Following days of massive discussion on social media, the EUDC Council held an extraordinary meeting regarding events at the EUDC in Novi Sad, where a team from Qatar University refused to debate Israeli teams. In order to clarify what happened, we summed up the recent developments for you. ...

From the 14th to the 18th of September 2014, the Red Sea Open 2014 (RSO) will once again take place in Eilat in the south of Israel. This tournament invites debaters to combine high-level debating with a relaxing holiday trip. In the last years, participants were accommodated in an all-inclusive hotel in vicinity of the beach. Apart from that, the RSO features workshops offered by experienced debaters covering debate theory as well as various topics relevant to debating. The tournament itself will have 6 preliminary rounds, semi-finals and a final. The Chief Adjudicator will be Anat Shapira from Israel, who was CA ...

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): ...

The sparkling sun on wet skin, the smell of sun lotion and tasty food, motions challenging our debater-skills and interesting debates with people from Russia, Germany, Austria, Israel, Greece, England – this year’s Red Sea Open (RSO) was the perfect combination of all of that. ...

It was a warm springtime day in Haifa, Israel when Anat Gelber and Michael Shapira married in the week before Passover. We from the team of Achte Minute congratulate the two of them and wish them all the best as they embark on their new life together! The both have a reputation as debaters on the international circuit. Anat Shapira, as is her name since the wedding, was a EUDC finalist in Zagreb in 2003 and in Cork, Ireland in 2005, both in the category of ESL, or English as a Second Language. In 2006, she was awarded Best Speaker (again ...

Revelations of a great debater mind – or so he denies to be. Achte Minute was talking to Michael Shapira who won this year’s World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) at Gaborone, Botswana in the category “English as a Second Language” (ESL) together with his team mate Meir Yarom. The Israeli from the University of Haifa did not hesitate to reveal his strategy to us. Read how his friends and his mom celebrated him and where to meet him this year. Achte Minute: Dear Michael, congrats for winning the ESL title at the Worlds in early January. Being back home ...

Martin Zintl of Debattierclub München reports from the Red Sea Open 2010 from a Munich perspective (linked article in German only).

Stefan Zweiker of Debattierklub Wien reports from the Red Sea Open 2010 from a Vienna perspective. There he gives kudos to a very comfortable schedule and does not forget to mention the culinary amenities of the tournament: "We had the luxury of a whole day reserved for arrival and departure (travel planning support was included, too). There was the very comfortable fact that we did not have to finish with the generous breakfast buffet before 10am. A fully air-conditioned bus then carried us the 500m to the  campus of the Ben Gurion University, every day, so that we never had a ...

Getting into Israel is not so hard at all. Even if you are alone and come by land through Syria, Lebanon and Jordan you will be very likely to be welcomed warmly by the surprisingly young girls at the border post – the boys all sit around customs for unknown reasons. That is, at least if you wave around your Hebrew invitation the team of the Red Sea Open (RSO) preemptively sent out. Having discussed this tiny strip of land and its politics so many times, I was in additionally mentally thrilled to debate not only about Israel, but also ...

The Ben Gurion Debating Society of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev puts even more coal on the hot fire of the Negev desert and allures debaters from all over the world to come to the Israeli lido of Eilat for the Red Sea Open (RSO) 2010 not only with all-inclusive drinks, but also with trophy money: 500 US-Dollars for the best team, 250 US-Dollars for the best speaker of the tournament. The RSO takes place from August 29 until September 2. So if you have no plans for summer vacation yet, you ...

Debattieren am Roten Meer! Das Red Sea Open wird von 29. August bis 2. September im israelischen Eilat abgehalten. Geplant sind sechs Vorrunden mit Break ins Main- und ESL-Halbfinale und natürlich genug Zeit, um im Roten Meer oder dem Swimming Pool des Drei-Sterne-Hotels zu baden. Das ganze kostet nur 75 Euro pro Person und beinhaltet die Unterkunft und Vollpension. Auch Ausflüge nach Saudi Arabien, Agypten und Jordanien sind möglich! Alle Infos rund um das Turnier gibt es auf der Red-Sea-Open-Internetseite. Chefjurorin ist Anat Gelber, die soeben die Rednerrangliste beim Berlin IV anführte. An ihrer Seite werden Will Jones und Can ...