The grand final of the Effective Altruism Debating Championship 2020 was won by We Were There When the Social Contract was Signed (Teck Wei Tan, Srishti Krishnamoorthy-Cavell) in Opening Government. Speaking against them were We are utility monsters, give us the 1 (Karthik Tadepalli, Tejas Subramanian) in Opening Opposition, WSDC Canada Rejects (Trenton Sewell, Tyson Dennis-Sharma) in Closing Government, Putting the Fun in Dysfunctional (Franka Boender, Ayal Mor) in Closing Opposition. The motion read "THBT, after meeting their basic needs, individuals have a moral responsibility to donate their wealth towards poverty alleviation". The adjudication panel was chaired by Hadar Goldberg and also ...

The final of the Astana Open 2020 was won by the team Arie Potter and Ron Weasley (Arie Mora, Ron Leizrowice; Kiev/Bristol). Out of Closing Opposition, they defeated the Opening Government MDM A (Jason Woods, Maurice Coutiel; Edinburgh/London), Opening Opposition Astana is where I put my laptop (Eyal Horowitz, Boaz Katzir; Tel Aviv) and Closing Government we can do anything we put our minds to ???‍♀️✨just not this????‍♀️ (Daniela Williams, Isabelle Healy; Dublin). The debate on the motion "THBT the Kremlin should support Svetlana Tichanovskaya (incl. infoslide) was judged by Milla Huuskonen as chair, Aigerim Shadeyeva, Caoimhin Hamill, Dani Georgiev ...

[caption id="attachment_36956" align="alignright" width="455"] The Dutch victory celebration featuring European champions Katharina Margareta Jansen (4th from left), Emma Lucas (5th f.l.) Louis Honee (6th f.l.) and David Metz (7th f.l.) - © Louis Honee[/caption] The Astana EUDC 2020 has come to an end and it has been a successful tournament for the Leiden Debating Union. The Dutch debating society was able to win both the ESL and Open final and topped the ESL speaker awards as well. In the grand final, Leiden A (David Metz, Emma Lucas) took the victory out of Closing Opposition against the Opening Government Leiden C (Louis Honee, ...

The team TCD Hist (Caoimhin Hamill, Jack Synnott) has emerged victorious in the Grand Final of the KCL Online Open 2020, speaking from OG on the motion "THP to be alone in the universe." Against them were левый коронный (Milla Huuskonen, Muhktar Tashkenbayev) in Opening Opposition, LSE A (Ciara Mitchell, Hamza Tariq Chaudhry) in Closing Government, and Persistent Pufferfish (Naomi Panovka, Xiao-Ke Lu) in Closing Opposition. The adjudication panel consisted of Neo Way Shen (chair), Dani Georgiev, Ife Grillo, Jacklin Kwan and Marta Vasić. The ESL Final was won by Amsterdam A (Marike Breed, Nikola Michaylov) in Opening Opposition on the motion ...

The champions of the St Petersburg Online Open are LSE A (Hamza Chaudhry, Ciara Mitchell). In the grand final, they spoke in Closing Opposition on the motion "THBT the scientific community should reject the notion of 'non-overlapping magisteria' ". Speaking against them were Bristol (Timothy Lo, Ron Leizrowice) in Opening Government, Edinburgh (C)lutchies (Jason Woods, Cerys Walsh) in Opening Opposition, and TCD Hist Ayyy lmao (Caoimhin Hamill, Jack Synnott) in Closing Government. The Grand Final was chaired by Alicja Filbier together with Anasuya Narasimhan, Dani Georgiev, Olja Bosnjak and Suzanne Elliott.  The top speaker was Ciara Mitchell with an average of 82.4 speaker ...

The open final of the Astana Debate Union Online Tournament 2020 was won by LSE HC (Hamza Chaudhry, Ciara Mitchell) in Opening Opposition, speaking against GUU A (Emma Chan, Julie Nyerges) in Opening Government, Trying to get my ducks in a row (Lucy Murphy, Miri Muntean) in Closing Government, and Short and to the point (Neta Portal, Miriam Kalman) in Closing Opposition on the motion "THP the rule of the governing AI, with elections on priorities over, traditional representative democracy." The final was chaired by Hadar Goldberg, judging alongside Tin Puljic, Alicja Filbier, Dana Green, and Ron Leizrowice. The top speaker ...

