From coming Sunday on, the European Debating Championship (EUDC) 2015 in Vienna will take place. The tournament starts on August 2 and ends on Saturday, August 8. The schedule includes nine preliminary rounds, semi-finals and finals among dinners, parties and a Council meeting.

Being the second biggest debating tournament worldwide after the World Championship and organized by the Vienna Debating Society, a member of the German debating circuit, it will have over 650 participants arriving from all over Europe.

As usual with big international tournaments, there will be equity guidelines, whoch can be read in the current equity briefing. They deal with barriers such as language and gender pronouns. Following an EUDC Council 2014 ruling, speakers will not be asked to state their preferred pronoun when the Chair opens the debate.

The organizers published a helpful airport-to-accomodation guide. It explains which train to take and where to buy a ticket and is in style of a snapchat conversation. Upon arrival, participants will receive a detailed participant brochure including information on venue location, a detailed schedule, and room to take notes on the motions and the ranking.

Who participates in the EUDC for the German debating circuit? The Achte Minute has asked around. These are the results (list may be incomplete):

• Berlin (BDU): Florian Grünwald and Tanja Maximow, Christof Kebschull and Frederick Aly, Tobias Münch and Robin Mesarosch (teams), Jeanette Chan (judge)
• Heidelberg (DCH): Sören Dittmann and Anne Gaa (mixed team, not eligible for the break)
• Iserlohn: Julian Vaterrodt and Florian Schneider (team), Jonas Linck, Jule Biefeld (judges)
• Jena: Tina Rudolph and Patrizia Hertlein (team), Stefan Kegel (judge)
• Mainz: Nicolas Eberle and Willy Witthaut (team), Hendrik Sannwald (judge)
• Munich: Melda Eren and Wladi Jachtchenko, Benjamin Siegel and Reinhold Koch (teams), Calyxx Peucker and Phillip Müller (mixed team, not eligible for the break)
• Tübingen: Konrad Gütschow and Nikos Bosse (team), Lennart Lokstein (judge)
• Göttingen: Quirin Blomberg and Alexander Osterkorn, Sebastian Schwab and Ruwen Fritsche (teams), Jan-Henrik Hinselmann (judge)
• Cologne (Tilbury House): Ruben Dillmann and Linda Nolden, Artem Korchemsky and Leo Mittag, Helena Hecke and Joachim Wend (teams), Carolin Baum, Sevilay Özcay, Bozhidar Kamburov (judges)

Find more information online at Vienna EUDC’s homepage and facebook page. Achte Minute will report live from the tournament. The official twitter hashtag is #viennaeudc.

gaa/hug – updated last on August 3, 10.30 pm