[caption id="attachment_33492" align="alignright" width="461"] Happy debaters after a fabulous training weekend in Paris (c) Olivia Sundberg Diez[/caption] Last weekend, on the 3rd and 4th of February 2018, the Debate Training Weekend in Paris took place. It was organised by the Scottish EUDC Training Team, namely Chief Adjudicator of the upcoming Scottish EUDC 2018 Olivia Sundberg Diez in cooperation with the United Debaters of Paris. Over the whole weekend 7 workshops and 3 training debates were enjoyed by 50 participants from Spain, the Netherlands, Belarus, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the UK and from across France. Alex Harris, Daan Welling, Eleanor Angwin and Martin ...

During this year's WUDC in Mexico the council met once again, discussing a series of changes. Editor Jan-Gunther Gosselke was live at the meeting and summarised the most relevant results. ...

It’s been five years since the first WUDC in Germany took place. Teams from all over the world met in Berlin to determine the best debaters in the world. But how was it for the volunteers and organisers? Read more of their memories in the second part of our feature. Jens Fischer [caption id="attachment_33315" align="alignleft" width="198"] © Henrik Maedler[/caption] Being the tabmaster of a tournament the size of Berlin Worlds with around 1200 participants is a strange situation: You feel like you're in the centre of a hurricane around which a lot of drama is circling but actually your job is "only" to ...

It’s been five years since the first WUDC in Germany took place. Teams from all over the world met in Berlin to determine the best debaters in the world. But how was it for the volunteers and organisers? We have asked some witnesses about their memories.  Florian Umscheid [caption id="attachment_33284" align="alignright" width="400"] © Henrik Maedler[/caption] At Worlds 2013, I was Chief of Runners. The ballot handing happened analog back then which meant that the running-team had to hand out 100 ballots to 100 rooms in six or seven buildings of the TU (Technical University) and collect them after in each round. My most ...

The World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) 2018 in Mexico, which took place 28.12.17-04.01.18, are concluded and the champions for the three language categories have emerged. Open Champion is Harvard, ESL-Champion is Oxford and EFL-Champion is Comillas. The finals were hosted in the historical Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris in the centre of Mexico-City. [caption id="attachment_33275" align="alignright" width="400"] The Open Final - © Jacky Hsinghsien Chang Chow[/caption] The team Harvard A (Danny DeBois, Archie Hall) won the Open Final as Opening Government on the motion "This house would rather save the life of a single child, over extending the life of 5 ...

Once again the anglophone World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) took place during the turn of the year. This year's location was Mexico City. The tournament started the 27.12.17 and ended the 04.01.18. After nine preliminary rounds the teams breaking to the outrounds were announced on New Year's Eve. At the WUDC, teams participate classified as one of three language categories: EPL (English as a Proficient Language), ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language). EPL-classified teams can only participate in the Open Break, ESL-teams depending on their ranking either in the Open Break oder the ...

[caption id="attachment_33570" align="alignleft" width="400"] Winners of the Birmingham IV - Alberto Polimeni (left) and Joel Richardson (right) - © Tom Davies (Instagram @tomdgriff)[/caption] Congratulations to ‘KCL Straits of Malaca’ (Alberto Polimeni and Joel Richardson) for winning the Birmingham IV! They won the final from Opening Government defeating ‘Too early for a midlife crisis’ (Dean Foley, Manchester, and Matthew Oldham, former Lancaster) in Opening Opposition, ‘Bulgaro-Serbian school of political correctness’ (Radko Nedyalkov, UCL, and Monica Naydenova, Sofia University) in Closing Government, and ‘Durham B’ (Tim Sharpe and Martha Muir) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This House would nationalise Facebook and Twitter’. The ...

Congratulations to ‘CARDs for our HULLish EXEs’ (Alex Harris, formerly Hull, and Craig McDonald, formerly Cardiff) for winning the Exeter Open. They won the final on the motion: ‘This House prefers a world without Romantic Love’ from Opening Government, defeating ‘Cardiff RS’ (Ryan F. and Sophie Johnstone) in Opening Opposition, ‘Bristol Sleighding our way back to Asia’ (Timothy Lo and Matthew Xiang) in Closing Government, and ‘Lebsky’ (Seb Curtis and Luke Kosky, Bristol) in Closing Opposition. [caption id="attachment_33566" align="alignright" width="300"] Celebratory Selfie! Craig McDonald (left) and Alex Harris (right) - © Craig McDonald[/caption] The final was judged by Rachel O’Nunain in the ...

