One week of debating, nine preliminary rounds, quarters, semis and now the final! This year’s European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) held at Glaway, Ireland, produced new champions in the open break as well as in the category ESL, English as a Second Language. The ESL Champions 2012 are the brothers Omer and Sella Nevo from Tel Aviv A, Israel. Sella was also best ESL speakter after the prelims. They competed with the teams Babes Bolyai A from Romania, Erasmus A from The Netherlands and Tel Aviv C when debating the motion “This house believes that God exists”. They have inherited the ESL title of EUDC from Filip Dobranic and Maja Cimerman from Ljubljana, Slovenia. Jens Fischer of Berlin Debating Union was adjudicating the ESL final.

The EUDC Champions 2012 are Ben Woolgar and Hugh Burns from Oxford. They competed with the teams Durham B from England, Cambridge A from England and Trinity College Dublin Historical Society B from Ireland when debating the motion “This house believes that the state should pay reparations to women”. They have inherited the EUDC title from Eoghan Casey and Patrick Rooney from Kings Inn, Dublin. Top speaker after the prelims was Catherine Murphy from Trinity College Dublin Historical Society. Isabelle Loewe was – among other – judging the open final.

The European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) have been held annually since 1999. It was started in Rotterdam where 32 teams of two competed for the title. For the records: In Amsterdam, 192 teams competed for the very same title in 2010. Format has ever since been British Parliamentary Style (BPS), language of debate is English. Debaters from all over Europe and Israel take part in Euros and compete with each other in two categories: the open break (for native speakers) and “English as a Second Language” (ESL). Current champions are Eoghan Casey and Patrick Rooney (Kings Inn), ESL champions are Maja Cimerman and Filip Dobranic from Ljubljana. This year’s Euros will be held in Galway, Ireland, from 7 to 13 August. Chief adjudicator is Ruth Faller (Ireland), her deputies are Shengwu Li (Singapore), Simone van Elk (The Netherlands), Steven Nolan (Ireland) and Yoni Cohen Idov (Israel). Isabelle Loewe from Debattierclub Bonn and Tony Murphy (Ireland) will be equity officers. Galway’s tabmaster is Harry McEvansoneya, an Irish as well. During the Euros, the EUDC Council will sit and for instance decide about the host of next year’s championship. The EUDC Council confirmed Belgrade (Serbia) for staging the European Universities Debating Championships 2012.

Note from the editor: During Galway, we’ll be publishing mostly in English only. Thanks for understanding.