[caption id="attachment_36348" align="alignright" width="264"] The winning team: Tin Puljic and Miri Muntean - © Berlin Debating Union[/caption] The Berlin IV 2020 (Online edition) is over. The final was won by the team in Opening Opposition named Quarantined, Scrappy, and Hungry (Tin Puljić, Miri Muntean), a mixed-team by the Zagreb Student Debate Forum and the Debattierklub Wien. The other final teams were real pandemics have curves (Amichay Even Chen, Roy Schulman; Tel Aviv) in Opening Government, A License and a Penance (Srishti Krishnamoorthi-Cavell, Tudor Musat; Cambridge) in Closing Government and LSE CM (Ciara Mitchell, Hamza Tariq Chaudhry) in Closing Opposition. The debate ...

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 ...

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, ...

To all debaters who still want ot attend the Berlin IV 2013: there are still some spots up for grab. The Berlin IV will take place from the 21st of June to the 23rd of June, so if you want to come to Berlin contact the Berlin Debating Union as soon as possible and make sure you pay the reg fee quickly. For mor informations check out the Facebook-Event. The Berlin IV 2013 is all about 2013 alternative freedom. In Berlin IV will not feature any fancy banquets but a wide array of scoial acitivities, ranging from barbecues and ice cream to ...

Stuttgart (Nils Haneklaus, Michael Saliba, Igor Gilitschenski), Berlin (Annette Kirste, Georg Sommerfeld, Julian Ohm), Jena (Severin Weingarten, Jonathan Scholbach, Friederike Meyer zu Wendischhoff) and Mainz (Marina Freund, Max Fritz, Willy Witthaut) broke to semis. Severin Weingarten topped the tab. As Free Speakers broke Marc-André Schulz  (Aachen), Gabor Stefan, Almut Graebsch (beide München), Barbara Schunicht (Hamburg), Adrian Gombert (Münster) and Jan Ohmstedt (Heidelberg Debating). As adjudicators broke: Hauke Blume (Berlin Debating Union), Daniil Pakhomenko, Andrea Gau (beide Mainz), Teresa Peters (Leipzig), Marion Seiche (Frankfurt), Alexander Karl Postl (Leipzig), Andreas C. Lazar (Stuttgart), Teresa Widlok (Münster), Robert Büchle (Zürich), Alexander Labinsky (Dresden), Tom-Michael ...

We all know it out of our own tournament experience: waiting to get the desired slots, the first information about the schedule, and the innate hope that the OrgComm does not forget about all the requests you had. Whatever happened at a small tournament, will also apply to the World Debating Championships. The sub-department ‘participant affairs’ will ensure that all participants feel well informed and taken care of so that they can travel to Berlin with no worries beforehand. Christian Landrock talked to Teresa Widlok, one of the divisional heads in charge of registration issues. Teresa has been debating for the ...

Please read the German version of this piece to learn more on how to get supporters of your debating societies invited to the grand final of the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC or Worlds) in Berlin. The Berlin Debating Union was chosen to hold the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) in Botsuana 2011 and was confirmed again in Manila 2012. Estimated 1400 debaters from about 70 countries will fight for the title of the World Champion from 27th of December 2012 to 4th of January 2013. The World Universities Debating Championship is taking place yearly around New Year’s ...

This weekend a big experiment started. Seven countries, seven capitals, seven tournaments, one league: The Debating League of Europe.  With the DLE, the European debating circuit could get what the circuit has almost become already anyway: A cohesive debating scene where debaters from all over Europe regularly meet and mingle. The League provides a common framework for keeping track of results of chosen tournaments across Europe to find a winner at the end of a season. The rule is simple: The biggest tournament of the capital of a country is eligible. The DLE is open for participation for every debating society ...