[caption id="attachment_33181" align="alignright" width="400"] F.l.t.r.: The winners of Moscow Open Maxim Raschupkin and Mikhail Shuganov together with final judges Anna Akimova, Harish Natarajan, Monica Forman and Raffy Marshall - © Yaroslav Elistratov[/caption] The team Varvara (Maxim Raschupkin, Mikhail Shuganov) from Kazan has won the final of the Moscow Open 2017 from Opening Government on the Motion "THBT democratic states should ban and block all media outlets believed to undermine democratic values". They defeated Pink Ponies (Alexey Nogovitsin, Danil Kustin) in Opening Opposition, SUFE A (Yan Shen, Qiyu Lin) in Closing Government and 2 genders 1 cup (Ekaterina Bogma, Nikola Serafimov) in ...

Oxford TS (Andrew Seow and Teck Wei Tan) won the Newcastle IV 2017 from Closing Opposition on the motion "This house supports the increasing secularisation of the world". The Newcastle IV 2017 took place on 25th and 26th November 2017. In the Open Final Oxford TS debated against St Andrews Sausage Bean and Cheese Melt (Ruth Batten and Duncan Bowyer) in Opening Government, Manchester was out of team spots (Jacklin Kwan and Rudolfs Treilis) in Opening Opposition and Sheffield SS (Areeb Sherwani and Leon Stone) in Closing Opposition. The panel came to an unanimous decision. The final was judged by Chris ...

[caption id="attachment_33120" align="alignright" width="400"] USA Red, the winner of the tournament - © EurOpen[/caption] The EurOpen 2017 (taking place 9.11.-15.11.) was won by USA Red (Ella Michaels, Piper Doyle, Emily Grantham) from Opposition on the motion "THBT capitalism does more harm than good for women’s liberation". The final was judged by Anna England Kerr as chair together with Miha Andrič, Tracey Lee, Bedrich Bluma, Klaus-Peter Heil, Ann-Sophie Zeipekkis and  Devin van den Berg. Best speaker of the tournament was Samuel Wooddell from American Logos Glacier with an average of 73.13. Best ESL speaker was Brian Li from SAS China with an average of 72.35 speaker points. EurOpen is an annual World Schools ...

[caption id="attachment_33123" align="alignright" width="225"] The Winners of the Cork IV 2017 bringing the christmas cheer - © Matt Hazell[/caption] Cambridge (Alasdair Donovan and Matt Hazell) won the Cork IV 2017 from Closing Government on the motion From behind a veil of ignorance, THW rather be born in the City of Omelas than a city in this world where you would have an average standard of life (eg: London, Dublin, Amsterdam, etc). They won over TCD Hist SD (Daniel Gilligan and Sam Browne) in Opening Government, TCD RR (Ronan Daly and Rory O'Sullivan) ind Opening Opposition and TCD Phil B (Eoin O' Gorman and Christopher Costigan) in Closing Opposition. The final was chaired ...

It is not uncommon for major tournaments to host training programmes, as Duncan Crowe, one of the main organizers of the Scottish EUDC training series, puts it. However, the effort invested in the Scottish EUDC training series has been exceptional in length and extent. Instead of being a selected set of workshops delivered directly prior to the competition, this training series has involved the production and distribution of new, live training content directly to societies across Europe. The launch of the Scottish EUDC Training Platform marks the introduction of a new pillar to the international debate education. ...

[caption id="attachment_33086" align="alignright" width="400"] The winners and chief adjudicators of the Munich Open 2017. From left to right: Nishith Hedge (CA), Gigi Gil, Devin van den Berg, Melda Eren (CA), Paul Smith (CA) - © Julian von Lautz[/caption] Gigi Gil and Devin van den Berg from Leiden won the Munich Open 2017, speaking as team Leiden B in Closing Government to the motion „TH supports the creation of an artificial island for those who do not want to live under the jurisdiction of any state.“ They beat Kustin is not to be trusted (Anna Akimova, Artyom Zolotareb) in Opening Government, Stockholm ...

