Tartu in the South of Estonia and the oldest university in the country is calling debaters to the Estonian Open 2011. From 15 to 17 April the tournament will be held in English, the format is BPS. Chief adjudicator is Maria Kesa (Estonia) flanked by Martins Vaivars (Latvia) and Harish Natarajan (England). “Maria is two times Baltic Champion, World’s ESL Semi-finalist (2009 Cork World’s) and a finalist at several other IV’s,” as is reported on the website of the Estonian Open 2011. Martins was third best ESL speaker at Newcastle Euros, won the Cambridge IV 2008 (ESL) and topped the speakers’ ranking of the Baltic Championships 2009. Harish was debating in semis at this year’s Worlds in Botswana, broke at numerous important tournaments and is currently debating officer of the Cambridge Union.

Registration for the Estonian Open costs 70 Euros per team and 20 Euros per judge. Included are accommodation, meals and socials. Speaking of which: The socials are going to be arranged by the same team as back in 2008 at Tallin, the European Universities Debating Championships staged in the Estonian capital.

Five prelims are crammed into a tight schedule – but speeches in prelims are just five minutes, whereas in the semis and finals speakers have seven minutes. The Estonians operate the n-1 rule for judges. Register now online for the Estonian Open 2011! More information is available on the website of the competition as well as via estonianopen11 [at] gmail [dot] com.

The tournament will be held during the“Estonian Week of Civil Society” (11 to 17 April 2011) where the Estonian Debating Society is going to host various events such as a 24-hours debate or speakers’ corner. Participants of the Estonian Open 2011 are welcomed to take part in these activities as well.