A refreshing shower in late summer: The Open Society Foundation (OSF) is supporting the World Universitites Debating Championship (WUDC) Berlin 2013. The OSF is actually a group of foundations of the US-American billionaire George Soros which fosters the idea of an open society - hence the name. They support initiatives of the civil society to spread the idea. Patrick Ehmann, convener of WUDC Berlin 2013, appreciates the OSF as a partner since both the foundation and the WUDC aim at make debating relevant to a broader public, as Patrick explains. "We've had the idea at Worlds in Botswana where there ...

Prepping at Cambridge, studying The Economist, scrutinizing mechanisms - this and much more is what Jonas Werner (winner of German language debating championship 2009) and Niels Schröter (both from the Belrin Debating Union, or BDU) revealed when our Belgrade correspondent Willy Witthaut interviewed them after they made it to the ESL final at the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros). ...

The German public broadcaster ZDF and its daughter 3sat are starting a new debate show - after the model of Cambridge and Oxford debate. For more details, please read the German version of ths article.

And the winners are... Some tears, standing ovations and two exciting and excellent final debates - a lot of emotions at the finals of this year's European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros). Now, really, without further ado, here are the winners from two categories, ESL (English as a Second Language) and Open (open to everybody proficient enought): ...

Berlin! Berlin! Berlin! Again we're cheering for Berlin: Team A of the Berlin Debating Union (BDU) made it to the semis: Jonas Werner and Niels Schröter - yay! In quarters, they were closing opp in a debate on "This house supports life sentences without the possibility of parole for serial re-offenders." Now, they're debating the motion "This house believes that the militaries in newly democratized Arab countries should act as the guardian angels of society" from closing gov. ...

Long awaited, heavily fought for, now it's here: Theeeeeeeeeee brrrrrrreak! Please find below the teams that made it to the quarter-finals of the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros) 2012 in Belgrade Serbia. As usual, there are two categorie, ESL (English as a Second Language) and Open (open to everybody who is good enough). Here's the ESL break and the draw. ...

Yep, the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros) is still going on. It's day 3, the last three prelims are scheduled for today. We've got an update on the results of most of the teams from under the roof of VDCH (Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen, or association of debating societies at universities). This is how they performed in the first six preliminary rounds: Results after round 6 Gutenberg, Nicolas and Robert, 9 points Gutenberg, Thore and Willy, 8 Tübingen, Konrad and Jonas, 8 Tübingen, Marie and Sophie, 6 Heidelberg, Lucas and Jan, (Sorry, no update available so far!) Stuttgart, Andreas and Gregor, 10 BDU, Dessi and ...

A little less hot in Belgrade, said the weather forecast. Only 31 degree Celsius, said the weather forecast. Must have felt like a fresh breeze after 40 degrees the day before. At least, today no one complained about the Serbian heat on Twitter. Rather, some obviously ate ice cream in between rounds for reasons of refreshment. Apart from the weather, there's more exciting news from the Serbian capital: Again, Willy Witthaut helped us gather the results for VDCH club - thank you! (Again, of some teams we only have the data after previous rounds. We're trying to collect more data.) Results after ...

Look who came up with preliminary results from the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros): It's Willy Witthaut! Find below the results of most of the teams from under the umbrella of VDCH, or Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen (association of debating societies at universities). Thanks, Willy! We also stumbled across the results of our Dutch neigbours - see below. Please do not hesitate to help us gather information on results or give us snipets of gossip to entertain those at home. Oh, something that everyone at home might envy those down in Belgrade: It's around 40°C in the ...

The Berlin Debating Union (BDU) has elected a new executive board: Niels Schröter is the new president. He is supported by Bruno Davids (treasurer) and Julian Ohm, Christina Dexel and Marijana Todorović. They follow Dessislava Kirova (president) and Juliane Mendelsohn (treasurer), Kai Dittmann, John-Thomas Eltringham and Juliane Zeuschner. apf

About 1,400 people will assemble in Berlin in December to compete at the World Universities Debating Championship 2013 (a.k.a. WUDC or Worlds). Kai Dittman from Berlin Debating Union is in charge of the finance department. Viviane Clarin talked to him about what the guests will need and how he is raising the funds. Please read the German version of the interview to learn more about the details. The Berlin Debating Union bid for hosting the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC or Worlds) was confirmed in Botswana 2011 and reconfirmed in Manila 2012. The hosts expect about 1.400 Debattierer from around 70 ...

