[caption id="attachment_31902" align="alignright" width="400"] Enting Lee speaks as Leader Opposition in the final round of the 2017 HWS Round Robin (c) Howard and William Smith Colleges[/caption] The HWS Round Robin has claimed yet another weekend of the lives of some of the best debaters in the world. In a tradition that began at the 2016 HWS Round Robin, two judging panels watched each round and delivered oral adjudications independently, with the aggregate number of points & speaker points used to determine the break (tab here). After a struggle for team spots, which can be achieved either through winning a prestigious named tournament or ...

[caption id="attachment_31871" align="alignright" width="400"] The winning team: Erik Haamer & Kerli Kalk - © Tartu Ülikooli Väitlusklubi[/caption] Tartu has scored a home victory at the Estonian Open 2017 with Tartu A (Erik Haamer, Kerli Kalk) taking the victory in Closing Opposition on the motion "TH supports US airstrikes on Syrian military targets". They defeated the Opening Government Riga B (Rasmuss Filips Geks, Edgars Klētnieks), Opening Opposition Müün sapaka keret (Vikki Perijainen, Maria Kull) and Closing Government Mainor A (Kaspar Kelder, Oskar Gross). The judge panel consisted of Triin Toimetaja as chair, Daan Welling, Olesja Zorina, Maarja Tambet and Anneliis Rea. [caption id="attachment_31870" align="alignleft" width="199"] Novice winners: Heleriin ...

[caption id="attachment_31855" align="alignright" width="400"] Winners of PEP IV 2017: Mark Etzel and Miri Muntean - (c) DK Wien[/caption] Vienna Z (Miri Muntean, Mark Etzel) has won this year's PEP IV, debating the motion 'This House Supports the EU backed Western Balkans Customs Union, even at the price of terminating the free trade agreement with Russia and joining the EU sanctions on Russia' in Opening Opposition against the Opening Government St. Gallen University A (Jan-Gunther Gosselke, Katarina Kuzman), Closing Government CEC A (Kristina Georgieva, Monika Naydenova) and Closing Opposition Bard College Berlin A (John Kay, Matt Caito). Best speaker of the tournament was ...

[caption id="attachment_31828" align="alignleft" width="241"] Winners of Glasgow Ancients - © Srishti Krishnamoorthy-Cavell[/caption] Glasgow Ancients The team Iconic Misandry (Clíodhna Ní Chéileachair, Srishti Krishnamoorthy-Cavell; UCD/Cambridge) was victorious in the final on the motion "THW grant legal personhood to major ecological entities (eg. the Amazon rainforest, the Great Barrier Reef etc.)." They won as Closing Government over 2 indy 2ref: edinburgh drift (Oskar Avery, Chris Paschali; Newcastle) in Opening Government, My teammate didn't want any puns, but Im feeling quite ADAM-ant (Adam Stairs, Aodhan Peelo, UCD) in Opening Opposition and Already Broke (Up) (Lucia Arce, Jure Hederih; Sheffield/Oxford) in Closing Opposition. The Final was judged by Eilidh McCreath in ...

[caption id="attachment_31824" align="alignleft" width="215"] Winners of the Aberystwyth Open - Katrin Fallman (left) and Tommy Cave (right) - © Craig McDonald[/caption] Congratulations to ‘The Anti-Frederalist League’ (Tommy Cave, Katrin Fallman, University of West Midlands Union (Warwick and Birmingham)) for winning the Aberystwyth Open 2017. They won the final from Closing Government defeating ‘Sounds like your analysis needs a bit more nuance’ (Freddie Marshall, Warwick, Dean Foley, Manchester) in Opening Government, ‘Spanish Armanda’ (Jim McKenna, UCL, and Armand Lluka, Nottingham Trent) in Opening Opposition and ‘What do you mean this isn’t Glasgow?’ (Rayne Goddard, Hull, Abbie Green, Liverpool) in Closing Opposition on ...

[caption id="attachment_31750" align="alignleft" width="280"] The Final - © Private[/caption] The Maynooth Open 2017 was won by Men I'd shift if I weren't a misandrist (Tim Squirrell, Richeal Ní Laoghaire; Edinburgh/UCD L&H) in Closing Government in an open motion. Opening Government Minorities are people not extensions (Lorna Staines, Mark Finn; Trinity Hist) set it as "THB the usa should pay reparations to african americans". The other two teams in the final were Nothing wrong with two men crying or taking valium (Eoin O'Sullivan, Chris Costigan; Cork/Trinity Phil) in Opening Opposition and  We all need somebody to Leon (Aodhan Peelo, Leon Langdon; UCD L&H) as Closing Government. [caption id="attachment_31748" align="alignright" ...

