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 ...

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): ...

Did you have fun at Euros this summer? Then Galway is the right address for you: Join the Galway Open on February 11 and 12! Eileen Coughlan,convener of the tournament, will be delighted to welcome debaters from all over the continent. Chief adjudicators are Sean Butler (sixth best speaker at Euros this year) and Muireann O'Dwyer (winner and best speaker of the  Cork Open 2011). Eileen is promising an excellent judging pool, including Worlds and Euros breaking judges, "super-effective tabbing from our tabmaster, David Hartery", "all the food and drink you can handle" and two great socials. To attract more international ...

Keen on Ireland after Galway Euros? Well, then, off you go to the Cork IV in the south of the Emerald Isle. On December 2 and 3, debaters will compete in debates on motions by chief adjudicators (CA) Art Ward and Doug Cochran. Art is going to be CA at Belgrade Euros next year, Doug will be CA-ing the Worlds in Berlin. Both Art and Doug do have a reputation as both speakers and as judges. Registration is free for international teams while it is 75 Euros for IONA teams where IONA stands for Islands of the North Atlantic. Free as ...

Eleven months until Belgrade Euros start - and here's some news about it in the media! Also found: More statements concerning the ESL final motion of the European Universities Debating Championsips (EUDC or Euros). And the Israeli press is delighted about team Tel Aviv winning that very final. ...

Furor on the web about the ESL final motion and more blogs and articles that report from the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros): That’s what we found for you on the internet. ...

Numbers, winners, facts and pictures! That and more is to be found in international media about the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) that were held at Galway, Ireland from August 7 to 13. Since we assume that our appreciated readers do not want to waste their precious time on thorough research, but still wanna know what's going on - well, your Achte Minute team provides you with a quick overview. ...

One week of debating, nine preliminary rounds, quarters, semis and now the final! This year's European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) held at Glaway, Ireland, produced new champions in the open break as well as in the category ESL, English as a Second Language. ...

Diner is over, everybody is well fed, veeeery sweet "sticky toffee" fudge as dessert. But here is, what you're probably really interested in instead of our diet. Maybe the motions of the quarters? Open break quarters: "This house would never fight for King and Country." ESL break quarters: "This house would ban all EU arms companies from selling arms outside the EU." From quarters, it was the following teams who advanced to semis: ...

Tel Aviv A is double breaking at Galway Euros! That is in the open and in the ESL break. Something that is only possible at Euros, not at Worlds. Find the rest of the break to quarter finals below - we have it all for you: The open break as well as the ESL break. That was one exciting announcement ... my goodness! OPEN BREAK The competitors of the open break have to be early birds: Debate starts at 9 a.m., ... Quarter final 1: TCD Hist B King's Inn A UCD L&H A UCC Philosoph B Quarter final 2: Oxford A KCL A UCC Law B Warwick ...

Wow, great applause to our volunteers here at Galway! They are doing a great job and more than deserved the standing ovations they were payed to. They're doing an amazing job. We're right now enjoying a nice and decent soial with traditional Irish music. Everybody's a little tired after nine prelims up to now - but at the same time rrrrrrrreally excited: Who is going to break tonight? Who will compete in tomorrow's quarter finals? It's a tough competition - yeah, really, what else are we supposed to say about it? It is ...

swifObama's taxation failure, donor siblings and hacking - yesterday's motions swiftly summed up. The first was about the debt deal in the United states, the second about siblings selected as donors for much looked-after tissue for their older brothers or sisters and the third was about the question if hacking is an appropriate means of protest. We hope all our much appreciated readers followed us on Twitter during the debates, so we would not bother you with boring summaries of the debates. Two great news from yesterday, the first: There was no rain! ...

Achtung, the Germans! The teams from the German speaking regions make up one of the largest groups here at Galway Euros, the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC and Euros) held in Ireland this year. 17 teams from Germany and Austria are competing for the title at the western coast of the Emerald Isle. To make sure you keep your fingers crossed for the right teams, we are presenting you with the names: ...

