of researching the policies of their country, speak, negotiate, and lobby in the mock Security Council chamber. Each team is allocated one of the fifteen countries that currently constitute the Security Council and teams must debate the resolutions from their member state’s viewpoint rather than their own personal perspective.

Formerly the Hammarskjöld Trophy Competition, Evatt is named after Herbert 'Doc' Evatt, the President of the United Nations General Assembly between 1948-9. Evatt was also integral in the drafting of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has served as the foundation for a growing number of national laws, international laws and treaties. He served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1951-60, as a justice of the High Court of Australia, and as the Chief Justice of New South Wales.

The Western Australian round of the Evatt trophy competition is a preliminary round of the national Evatt Trophy Competition, the National Schools' Model UN Security Council Competition organised annually by UN Youth Australia. Four Western Australian teams will be selected to represent their schools and their state at the national grand final of Evatt 2012. More than that, however, Evatt represents a chance for students to develop many practical skills. The competition fosters debating and negotiation skills, as well as knowledge of international affairs. Students learn how to better work in a team, improve their problem solving skills in trying to reach a consensus, and, hopefully, emerge from the competition with a greater sense of tolerance, acceptance, and empathy for the views of others.

Evatt is also the only competition of its kind that has rounds in regional Western Australia. UN Youth WA firmly believes that regional and rural students deserve the same opportunities as their metropolitan counterparts, and in this spirit, there are Evatt rounds held in the South-West (in Bunbury), and the Mid-West (in Geraldton.)

Bodie D'Orazio, the Evatt Trophy Competition 2012 Convenor, can be contacted here.