[caption id="attachment_31732" align="alignright" width="171"] Cardiff Open Winners (Rebecca Tan left, Bailey Reid right) - © Craig McDonald[/caption] Congratulations to the team ‘Bailey’s white privilege’ (Bailey Reid, Rebecca Tan; KCL/Bristol) for winning the final of the Cardiff Open 2017. They won the final from Closing Opposition defeating ‘Oxford That Shakespeherian Rag’ (Richard Ngo, Steve Heo; Oxford) in Opening Government, ‘London University School College Economics London’ (Hamish Barker, Aiden Patrick; LSE/UCL) in Opening Opposition, and ‘Oxford Not Wong (literally – we’re not him)’ (Teck Wei Tan, Will Prescott; Oxford) on the motion "This House believes that marginalized groups should abandon respectability politics". The final ...

[caption id="attachment_31725" align="alignright" width="251"] EDS A - Winner of the Tilburg Women's Open - © Private[/caption] The Tilburg Women's Open 2017 was won by EDS A (Emma van der Horst, Migle Povilenaite; Rotterdam) in Opening Government on the motion "TH supports the Rise of Left-Wing Populism in Europe". They won over Groningen A (Linsey Keur, Lise van der Meer) in Opening Opposition, Underpreped & Overdressed (Lydia Vlagsma, Ike Lieshout; Nijmegen) in Closing Government and Bonaparte A (Marike Breed, Harriet Bergman) in Closing Government. The final was judged by Dee Ní Churnáin as chair together with Romée Lind, Annabelle van Beusekom, Olivia Sundberg Diez and Gigi ...

[caption id="attachment_31720" align="alignright" width="400"] The new Tunisian champions: Takwa Gnenna (left) and Gaith Ben Abdelhamid (right), along with their coordinator (middle). - © YAV[/caption] The grand final of the English track of the Tunisian National Debate Championship 2017, which took place for the first time under this name (formerly: Tunisia Boxing days), was won by the team SupCom (Gaith Ben Abdelhamid, Takwa Gnenna). They debated the motion "THR online journalism" as Opening Opposition against the teams ENIB (Marwa Soussi, Yassine Bouguerra) in Opening Government, TBS (Amir Ammar, Maram Chaabane) in Closing Government and ENS 1 (Manel Khedim, Zahra Mouakher) in Closing ...

[caption id="attachment_31673" align="alignright" width="400"] Left to right: Samantha Malone (finalist), Tessa Holtzman (champion), Abigail Westberry (champion) and Katherine Ziegler (finalist) - (c) Jan Hovden[/caption] Bates sophomores Bates HW (Tessa Holtzman, Abigail Westberry) were recognized Champions of the 2017 North American Women & Gender Minorities Debating Championships (NAW*DC) on a tight 3-2 call for Closing Government, beating out fellow Bates MZ (Samantha Malone, Katherine Ziegler) across the closing bench as well as UADS JK (Moira Kelly, Emma Jones) of the University of Alberta in Opening Government and University of British Columbia & Hart House team Hybrid FB (Gozal Farrokh, Jayun Bae) in Opening Opposition. In the ...

[caption id="attachment_31637" align="alignright" width="400"] The finalists and CAs - ©Private[/caption] The Alfred Tuna Snider International World Schools Tournament was won by Toronto Mix (Sarah Rana, Zain Daudi, Dori Zhoud, Sophie Wu) in Proposition on a 3:2 split decision. They debated the final on the motion "This House believes that the West should not portray ‘’The Great Explorers’’ (e.g. Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama) as heroes" against UTS A (Martine Duffy, Alykhan Jetha, Adithya Chakracarthy, Gautam Manohar; Canada) in Opposition. The final was judged by Adnan Muttalib, Cornell in chair together with Duncan Crowe, UK/Vermont, Nae Sovaiala, Romania, Zheng Bo, China and Wanda Gibson, ...

