The Vienna debaters from Debattierklub Wien (Stefan Zweiker, Rosie Halmi, Andreas Prischl, Jakob Reiter, Melanie Sindelar, Anna Nessmann and Andreas Villareal) release a case for overthinking the new reg reform which was discussed at this year's WUDC council. You can read their thoughts now exclusively on Achte Minute. Stances on the WUDC Reg Reform from an evolving society: How preferring societies in WUDC registration on basis of a break legacy puts back the debaters that train the hardest Executive summary The Reg Reform drives a painful thorn into the flesh of those debating societies who are working hard to reach their first break ...

For the first time Debattierklub Wien set up a tournament for Novices only: Vienna Freshers’ on 10-11 November 2012. The small competition was organised by Madlen Stottmeyer, a novice herself and teams were allowed to participate if the speakers have not been debating longer than one year. four rounds of five minute speeches with 25 minutes of prep-time gave fresh debaters an easy entry into British Parliamentary debating. A large international adjudication core lead by CAs Julia Mikić and Stefan Zweiker ensured that every participant got excellent feedback and could make the most of the tournament. ...

You went to Manila but didn’t see enough of the South Asian region? You can now catch up and fly to Malaysia to the 5th Malaysian Debate Open in the City of Malakka, the capital of the south-east province of Malaysia. The Debating Society of the Multimedia University of Malakka hosts the tournament from the 8th to the 12th of March 2013 and has a team cap of 124 teams. The Promo-Video promises a tournament in a city that is rich of history. The Malaccan 15th century empire had its rise in in this place which was characterized by Chinese ...

Two of the most prestigious debating tournaments took place over the last weekends, the Oxford (November 10 and 11) and the Cambridge IV (November 18 and 19), and Achte Minute was there! Because there is a long tradition of comparison between the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, also this report will try to compare both tournaments since IV stands for intervarsity, a competition between universities. The first tournament that took place was the Oxford IV – which started on Friday (for international arrivals on Thursday evening) and took place at the impressive Oxford ...

This is going to be the first in a row of three tournaments to be staged in Austria: The Austrian Open, a first-time competition in Graz open to teams who can master a debate in German language. Read more on this in the German version of this piece. ...

The sparkling sun on wet skin, the smell of sun lotion and tasty food, motions challenging our debater-skills and interesting debates with people from Russia, Germany, Austria, Israel, Greece, England – this year’s Red Sea Open (RSO) was the perfect combination of all of that. ...

The Cambridge Union Society invites to this year’s Cambridge IV – one of the most prestigious competitions in the debating world – from November 17 to 19. Fine judging and motions will be provided by chief adjudicators Harish Natarajan (semi-finalist Koc Worlds 2010, finalist at Amsterdam Euros 2010 as well as at Galway Euros 2011) and Fiona Prowse (current World Champion, twice top 5 speaker at WUCD’s, winner of Cambridge IV 2010). They will be accompanied by their deputy Natalie Smith (European Quarter finalist, WUDC Octo finalist, Winner of Manchester IV and Oxford Womens Open). The Cambridge IV also provides a ...

Debating in London – this year’s SOAS IV is being held from October 21 to 23 in the midst of London at the campus of the School of Oriental and African Studies. Registration fee is 40 pounds, including 6 preliminary rounds, quarter finals and ESL-semis as well as a debating workshop on Friday 21st. All registered debaters will be accommodated in a Hostel. Harish Natarajan (semi-finalist Koc Worlds 2010, finalist at Amsterdam Euros 2010 as well as at Galway Euros 2011) will serve as chief adjudicator, joined by Pam Cohn (Finalist Cambridge IV 2010), Filip Muki Dobranić (WUDC best speaker ...

There is probably only one place where debaters should spend their holidays, and this is a place named Eilat, the southernmost city of Israel directly located at the Red Sea. The Red Sea Open 2011, from 4th to 8th of September offers a unique combination of parties, sun and debating with high-quality adjudicators such as CA Anat Shapira (Best ESL speaker WUDC 2006, best speaker ESL EUDC 2005), DCA Maja Cimerman (EUDC ESL Champion, WUDC ESL 2nd Speaker 2010 & 2011, ESL WUDC Finalist 2011) and DCA Gavin Illsley (EUDC Champion, WUDC semifinalist and multiple IV winner). As Israel has several ...