... Manos Moschopoulos and Art Ward. Besides live tweeting from the rounds and rooms, we've gone completely, no, not insane, but multimedia. You don't know who Manos and Art are? Then meet them in our video taken Monday night at Galway Euros. They are both involved in the Belgrade bid for Euros next year, Art is chief adjudicator and Manos one of the forces behind this bid from Serbia. The European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) have been held annually since 1999. It was started in Rotterdam where 32 ...

“This house would bring back death penalty.“ Thus read the motion of round one. Easy starting for the first round of a major competition. Everybody would have discussed that topic before, be it as a debater or in an essay back at secondary school. On the other side, that made it quite difficult for the lower half of the tables to find good extension – opening fractions wouldn’t leave any arguments. In our room it ended up being a bit too much about psychopaths we’d say. But valid arguments on both sides helped ...

Leprechauns and a pot of gold - those of our appreciated readers who are travelling to Ireland this weekend are most probably not after goblins and treasures, but want one thing: the title as winners of the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros). From Sunday to Friday, Galway at the West coast of Ireland will be stage to Europe’s greatest debate tournament. 200 teams of two are going to compete; they are from all over Europe and as far as from Israel and Qatar. And, of course, from Germany. Language of debate is English, the format is called British ...

Wanting to go to the Galway Euros as an independent judge? Then remember to register for the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) until April 6. Write an e-mail to judges@galwayeudc2011.ie containing your contact details, a CV and any institution you have previously attended. Taking part at Galway Euros will cost you 265 Euros – the same the debaters pay for competing. More information on the registration as an independent judge is available from the Galway Euros homepage. The European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) have been held annually since 1999. It was started in Rotterdam where 32 teams ...

No joke: You all have to re-register for Galway Euros, as convenor Nollaig O'Scannlainn revealed in a mail to the international debating community. During yesterday's registration process the system failed, hence not everybody could register for this year's European Universities Debating Championships. The order of registration cannot be guaranteed as of now. So in the interest of fairness, the registration will be repeated for all institutions on 2 March at 12 a.m. GMT, that is 1 p.m. in Berlin, 2 p.m. in Jerusalem and 3 p.m. in Moscow. Until then, the org comm ensure that problems like those of yesterday ...

Don’t miss it: Register today for European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) in Galway! Please use the online registration form on the homepage of Galway Euros. Notice that there is a time shift: From Germany, register at 1 p.m., from Jerusalem, register at 2 p.m. and from Moscow, register at 3 p.m. Standard is 12 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. Experience teaches that the team cap of 200 will be filled quickly (i.e. within seconds) so try to be quicker than the others! In that first phase you only have to submit five points: institution name, country, delegate leader’s name, contact ...

The Dublin City University (DCU) is going to host this year’s DCU Open on 25 and 26 March. On the Facebook page of the event, the convenors promise a provisional team cap of 40, but will try to accommodate as many teams as possible. The chief adjudicators are well attuned as a speaker team: Eoghan Casey and Patrick Rooney are currently EUDC champions and made it to WUDC quarter-finals in Botswana earlier this year. They also won intervarsities together like Trinity 2010 and Birmingham 2009 and the Irish Mace twice in row, 2009 and 2010. Tabmaster is Harry McEvansoneya who ...

There is no sit-down on the international debate circuit: On 23 February, registration for the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) will open. This year’s EUDC will be held in Galway on Ireland's west coast. Set your clocks for 12 a.m. GMT (that is 1 p.m. in Germany) that day when registration phase one starts, since in previous years the team cap of 200 has been filled quickly. In that first phase you only have to submit five points: institution name, country, delegate leader’s name, contact e-mail and number of teams and judges registering. Please keep in mind that the ...

Prepare for Euros on the spot! From 11 to 13 February 2011 the National University of Ireland in Galway (NUIG) is open to debaters from all over Europe for the Galway Open. In Summer this year, the same locale will be stage to the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros). To arrange the open tournament in February, two deb socs work together: The Law Society and the Literary and Debating Society. The convenors Evelyn Whyms and Tara Gibbons expect about 80 teams in Febaruary. As chief adjudicators (CA), they engaged Ruth Faller, also CA at Euros in summer, and ...