Note by the editors: This article will be updated to reflect the top novice speaker & Spanish division motions when such information is released. [caption id="attachment_31574" align="alignright" width="400"] left: Pan-American Champions Miriam Kohn & Chris Perkins. right: ESL top speaker Syed Reefat Aziz - © Brady Fletcher.[/caption] In the English division of the 2017 Pan-American Universities Debating Championships, the team Rochester PK (Miriam Kohn, Chris Perkins) emerged victorious from Closing Government on the grand final motion “This house prefers a world where American and Canadian Multi-National Corporations in South America adhere to the environmental and labour standards of their home countries." They debated against ULV LM (Kandin ...

[caption id="attachment_31538" align="alignleft" width="152"] Winners of the Liverpool IV - Owen Mooney (left), Skye Brettell (right) - © Bethany Garry[/caption] Congratulations to GUU Bush (Owen Mooney and Skye Bretell, Glasgow) for winning the Open Final of the Liverpool IV 2017. They won the final from Closing Government defeating The unwarranted irrigation extension (Michael Davidson and Cameron Cross, Edinburgh) in Opening Government, Never Speak At Your Own Competition (Jack Stanley, Strathclyde, and Patrick Collins-Price, Liverpool) in Opening Opposition, and I came here for Lucy Murphy because I love her. That is all (Dafe Orugbo and Daire O’boyle, Maynooth) in Closing Opposition on ...

[caption id="attachment_31516" align="alignright" width="266"] Willam Wildi (left) and Stanisław Stefaniak (right), Winners of Cracow Open 2017 - © KDPUJ[/caption] The Cracow Open 2017 was won by the mixed team I am your Stan (Stanisław Stefaniak/Poznan, William Wildi/LSE) from Closing Opposition. They debated in the final against Mainor A (Oskar Gross, Kaspar Kelder) in Opening Government, Pun (Ben Shaw/GUU alumnus, Mirijana Muntean/DK Wien) in Opening Opposition and AGKŚ (Alexander Starchurski, Mateusz Wójtowicz - Warsaw) in Closing Government on the motion "This House welcomes the commercialisation of national symbols". The final was adjudicated by Alex Moise (chair) together with Harish Natarajan, Karolina Partyga, Calyxx Peucker and Cheryl Nazik. Wiliam Wildi was declared best speaker of ...

[caption id="attachment_31509" align="alignright" width="261"] HDDc - winners of the tournament © Private[/caption] The International Worlds Schools tournament Ljutomer, Slovenia was won by the team HDDc (Marija Jarnjak / Hrvoje Kozic / Maja Roglic).They debated the final on the motion "THBT we should boycott comedians who poke fun at minority stereotypes" in proposition against the team Bezigrad Green Stars (Reja Debevc / Matija Pusnik / Filip Koro) from Slovenia in opposition. Government won the debate with a very emotional case about the importance to protect minorities. Opposition argued against that on a principle level of how making fun about everyone means equality, as well as ...

[caption id="attachment_31439" align="alignright" width="400"] Monica Forman and Daan Welling - © Balázs Dezsényi[/caption] The team Orban Outfitters (Daan Welling & Monica Forman) won the final of the 96-team Budapest Open 2017. They were Opening Opposition on the motion "THBT it is the Moral Imperative of Liberals within Eastern Europe to stay within their Home Country, rather than Emigrate to More Progressive Countries.” Orban Outfitters beat out We know team names. We have the best team names (Olle Reberg, Jamie Batchelor) in Opening Government who replaced the advancing Melda + Jonah (Melda Eren, Johan Båge) who left due to scheduling conflicts. They also ranked above Tel Aviv Ya Habibi ...

[caption id="attachment_31451" align="alignright" width="330"] Really Bad Hombres, winners of the first Novi Sad Open - (c) Jan-Gunther Gosselke[/caption] The team Really Bad Hombres (Miloš Marjanović & Teodora Resetar)  has won Novi Sad Open 2017 in Opening Opposition, debating the motion "THBT all companies should be majority owned and controlled by their workers" against Break or Move Out (OG, Chris Edgar & Ben Shaw), Helicopters at night (CG, Dariusch Klett-Cotta & Paul Reiter) and Samo je korak do dna (CO, Ilija Ivanišević & Janko Djordjevic). The final was judged by Emilia Carlqvist, Paul Smith, Jovan Petronijevic and Milja Sijakinjic. Best speaker of the tournament ...