From 2nd to 5th August you will have the opportunity to once more prepare for the upcoming Euros in Galway.  Istanbul is known for its good tournament organisation, besides various tournaments they were also host of the World Debating Championships in 2010. Quality Adjudication is provided by CA Douglas Cochran (Cambridge), DCA Michael Shapira (WUDC winner 2011, ESL) and DCA Manos Moschopolous (WUDC Best ESL Speaker 2010, EUDC ESL Finalist 2010). Istanbul also announced to have world-class adjudicators besides that, and are glade to have Anat Shapira (Best ESL speaker WUDC 2006, best speaker ESL EUDC 2005) attending as judge. If ...

For the second time the Vienna Debating Seminar is taking place at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Debattierklub Wien invites debaters between July 16 and 17 to a full day seminar and a debate tournament with four rounds and a final. Manos Moschopoulos (Athens, best ESL speaker at the world championships 2010), Milan Vignjevic (Belgrade, ESL Quarter Finalist at the European championships 2010 and prospective convenor of euros 2012) and Borna Sor (Zagreb, semi finalist worlds) will be joining Lio Kaufman and Sabine Rainalter from Debattierklub Wien as trainers and judges for this years workshop and tournament. The Kick-off will be ...

The CEU Debating Society invites debaters from 2nd to 3rd of July to the capital city of Hungary, the first ever international debate event in Budapest. Good quality debates will be provided by the Adjudication Team around CA Filip Dobranić (WUDC ESL best speaker, EUDC ESL champion). There will be no reg fee, crash will be provided on a first come first serve basis. However, you need to care about yourself concerning the food – but Budapest is the best place to be if you are (1) hungry, (2) want tasty food and (3) have little money. (The editor recommends Hortobágyi húsos ...

The debating society DebatingClub St. Gallen convened for its board elections and elected a new board:  Martin Kirsch, Adrej Woerner have been newly elected, Raffael Rimpf and Julian Bodenschatz (now President) will join the Board for a second period. Congratulations and good luck with your work! mis / glx

The Debating Union of Vienna established a new project with one of the most prestigious international law firms, Baker & McKenzie: they cooperate with the so-called "Baker & McKenzie Debate Club". The first Baker & Mc Kenzie Debate Club will be hold on 6th and 7th May 2011 and places the best and most eloquent students together to test their reasoning and public speaking skills. tr

We're sorry, this article is not available in English. Please read the German version to learn about the judge workshop VDCH is offering to its members on May 7 and 8.

This is an article about debating evenings, regularly hold in Vienna with support of Citry of Vienna and the Chancellor of Austria. Please read the German version of this article.

The ZEIT – the main sponsor of the debating tournament series ZEIT DEBATTEN announced their sponsorship for this upcoming semester. All debating societies that belong to the umbrella association VDCH can now apply for material support for introductory evenings for newbies, university fairs or other events. For bigger events they also provide up to 80 Euros of financial support for debating clubs. The aim is to assist clubs with material or financial help, so that various debating projects and events may be realized. msi / apf

Debating does not have to stop because students have holidays. This is what Debattierklub Wien thought and invited to their 3rd debating seminar at the University of Economics in Vienna. ...

The Association of Debating Societies at Universities (VDCH) has now grown to 70 debating societies. The umbrella association represents debating societies in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Jan Lüken, current president of VDCH, is proud to announce that just recently four new debating societies have become members of VDCH. These are AFA Wien, Debattierclub Zürich, DUEbattierclub Duisburg-Essen and Streitkultur Berlin. Streitkultur Berlin is a kind of "branch" of Streitkultur Tübingen and as such an advocat for the format OPD (open parliamentary debate, a format widely spread in Germany). The executive board is formed by Christoph Krakowiak, Helen Leutloff and Julia Dragon. ...