The Grand Final of the Trinity Open 2020 Online was won by Cambridge Cromwell's Men are Here Again (Matt Hazell, Alasdair Donovan) in Opening Opposition. Debating against them were BDU The prancing ponies (Josef Moscovici, Calyxx Peucker) in Opening Government; Open Break the tab not the quarantine (Hadar Goldberg,  Nadav barak) in Closing Government; and Open [KDA] Thanks Jacklin :D (Milla Huuskonen, Ron Leizrowice) in Closing Opposition. The motion read "This House Supports rioting as a means of fighting for social justice in the U.S." The debate was judged by Marta Vasic as chair together with Katharina Jansen, Nicole O'Sullivan, Lovro ...

NU A (Tashkenbayev Mukhtar, Alisher Juzgenbayev) won the 2020 Parassat Open. They were speaking from Opening Opposition against ULU A (Maurice Coutiel, Przemek Stolarski) in Opening Government, Ateneo AV (Luigi Alcaneses, Mikko Vitug) in Closing Government, and Stay hear hear (Hadar Goldberg, Lior Sokol) in Closing Opposition on the motion: "This House Opposes the commercialization of competitive debating (such as for profit debate training, paid workshops, paying IAs a salary, paying pros to speak with wealthy beginners, etc)". The adjudication panel was chaired by Milla Huuskonen. Judging with her were Alikhan Kazinov, Josef Moscovici, Katharina Margarita Jansen, and Miri Muntean. The Pro-Am final ...

The World University Debating Championship 2020 in Thailand is over and the winners come from Oxford, Open University of Israel and Institut Teknologi Bandung. The break after the preliminary rounds can be found here. EFL category [caption id="attachment_36182" align="alignright" width="400"] EFL winners Mohammad Akbar (l.) and Vincentius Michael (r.) - © Mauditra Matin[/caption] The team IT Bandung A (Mohammad Akbar, Vincentius Michael) won the EFL final as Closing Opposition against Opening Government Rosario A (Jorge Portocarrero, Juanita Hincapie), Opening Opposition TEC CEM A (Benjamín Vigueras, Ruben Sanchez; Monterrey) and Kyushu A (Khac Hung, Anonymous). The teams debated the motion "This House would abolish the ...

[caption id="attachment_35986" align="alignright" width="346"] Milla Huuskonen and Katharina Jansen - © Martin Jambor[/caption] The team Real Friends Crash Out of Quarters Together (Milla Huuskonen, Katharina Jansen; Helsinki/Leiden) has won the Prague Open 2019 as Closing Government. In the final, they defeated the Opening Government Unironically Emulating Kafka (Uzair Tajuddin, Florens Rilling, Munich), the Opening Opposition Streitkultur A (Samuel Scheuer, Marius Hobbhahn, Tübingen) and the Closing Opposition Streitkultur B (Dominik Hermle, Joschka Braun). The debate on the motion "THBT the fight against Climate Change should include taking international action against sovereign countries (such as exclusion from international institutions, sanctions, military intervention, etc.), ...

[caption id="attachment_35632" align="alignright" width="400"] Best speaker Milla Huuskonen and the winning team of My Linh Nguyen and Sam Spilsbury (f.l.t.r.) - © Antoni Veniant[/caption] The final of the Poznan Open 2019 was won by the team Our opening was integral of us (Sam Spilsbury, My Linh Nguyen; Aalto)  Out of Opening Government, they defeated the Opening Opposition Lulek's debating society (Maciej Lulewicz, Paweł Sieprawski; Cracow), the Closing Government We see each other more often than we see our mothers (Przemek Stolarski, Milla Huuskonen; SOAS/Helsinki) and the Closing Opposition Break or UK je Srbija (Marina Kojic, George Hames; Vienna/Oxford). The teams debated ...