[caption id="attachment_31345" align="alignright" width="163"] Winners of the Manchester IV Open Final 2017: Owen Mooney (left), Eileen De Souza (right) - © Craig McDonald[/caption] Congratulations to the three winning teams of this year’s Manchester IV! The Open Final was won by GUU Clubs of alcohol and depravity (Owen Mooney and Eileen De Souza) in Closing Government. They defeated Oxford HC (Jure Hederih and Louis Collier) in Opening Government, UCL Janeway (Martin Devenney and Leo Yung) in Opening Opposition, and Edinburgh Nevertheless, She Persisted (Ethan Silver and Nishith Hedge) in Closing Opposition on the motion “This house believes that militaries in new democracies should ...

[caption id="attachment_31316" align="alignright" width="400"] Winners of LSESU Open: Joe Mayes (left), Steven Rajavinothan (right) - © Seah Ying Ying[/caption] The team Young, Scrappy and Hungry (Joe Mayes, Steven Rajavinothan) has won the Open final of the LSESU Open 2017 from Opening Government on the motion "This house believes that history curriculums should portray in an overwhelmingly negative light all celebrated historical figures responsible for racially motivated violence. E.g. Winston Churchill, Oliver Cromwell, Charles De Gaulle." They defeated the teams ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (Joe Roussos, Tim Mooney) in Opening Opposition, Almodovar Film Club (Annie Williamson, Toby Tricks) in Closing Government and Rake unknown ...

[caption id="attachment_31296" align="alignright" width="400"] From left to right: Lilian Suo, Brian Wong, Rita Chudnovskaya, Jesper Eriksson, Meradjuddin Khan Oidermaa, Eid Jazairi, Ella Jonninen, Ben Shaw and Sara Halonen. - © Lennart Lokstein[/caption] At the grand final of the Ota Open 2017, the team Wolf Pack Alpha (Jesper Eriksson, Rita Chudnovskaya - Stockholm) managed to win as opening opposition on the motion "This house believes that major media outlets should seek to recruit individuals who openly support Donald Trump." They spoke against Otaly Excited (Lilian Luo - Ressu, Brian Wong - Oxford) in opening government, Don't worry, she's just my cousin! (Markus ...

[caption id="attachment_31212" align="alignright" width="300"] Winners of the Swansea Open 2017: Liam Dodd (left), Ieuan Skinner (right) - © Craig McDonald[/caption] The team "Alternative Facts A" (Ieuan Skinner & Liam Dodd, Swansea) won the final of the Swansea Open 2017 from Closing Government. They won over Birmingham That’s So Rosie (Tommy Cave & Rosalie Butcher) in Opening Government, Generic Team Name (Sophie Johnstone, Cardiff, & Ryan F., Hull) in Opening Opposition, and The Craig David Comeback Tour  (Craig McDonald, Cardiff & David Larke, Nottingham Trent) in Closing Opposition on the motion “THR the rise and domincance of aspirational narratives in western politics“. The final was judged by Paige Skinner in chair, together with Marcus Lea, Joe Osbourne, Megan Thomas, ...

[caption id="attachment_31072" align="alignright" width="242"] Winners of the Inner Temple IV 2017 - © Michael Dunn Goejikan[/caption] The team Fulfilling MDG's Virtue Signalling Quota (Michael Dunn Goejikan & Muhammad Assadullah Khan) has won the final of the Inner Temple IV 2017. The motion was "This house supports a norm where adult children take in their elderly parents, even in cases where their parents have the financial means to support themselves." The final was judged by Steven Ramesh Rajavinothan  in chair, together with Tek Wei Tan, Ibrahim Steele, Mackenzie Tse, Bruce Weaver and Penny S. Best speaker was Michael Dunn Goejikan with an average of 84.25 speaker points. The Novice Final ...

After nine preliminary rounds, two days of elimination rounds and three finals, the winners of this years WUDC have been determined. [caption id="attachment_30874" align="alignright" width="302"] EFL Champions 2017: Belgrade C ©DutchWUDC[/caption] In the EFL Final, Belgrade C (Miloš Marjanović, Teodora Rešetar) took the win via unanimous decision against BINUS A (Stella Emada Bestio, Willem Chua) in Opening Government, SKT A (Konrad Gütschow, Philipp Schirmer) in Opening Opposition and SUFE B (Jinting Liu, Miranda Shen Yan) in Closing Government on the motion "THBT the European left should promote a hard left agenda, including the nationalisation of major industry, very high tax rates on the ...