Debating in the direct surroundings of Windsor Castle: This is possible at the Royal Holloway Open 2011 in Egham from 12 to 13 March 2011 - just an hour away by foot from Windsor Castle. The tournament - as the conveners promise on the Facebook website of the competition - is the only tournament in the UK that allows to time- and place-set the cases, which means plenty of debates in fictional universes and historic settings, for instance "Should Nixon have burnt the tapes?". Registration fees are 35 British Pounds for the first and 30 Pounds for any additional team, crash ...

The Welsh seaside town Swansea invites for debates in February. The Swansea IV is going to be hosted by the Swansea University Debating Society from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 February. Registration fee will be 25 pounds (circa 30 Euros) and includes crash on Friday and Saturday evening as well as socials on both days. The finals will be held at Saturday and are going to be judged by CA Chris Woods, convenor of the York OV and co-CA of the Sheffield IV. For registration, write to: swanseadebate[at]hotmail.co.uk, for further information have a look at the Facebook page of Swansea IV.

Athena: This is the goddess of Wisdom and Strategy – and first and foremost the patron of Athens, the city in which the Athens Open 2011 is going to be held from 15 to 17 April. Until now it seems as if the Greek gods are regarding the team of Eirini Damianaki, Convenor of the Athens Open and current president of the Deree Debating Club, with favour: Besides a 4-star accommodation offered in the heart of Athens there will be a number of remarkably good adjudicators: Maja Cimerman (EUDC ESL Champion, WUDC ESL finalist), Manos Moschopoulos (WUDC ESL Best Speaker, ...

The Aberystwyth Debating Union invites to the Aberystwyth Open 2011, taking place on the 2nd of April 2011 at the Welsh Coast. Chief Adjudicator is going to be Matt Szeto, the format will be British Parliamentary. The Residents of Aberystwyth call their city simply “Aber” – it´s a Welsh seaside resort with approximately eleventhousand five hundred inhabitants, of which Prince Charles was one of them: he studied at the Aberystwyth University, whose Debating Union is hosting the ABER OPEN 2011. Because of the city being small, the organizers were kind enough to provide debaters with a “Traveler´s Guide to Wales”, ...

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Two debaters from Debatte Dortmund (DebaDo) set out in summer to visit debating clubs all over Germany. Jörn Hahn and Jens Schulze now presented a video about their trip. Have fun watching Es gibt immer eine Begründung - Gespräche mit deutschen Debattierern. (In German, no subtitles.) msi / glx

The debating society S.A.E.C.L.O. Greifswald is going to host a public debate between fraternity representatives and the students' council on Wednesday, 1 December. Read more on the tensions between the two parties which are the reason for this debate in the German version of this article. msi / apf

The winners of this year's International Debate Academy Slovenia (IDAS) Tournament in Ljubljana have been announced: First came John Sadek and Jessica Bullock from Vermont, second were Filip Dobranic and Maja Cimerman from Slovenia (currently European champions in ESL). The other two teams who debated in the finals were Anna England-Kerr and Crt Podlogar from Lubljana as well as Goran Jankuloski and Pedrag Pevicevic from Belgrade. Anne Valkering chaired the final debate, alongside with her were judging John Hampson (British Council), Loke Wing Fatt (Singapore), TJ Senamngern (Thailand) and Maja Nenadovic (Netherlands). The motions: Round 1: This house would require migrants wishing to ...

Hrvatsko Debatno Društvo -that is Croatian and means Croatian Debating Society. They are the convenors of the Zagreb Open on 10 and 11 December in the Croatian capital. Format will be British Parliamentary Style (BPS), there will be four prelims with five-minute speeches and a break to semis and finals. Chief adjudicator is Branka Marušić, Worlds finalist in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) in 2009 and 2010. Her deputy is going to be Filip Muki Dobranić, quarter-finalist in ESL (English a a second language) of this year's Worlds and European Champion and Best Speaker (ESL) at Amsterdam's Euros 2010. Fees ...

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