[caption id="attachment_35564" align="alignright" width="400"] The winners Lorna Staines (m.), Suzanne Elliott (r.) with the chair of the final, Nishith Hedge (l.)- © TU Delft Debating Club[/caption] The 2019 edition of the Delft Open was won by the Glasgow University Union in form of the team GUU No country for told men (Lorna Staines, Suzanne Elliott) out of Closing Opposition. They defeated ET DSDC (Elian Lavrijsen, Teck Wei Tan; DSDC/Oxford) in Opening Government, DSDC Floris en Marit (Floris Holstege, Marit van den Helder; Leiden/DSDC) in Opening Opposition and DSDC JJ (Jonathan Kellogg, Jure Hederih; DSDC/Oxford) in Closing Government on the motion "THR ...

[caption id="attachment_35333" align="alignright" width="376"] Mohit Singh and Milla Huuskonen - © Heli-Katri Marttila[/caption] The team Sweden and East-Sweden (Mohit Singh, Milla Huuskonen; Jönköping/Helsinki) has won the Estonian Open 2019. Out of Opening Opposition, they defeated Toore lehm + kana embrüo (Carl-Martin Keerberg, Erik Haamer; Tartu) in Opening Government, Triin is not funny (Triin Toimetaja, Alexander Chen; Copenhagen) in Closing Government and The Dark Knife Rises (Johan Allen, Meradjuddin Khan Oidermaa; Stockholm) in Closing Opposition on the motion "TH prefers a world in which the prevailing norm is one of serial monogamy rather than monogamy (incl. infoslide)". The final was judged by a ...

[caption id="attachment_35269" align="alignright" width="400"] Katharina Jansen and Lisa Knodt - (c) Erasmus Debating Society[/caption] The team Merkel II & III (Lisa Knodt, Katharina Jansen) of the Rhetorica Debating Society Maastricht has won the Erasmus Rotterdam Open 2019. Out of Opening Opposition, they defeated the Opening Government Glorious like the Mongolian navy (Milla Huuskonen, Markus Myllymäki; Helsinki), Closing Government Tudor and Anne (but not Henry and Boleyn) (Tudor Musat, Ana Coman; Cambridge/Bukarest) and Closing Opposition We beg you to propose. That's what she said. (Elizabeta Korenčan, Roel Becker; Llubljana/Leiden) on the motion "Assuming the technology exists, TH supports the use of augmented ...

[caption id="attachment_35174" align="alignright" width="300"] Janko Djordjevic, one half of the winning team (left) and Ilija Ivanisevic, the top speaker of the tournament (right) - © Jovan Petronijevic[/caption] The PEP IV 2019 saw a home victory of the team in Opening Government We are too old to be here (Stefan Siridzanski, Janko Djordjevic). They defeated the Opening Opposition It's like Uber, but for debaters (Joona Suhonen, John Kay), the Closing Government Too fat, too furious (Milos Marjanovic, Nikolay Angelov) and the Closing Opposition pepistoonative (Ilija Ivanisevic, Lovro Sprem) debating the motion "THR the decline of Marxism in Western Europe". The final was judged ...

The team Mary Berry (Tudor Musat, Iona Covei) was victorious at the UDP Open 2019. Out of Opening Government, they defeated the Opening Opposition Sciences Proles (Daniel Chouchena, Hao Juan Tan), the Closing Government 5,000 Troops to Paris (Olivia Sundberg Diez, Guillermo Serrano) and UDS please don't start a revolution (Joris Graff, Marthe Wijfjes). The motion read: "TH as a Yellow Vest, supports attempts by Les Emergents to run for elections in European and French elections (incl. infoslide)".  The final was judged by all breaking judges with Lucy Murphy as chair as well as Emily Frizell, George Hames, Huyen Nguyen, Klaudia Maciejewska, Milla Huuskonen ...