[caption id="attachment_33036" align="alignleft" width="400"] The champions of Cambridge Women's Open, left to right: Marina Tan, of Yale, and Bobbi Leet, of Stanford. photo credit: Marina Tan[/caption] Yale/Stanford LT (Bobbi Leet, Marina Tan) have won Cambridge Women's Open 2017 on the motion that "This house regrets the idealisation of motherhood" from Closing Opposition. In Opening Government was Bad at feminism motions but trying (Lucía Arce, Rachel O'Nunain); in Opening Opposition was LSE sarah or yings (Sarah Tay, Ciara Mitchell); and in Closing Government was the accurately-named More Women Here than in Oxbridge Finals (Melda Eren, Valerie Lim). Judging the final round was a ...

Breaking 9th seed, Darion Hotan and Sam van Elk from Kings College London proceed to win the 2017 Oxford Intervarsity. The tournament's Chief Adjudicators were Evan Lynyak, Sella Nevo, Sophie Large, Teck Wei Tan, and Joshua Bailey. The tab team, SUULUU Candles, was led by Roxana Legezynska and included Katherine Dunbar, Steven Roy, Alex Murray, Joseph Sisson, and Jiwoo Won. [caption id="attachment_33048" align="alignright" width="400"] In Closing Opposition, BPP A ran an economics extension in the Final. photo credit: Justin Kirk[/caption] Debating as KCL A, Darion and Sam proposed that “Assuming it could be done peacefully, this House would replace all existing governments ...

The Cambridge IV 2017 preliminary rounds concluded similar to the Oxford IV, with Tel Aviv AD again breaking first, this time on 13 points. Dan Lahav again topped the open speaker tab - this time accompanied by Darion Hotan of KCL A, both averaging an 83.6 that begged belief. Dan Lahav was once again the top ESL speaker. Xavier Redmond, of Oxford RK, was the top novice speaker with an average of 79. In the final round, Tel Aviv AD (Ayal Hayut-Man, Dan Lahav) won from Opening Government defending the motion that "This house believes that it is always immoral to ...

[caption id="attachment_32966" align="alignright" width="400"] The participants at the Alfred Tuna Snider WSD Tournaments 2017 - © Cornell University Speech & Debate Society[/caption] The team USA Blue (Leila Saklou, Ranen Miao, Shreyoshi Das) managed to win as proposition over USA Red (Nikhil Ramaswamy, Emily Rantham, Piper Doyle) in opposition at the Alfred Tuna Snider World Schools Debate Tournament in New York. The tournament is named as a tribute to the 2015 deceased Alfred C. "Tuna" Snider due to his efforts in promoting debate. The motion for the final was: THW hold multinational companies liable for actions committed by corporations in their supply ...

A few days ago, we interviewed the magnificient Owen Mooney, current EUDC champion. We asked him some questions about his debating development and which advice he would give to novices and debaters who seek to become better. Enjoy some funny stories, expert suggestions and clever comments! ...

Konstantina Nathanail and Pegah Maham from the Berlin Debating Union have won the Bard College Berlin ProAm. [caption id="attachment_32914" align="alignright" width="377"] The winners of the Barc College Berlin Pro/Am: Konstantina Nathanail and Pegah Maham - © Elâ Marie Akay[/caption] The two from the team Constant Mayhem convinced the jury as Opening Opposition to the motion “This House would prefer to live in a world in which genetic engineering of fetuses is possible and widely accessible.” All three other teams in the final were from the Berlin Debating Union, too: Martian Law (Marcel John, Martijn Roo) in Opening Government, BDU Huggator (Kathrin Niederschuh, ...

