Competition for Berlin: The Croatian capital Zagreb bids for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC, a.k.a. Worlds) 2013. The organizational committee under the aegis of Petar Bezjak advertises their unlimited team cap on their homepage. And debaters will be delighted to see that the Croatians already announced their experienced chief adjudicator: Jonathan Leader Maynard, just recently chief adjudicator of this year’s Euros in Amsterdam, on top of that two-times Worlds finalist (Koç 2010 and Cork 2009) plus EUDC champion (Newcastle 2009). Jonathan promises: “I believe it is vital to do a lot of work to ensure that motions are fair and will yield good debates, whether for most experienced debaters or the least experienced.”

Speaking of which: Experience is something Zagreb’s debaters bring along after they hosted the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC a.k.a. Euros) in 2003. Moreover, they are backed by their umbrella association, the Croatian Academic Debating League (CADL), which is experienced in convening international competitions in Split, Dubrovnik, Rijeka and other parts of Croatia over the past 11 years as well as debating workshops. On top of that, Fatih Mehmet Inal (convenor of Koç Worlds 2010) is part of the organizational committee as an advisor. Strong supporters of the bid are the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports as well as the University of Zagreb. The latter will be the venue of prelims. And another treat for lazy debaters: Accommodation is located on the campus – short distances from breakfast to prelims, yay!

Since 1981, debaters from all over the world have been competing at the World Universities Debating Championships at alternating locations across the planet. It was not before 1996 that the British Parliamentary Style became the mandatory format for this annual tournament. The African continent has been host to previous Worlds and stages the Worlds now for a third time, this year from 27 December 2010 to 4 January 2011 at the University of Botswana, Gaborone. The tournament’s schedule is accessible on the WUDC 2011 homepage. Language of debate is English and there are three categories: “Main” for native speakers, “ESL” (English as a Second Language, for those who prove great proficiency in English) and “EFL” (English as a Foreign Language, for those who studied English as a mere subject).

apf / glx