Three days and nine preliminary rounds into the Dutch WUDC 2017 in Den Haag, the following teams of the 394 participating ones have made it to the final rounds: Open Break (1-16 advance straight to octofinals): Oxford B UT MARA A AKL A (Auckland) Oxford A Oxford C Harvard A Cambridge A Hart House A (Toronto) Durham A Yale A USU B (Sydney) GUU A (Glasgow) Cambridge B Melbourne A Tel Aviv A Harvard C USU A IIUM A (Kuala Lumpur) Bates A UWADU A (Perth) IIUM B USU C UQDS C (Queensland) UCD LAW A (Dublin) Duke A Cambridge D ...

At the Winter Holiday Open in Zagreb, a World Schools Debate tournament, USA Debate A (Liz Yount, Josh May, Aditya Dhar and Ella Michaels) participated the final in proposition against Bežigrad Green Stars (Matija Pušnik, Reja Debevc, Filip Korošec in Opposition on the motion TH regrets the commercialization of feminism. [caption id="attachment_30642" align="alignright" width="400"] The winning team bežigrad Green Stars - © WHO[/caption] The proposition debated the intersectionality of feminism, secondly the limitation of political action and lastly the resulting commodification and need for opposition to the system. Opposition argued against this with the arguments that the commercialization will lead to popularisation of feminism and ...

From December 27th to January 4th the WUDC, the world's largest debating tournament, takes place in The Hague in the Netherlands. As with most international tournaments, debates will be held in British Parliamentary Style and in English. The CA team consists of Syed Saddiq, Karin Merckens, Hyewon Rho, Michael Dunn Goekjian, Omer Nevo, Jodie O'Neill, Veenu Goswami, Yashodhan Nair and Ingrid Rodríguez. Bionda Merckens is the equity officer; Andrea Bos is in charge of language-related topics. Any questions can be directed to info@dutchwudc.nl. Overview: Date: December 27th - January 4th Conveners: Bionda Merckens, Andrea Bos Accommodation: Holiday houses Registration: Closed Registration ...

From November 4th till evening November 5th, the UCU Open 2016 will take place in Utrecht, Netherlands. Being an international tournament, its debates will be held in British Parliament Style and in English. Following five preliminary rounds, there will be semi finals and a final as well as a novice final. The CA team consists of Rebecca Irvine, Nishith Hegde, Clíodhna Ní Chéileachair, Ilija Ivanišević and Ybo Buruma, the convenor is Jelte Schievels. Questions can be directed to ucuopen@gmail.com. All known information: Date: November 4th - November 5th (late evening) Convenor: Jelte Schievels Accomodation: Crash Registration: Online formular Registration fee: 30 € ...

From November 14th till November 17th (the week between Oxford IV and Cambridge IV), the Scottish EUDC 2018 OrgComm will organize two free training sessions each night at varying universities in London. These training sessions are open to anyone interested and will also be streamed and recorded to make them accessible to people who cannot make it to London. So far, no further information is known, but anyone interested may check out the Facebook page of the event. jgg./jm.

On Saturday, November 19th, the first Maastricht Novice 2016 will take place. Located in Maastricht, it is a British-Parliament-Style novice tournament (speeches 5 minutes each) with four preliminary rounds followed by a final. The Chief Adjudicators are Srdjan Miletic, Jelte Schievels and Lucy Lester, any questions may be directed to rhetoricadebating@gmail.com. All known information: Date: November 19th, 2016 Accomodation: None, but crash can be organized if needed by contacting the organizer using the above e-mail address Registration: Onlineformular Registration fee: 10€ per speaker, 5€ per judge Adjudicator rule: tba Format: BPS Rounds: 4 preliminary rounds, finale Chief adjudicators: Srdjan Miletic, Jelte ...

From Friday, December 9th, til Sunday, December 11th, the Centrale Open 2016 takes place in Paris. Since this is an international tournament, debates will be held in British Parliament Style and in English. Following five preliminary rounds, there'll be semi finals and a final, as well as an ESL final. Sella Nevo, Harish Natarajan und Sharmila Parmanand are the Chief Adjudicators; any questions can be directed to ecpdebating@gmail.com. All known informations: Date: December 9th - December 11th, 2016 Accomodation: Crash on campus Regisration: Online formular Registration fee: 55 € per speaker Adjudicator rule: n-1 Format: BPS Rounds: 5 preliminary rounds, semi finals ...