On Sunday November 23^rd 2014, the first Cambridge Women’s Open will take place right after the Cambridge IV 2014 on the weekend before. It is a one day tournament featuring four rounds with seven minute speeches, semi-finals, and a final as well as a Novice final. During lunchtime, there will be open discussions on women in debating.

Chief Adjudicators

Chief Adjudicators (CAs) will be Emilia Carlqvist, winner of the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC) 2013 in Manchester in the category English as a Second Language (ESL) and Deputy Chief Adjudicator of the Vienna EUDC 2015, and Srishti Krishnamoorthy, breaking judge and speaker at various IVs and Opens and Equity Officer for the Cork EUDC 2016 bid.

Registration

Registration for the tournament is free. There is a Google Doc form each for registration as a team and for registration as judge (the latter includes an application for travel subsidies). All those who want to attend the Women’s Open but do not have a partner should use the Pro-Am-registration form. They will then be paired up in a Pro-Am team. This is to say that experienced debaters will be matched with novices and vice versa. Furthermore, some travel subsidies will be available. Everyone who has not yet broken at Euros or Worlds or won an IV on the Isles of the Northern Atlantic (IONA) can apply for subsidies through this Google Doc. Team cap for the Women’s Open will be 40 teams and the n-1 rule applies for judging.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible to participate, teams should be comprised of two self-identifying female speakers. Institutional judges who fall within the n-1 rule should also be self-identifying women. Independent judges self-identifying as any or no gender are welcome, but only self-identifying women will be placed as chair judges and can break.

See also the facebook event page for information.

• Date: November 23^rd, 2014 (right after the Cambridge IV)
• Location: Cambridge, England
• Registration Fee: Free
• CAs: Emilia Carlqvist and Srishti Krishnamoorthy
• Eligibility: Speakers and institutional judges: self-identifying women only, independent judges: no restriction, except for chairs and break

nbo/hug