It’s fairly simple: Either you have a “boss” partner like Richard Robinson or you are from Leiden. In the latter case you can even win it as Ali Al Khatib and Rob Honig did from 2nd proposition against teams from Cambridge (1st proposition, Doug Cochran and Maria English), University College Dublin Law (1st opposition Christine Simpson and Mark Haughton) and Manchester (2nd opposition, Richard Robinson and Niels Schröter) on the motion “This house believes that Irish sovereignty can never be truly realized.” Due to their outstanding performance during the tournament as a whole I asked the two Dutch a question that ...

A limerick is not just a witty five-line poem, but also the name of an Irish town that hosts the University of Limerick (UL) where the UL Open 2011 will take place on 11 and 12 March. This competition is intended to be “undoubtedly the most fun IV of the year,” as is reported on the Facebook website of that Irish open. The team cap is 32 teams, format will be British Parliamentary Style, language of the debates is English. Chief adjudicators are Niall Sherry, winner of the Irish Times Debate 2010, and Patrick Rooney, octo-finalist of Worlds 2010 and winner ...

The Berlin Debating Union (BDU) has made a decision: They want to bring the Worlds to Germany! On Saturday, Patrick Ehmann, John Eltringham and Cloud Ramasendaran are going to present their bid for convening the World Universities Debating Championships at the Oxford IV. The support of VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities, facilitated the decision of Berlin Debating Union: “Only because we know we have the German debating circuit to support us we dare to do this,” BDU president Patrick admits. He is even more delighted to have other German debaters at the Oxford IV to back BDU’s presentation ...

Debating in Ireland – then roll with the Trinity IV 2011 from 27 to 29 January hosted by the University Philosophical Society in Dublin. The team cap allows the incredible amount of 100 teams in. The tournament allures to speakers in a twofold way: On 27 January, the Irish capital will be stage to the Kingsmill Moore Invitational, while on 28 and 29 January there will be the chance to join the Claire Stewart Memorial Intervarsity. Language of both the Invitational and the IV will be English, the format is going to be BPS. While the Claire Stewart Memorial Intervarsity is ...

The Cork IV 2010 returns on the 3rd and 4th of December 2010. This is going to be the last Irish IV before the Worlds – a good chance to practice in preparation for Botswana! The UCC Philosophy Society offers five preliminary rounds, seven-minute speeches and breaks to finals. Fees for the tournament are 75 Euros per team, no fees for judges. Participation includes free drinks, Christmas dinner, breakfast, karaoke, after-parties in some of the top venues Cork has to offer and crash for international students, the conveners promise. Chief adjudicators are James Dray, winner of Cork Worlds 2009 and ...

Subsequent to the UCD Novice IV, the Literary and Historical Society of the University College of Dublin hosts the UCD Vice Presidents’ Cup 2010 from 29 to 30 October. Registration opened on 25 August already, but the team cap of 100 teams is not yet filled. To register, fill out this form. Registration costs 75 Euros per team, while a discount of half the price is available for ESL teams. The conveners guarantee five preliminary rounds of quality debating, a break to quarters and ESL break to semis. In addition to that, they promise crash for all international teams and ...

The Literary and Historical Society of the University College of Dublin invites to the UCD Novice IV 2010 which will be staged on 28 October. The conveners do not only promise three preliminary rounds, five-minute speeches and break to final, but also awesome motions. On top of that, they are working on increasing the team cap (of now 28 teams). Since the team cap is filled by now, you may still register using this form – you will be added to a waiting list. Chief adjudicator is Gregg O'Neill, Worlds Masters Winner and Top Irish Speaker at Euros and Worlds ...

Cork lies in South Ireland, where the country is green, the people are drunk and the beer does not foam. At least that is the chliché. The truth, of course, is different: There is foaming beer - and even drunk you may experience great debates in Cork! Twenty teams, most of them from Ireland and Great Britain, prepared for Euros on June 25 and 26 in Cork. Ross McGuire was Chief Adjudicator, just as he will be in Amsterdam for Euros. Team "Magic Dripping Walls" (Eoghan Casey and Paddy Rooney from Dublin) persuaded adjudicators and audience the most and won the ...