Tel Aviv L&H (Dan Lahav & Ayal Hayut-Man) won the first ever UCD Law Soc IV from Opening Opposition on the motion "THBT the Catalonian Government should have cancelled the independence referendum after it was ruled unconstitutional".  [caption id="attachment_32806" align="alignright" width="400"] Tel Aviv L&H (Ayal Hayut-man and Dan Lahav ) - © UCD Law Soc[/caption] They debated against We Gonna Rokc Dwon Two Dyslexic Avenue (Cian Luddy & Caoimhe Meaney, UCC Philosophical Society) in Opening Government, I'm fine. It's fine. We're fine. (Chris Costigan & Amy O'Sullivan, TCD Philosophical Society) in Closing Government and Bailey orders Asian Teck-a-Wei II: The Chopstick Chronicles (Bailey Reid, KCL &  Teck Wei Tan, Oxford) in Closing Opposition. The ...

Some weeks ago, we interviewed David Alatorre and Montserrat Legorreta, convenors of México WUDC 2018. This week, we can finally present you the results with tons of information - whether it's about the Masters' Competition, the Socials, Livestreams, México Open, Triple breaks, Wi-Fi or the IA allocation system. Enjoy! ...

[caption id="attachment_32765" align="alignright" width="300"] The winners: Cian Higgins (left) and Paddy Flynn (right) - © Helena Hecke[/caption] The Novice IV of UCD Law Soc and L&H was won by UCD Law HF (Cian Higgins and Paddy Flynn) from Closing Government. They debated on the motion THB the US media should restrict coverage of mass shooting in the US against UCD Law/ Hist LA (Samuel Ajentunmobi and Jack Lowe) in Opening Government, Edinburgh I am Sasha Fierce (Lukas Augustin Reynoso and Nathanial Cliftion) in Opening Opposition and Bialystok A (Przimyslaw Stolarski and Alicja Owdiez) in Closing Opposition. The debate was chaired by Beth Mallen together with Cian Luddy, Eoin O'Sullivan, Milla Huuskonen and Mark Wilson. The best speaker of the tournament was ...

[caption id="attachment_32634" align="alignright" width="400"] The "Croatian Dudes" Tin (left) and Lovro - © Angelos Emmanouilidis[/caption] Lovro Šprem and Tin Puljić from Zagreb won the FINDA-IDEA Mini 2017, speaking in Closing Government to the motion “This House would prefer a world in which people cannot deliberately lie”. As team Some Croatian Dudes they beat 1386 ftw (Daniel Azaz, Diogo Videira) in Opening Government, The Pollyana Principle (Anna Vilen, Johannes Majamäki) in Opening Opposition and The Middle Kids (Milla Huuskonen, Adnan Abdi) in Closing Opposition.                                                         ...

At the EUDC, many teams come together. Some of them are very ambitious and worked hard to have a chance to make the break. So did Milla Huuskonen and Joona Suhonen from Helsinki A. In this interview we asked them about their strategy and more. ...

The European Universities Debate Championship 2017, taking place in Tallinn, have come to an end. On the day of the finals both the last four teams of the Open track and the English as a Second Language (ESL) track came together at the Nordea Concert hall for the two finals. ...

On the third day of the European University Debate Championship 2017 the pre-rounds come to an end, meaning: The break happens. We've gathered all the information available for you and will edit more once we get our hands on it. ...

The EUDC is attracting many of the same people again and again every year. But there are also always the people who come to Euros the first time and don’t know what to expect and what will be happening. The Achte Minute has talked to some of the people who are at their first EUDC here in Tallinn about their experiences, expectations and how those expectations were met. Hilla Schwartz Tudor Musat Emma van der Horst and Fenna ten Haaf Rachel Mullally Mrinal Kumar Hila Schwartz, Ben Guiron University of the Negev (Israel) [caption id="attachment_32549" align="alignleft" width="213"] Hila Schwartz - © H.Hecke[/caption] AM: So for how long have you ...

This year, a new country applied to join the European circuit at Tallinn EUDC 2017: The United Arab Emirates. Jan-Gunther Gosselke interviewed Nicolaj Thor from their team for the Achte Minute. ...

Day one is over and the participants of Tallinn EUDC are still hopeful and excited. At least it seems like it. The Achte Minute went around asking participant to deliver their best case for either Government or Opposition on the motions “TH supports coming to Tallinn EUDC” The overwhelming majority proposed that it was a great idea to join and also the voice who regrets coming, can’t really been taken seriously. Some of the arguments focused on the beauty of the city: I generally like traveling. The city and the old town is fun to go around and the waterfront is beautiful. There is ...