68 teams, seven prelims and a quarters round make up for semis in Vienna. The following eight teams made it to semis of the German language debating championship (Meisterschaft im deutschsprachigen Debattieren or MDD): Berlin Stadt im Norden (Annette Kirste, Julian Ohm) Mainz Anton (Andrea Gau, Daniil Pakhomenko) Stuttgart CNC (Michael Saliba, Igor Gilitschenski) Berlin Flauschpfote (Hauke Blume, Niels Schröter) MS Hamburg Loki (Kira Lancker, Barbara Schunicht) Berlin HS (Johannes Häger, Georg Sommerfeld) Berlin Babes Bolay (Dessislava Kirova, Juliane Mendelsohn) München Alpha (Valerio Morelli, Marco Witzmann) (This is not a ranking. ) Learn more about MDD in the German version of this article and follow us on Facebook and Twitter ...

German language debating championship (MDD) - Break to Quarters: Berlin Kai & Flo (Kai Dittmann und Florian Umscheid) Berlin Flauschpfote (Hauke Blume und Niels Schröter) Hamburg Loki (Kira Lancker und Barbara Schunicht) München Alpha (Valerio Morelli und Marco Witzmann) Berlin Babes Bolay Dessislava Kirova und Juliane Mendelsohn) Berlin HS (Johannes Häger und Georg Sommerfeld) Stuttgart CNC (Igor Gilitschenski und Michael Saliba) Münster Lamberti (Johannes Haug und Adrian Gombert) Mainz Anton (Daniil Pakhomenko und Andrea Gau) Berlin SW (Farid Schwuchow und Jonas Werner) München A (Wladislaw Jachtschenko und Markus Dankerl) Stuttgart A (Andreas Lazar und Sven Moritz Hein) Jena - Die Untergeher (Jonathan Scholbach und Friederike Meyer zu Wendischhoff) Karls Ruhe vor dem Sturm (Leonid ...

The German language debating championship is about to start in Vienna, Austria. Competing for the title are 68 teams from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, or debating societies from Aachen, Bayreuth, Berlin, Bonn, Dresden, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Graz, Göttingen, Halle, Hamburg, Hannover, Heidelberg, Ingolstadt, Jena, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Klagenfurt, Köln, Konstanz, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Mainz, Marburg, München, Münster, Potsdam, Regensburg, Salzburg, Stuttgart, St. Gallen, Tübingen, Wien, Würzburg and Zürich. Learn more about MDD in the German version of this article and follow us on Facebook and Twitter (hashtag #MDD12). It's the first time the German language debating championship (Meisterschaft im deutschsprachigen Debattieren or MDD) is hosted ...

 

 

Georg Sommerfeld and Bruno Davids of Berlin Debating Union (BDU) won Saggsn Masders 2012, a tournament in the Saxonian capital Dresden. Georg was also awarded best speaker of the final. The other final teams were from Mainz (Willy Witthaut and Betty Braun) and of BDU: Sarah von Kaminietz and Martin Funck, and Hauke Blume and Marijana Todorovich). The top speakers of the tourney: Georg Sommerfeld Willy Witthaut Hauke Blume Sarah von Kaminietz, Dessislava Kirova The top team results of the league after Saggsn Masders: Mainz (53) Heidelberg Debating (44) Tübingen (44) Berlin Debating Union (36) Freiburg (26) Top speaker results after Saggsn Masders: Willy Witthaut (64) Almut Graebsch (45), Zsolt Szilagyi (45) Philipp Stiel (44) Please ...