The Southern German championship (SDM) 2011 will be staged in Bayreuth. After DebattierClub St. Gallen had to cancel their plans to host the SDM – due to an international conference they have no rooms for prelims – Debattierclub Bayreuth (DCBT) will now fill in for the Swiss to save the competition for the southern part of German speaking debate societies.

However, accommodating debaters appropriately makes it necessary to reschedule that tournament: Debaters from southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy will have to come to Bayreuth on the weekend of 9 and 10 April. Usually being held simultaneously, the other regional competitions in Halle (eastern Germany), Frankfurt (western Germany) and Osnabrück (northern Germany) will be staged as scheduled at the general assembly of the Association of Debating Societies at Universities (VDCH), that is on 16 and 17 April. Benedikt Nufer, vice-president of VDCH in charge of tournaments on the German speaking debate circuit, does not think there will be a problem with regard to quality and comparability. He emphasizes how grateful the VDCH executive board and all of the German speaking debaters must be to DCBT since they are saving the competition for the southern parts by hosting it in Upper Franconia.

Convenors Anette Purucker and Anja Pfeffermann have revealed their CA team to Achte Minute – all coined by southern Germany: Gudrun Lux, herself from Franconia and having won the German Debating Championship 2007 in the very town of Bayreuth, and Almut Graebsch from Debattierclub München (Munich), the capital of Bavaria. They are joined by one the most experienced tabmasters on the circuit: Oliver Hörtensteiner, also from DC München.

The Franconian girls allure to debaters with a specialty of their region that is situated in the North of Bavaria: Upper Franconia – in the middle of which lies Bayreuth – is proud to be home to more than 200 breweries for beer. That makes it the most dense place for breweries, Anette explains. So debaters may expect a great variety of hops. Of course, Anette and Anja are not alone: “We get a lot of support from the chancellor of Bayreuth University, from the students’ body of our university  and from local donors. Plus everybody from Debattierclub and Debating Union Bayreuth helps a lot to stage a great tournament,” Anja is happy to tell.

More detailed information will be available soon on the SDM homepage.

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