[caption id="attachment_34789" align="alignright" width="400"] The training team from left to right: Jonas, Milos, Cliodhna, Benji, Sharmila, Joona, Milla, Brian, Johan, Matti - © Evertime Visuals[/caption] The Nordic Debate Academy was the first in a series of trainings co-ordinated by the Athens EUDC and Thailand WUDC. This training was hosted by the Danish Debate Association in conjunction with FINDA - Finnish Debating Association, Stockholm Debate Society, and Lund Debate Society / Lunds Debattsällskap at the Copenhagen Business School. The NDA featured two and a half days of workshops and a four round tournament with a break to finals. 10 countries were represented at the ...

The Novi Sad EUDC, lasting 30.07.-05.08.18, came to an impressive conclusion: Teams from Tel Aviv won both the ESL (English as a Second Language) and the Open final! The ESL dominance continued with - originally Mexican - debater Lucía Arce, starting for Sheffield, being both top speaker in ESL and in total. Read more about the constellations, teams, speakers, judges and motions below. ...

As the 2018 European Universities Debate Championship progresses, the break is now online. ...

[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. ...

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 ...

Ido Kotler and Monica Forman from Tel Aviv won the Berlin IV 2017, speaking in Closing Opposition to the motion "This House would prefer a world where there is only one religion". [caption id="attachment_32206" align="alignright" width="400"] Chief Adjudicators van Beusekom, Irvine, Smith, Har-Oz, Large, Winners Kotler and Forman - © Jonas Huggins[/caption] As team #Reichs_tag_a_friend they beat Munich A (Melda Eren, Wladi Jachtchenko) in Opening Government,  Debating – not even once (Milla Huuskonen - Helsinki, Leo Yung - London) in Opening Opposition and Oxford A (Tommy Peto, Raffy Marshall) in Closing Government. The final was judged by Sivan Avitan in the chair, Namita Gupta, ...

[caption id="attachment_32040" align="alignright" width="158"] Winners of the Helsinki Open - Alex Harris (left) and Brian Wong (right) - © Brian Wong[/caption] Congratulations to ‘Alex is never Wong’ (Alex Harris, former ULU, and Brian Wong, Oxford) for winning the Helsinki Open 2017. They won the final from Closing Government defeating ‘The Cupcakes or Your Life’ (Miri Muntean and Ingo Bandhauer, Vienna) in Opening Government, ‘Schrodinger’s Dichotomy’ (Jenni Juvonven, former Tampere, and Martijn Roo, Berlin) in Opening Opposition, and ‘Mainor A’ (Oskar Gross and Kasper) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This House would grant an amnesty to citizens who fought for ISIS ...

[caption id="attachment_31966" align="alignright" width="200"] Winning Team and CA Team of Turku Mini - Craig McDonald (left), Milla Huuskonen (centre), Joona Suhonen (centre) and Kaisa Hyry (right) - © Imène Mimouni.[/caption] Congratulations to the team Winland A (Milla Huuskonen, Helsinki, and Joona Suhonen, Aalto) for winning the Turku Mini 2017! They won the final from Opening Opposition defeating Max&Johan (Johan Vilén and Max Fogdell, Helsinki) in Opening Government, Kakkaa lumella (Ella Jonninen and Aleksi Niemi, Tampere) in Closing Government, and Aalto Right (Sara Halonen and Adnan Abdi) in Closing Opposition on the motion "This House would grant the five veto bearing UN ...

Congratulations to ‘William of Orange is the New Black’ (Monica Forman, Tel Aviv, and Melda Eren, Munich [caption id="attachment_31959" align="alignright" width="146"] Monica Forman and Melda Eren - (c) Craig McDonald[/caption] and UDCH) for winning the Open Final of the Erasmus Rotterdam Open 2017. They won the final from Opening Government defeating ‘She's not that mean in prep.’ (Romée Lind and Jop Flameling, no institution) in Opening Opposition, ‘Devid’ (Devin van den Berg and David Metz, Leiden) in Closing Government, and ‘Privileged Angry Men’ (Philipp R. Mueller, Munich, and Calyxx Peucker, UDCH) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This House Regrets the dominance ...

[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_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 ...