New executive board in the German capital: The Berlin Debating Union (BDU) elected a new board. Dessislava Kirova was confirmed in her office as president. She is now supported by John Eltringham, Juliane Mendelsohn, Kai Dittmann und Juliane Zeuschner. Good luck to BDU, especially with the Worlds ahead!

Mixing cocktails, strolling through Berlin, the German women football team losing to Japan, prospective Worlds and Euros convenors beating each other in distributing their giveaways ... All that and much more is the Berlin IV. Find here the motions, the break to (semi-)finals and the tab! And read the German version of this article to learn more about how Manuel Adams saw the Berlin IV or what it is called these days. The motions: [caption id="attachment_10365" align="alignright" width="226" caption="Convenor Dessislava Kirova talking to a participant of the Berlin IV.  (Picture: Manuel Adams)"][/caption] 1. Vorrunde: This house would financially incentivise parents to have two ...

Please read the German version of this article to learn more on how Miriam Hauft experienced the Elbe Open in Magdeburg.

The German Debating Championship is getting more and more exciting. The motion reads "Soll die Wikipedia Weltkulturerbe werden?", or "Should Wikiepedia become World Heritage?". Read here who made it to quarters in Heidelberg: ...

The first ever women-only tournament on German soil: It's going to take place in Jena from August 17 to 19. Please read more on the tournament in the German version of this article and join the fierce debate on positive and negative discrimination, the advantages/disadvantages of affirmative action and add to the ongoing discussion in the comment section below. xzy / apf

“Embracing Dissent“ is the motto of the WUDC Berlin 2013 – “We believe this reflects the enlightening and liberating clash of ideas that shaped European and German history - and, of course, what makes debate relevant and exciting”, the Facebook site of WUDC Berlin 2013 announced. No doubt, there is a natural dissent between the fractions of a parliamentary debate. Yet, there might also be dissent during the preparatory phase of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds), for instance in a heated debate about the motto. However, consent was the motto when now WUDC convenor Patrick Ehmann travelled the ...

Dessislava Kirova, convenor of the Berlin Humboldt IV 2011, announced the CA team of the tournament which will be hold July 8 to 10. CAs will be Simone van Elk, DCA of this year's WUDC in Galway, Ireland, and Filip Dobranic, current European champion (ESL). Patrick Ehmann, fifth best ESL speaker at the WUDC in Botsuana, will represent the host, the Berlin Debating Union (BDU). xzy / glx / apf

The date is set: This year's Berlin IV will be staged from July 8 to 10. With this BPS tournament, the German capital will thus be a good place to exercis for the Galway Euros in August. IV is not the Roman number 4, but stands for "InterVarsity", hence a competition between universities. Students from insitutions from all over the world are welcome to compete over six prelims with seven-minute speeches and break to open semis and final or to the ESL final where ESL stands for English as a Second Language. The team cap is 52, the first 40 of ...

Please read the German version of this article to learn more about how our author saw the Eastern German Championship of mid-April and how he mocks the creativity of some judges when it came to knowing the rules of the format OPD, or open parliamentary debate.

East, West and North have debated all day long in Halle, Frankfurt and Osnabrück to select the best debaters at German regional championships. Format of this year's regionals is OPD, or Offene Parlamentarische Debatte (open parliamentary debate). Achte Minute has all the results for you. ...

Paris is very, very beautiful. Plus, it is the political, economic and social center of the French nation. It is de facto impossible to get the full impression in just one weekend. But the convenors of Louisa Leila Zhang’s team helped us get a good first glimpse on the first weekend of April. The about 150 participants of the Paris IV were offered hospitality and French cuisine, impressive technology and the art of partying plus a city tour – and all that in just under 45 hours. The debaters – from the Wordls finalist John Ashbourne from the London School ...

Take me to Manila! A first bunch of debating societies from under the umbrella of VDCH know for sure already: We are going to DLSU Worlds in Manila. In the recently published list, the convenors of the World Debating Universities Championships (WUDC or Worlds) at De La Salle University of Manila, Philippines have announced those deb socs followed their slogan “Take me to Manila”. It is a rough list of registration for DLSU Worlds only, containing many duplicates. But still, seven debating societies from the VDCH circuit made it to that list: Debattierclub Stuttgart, Berlin Debating Union, Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz, ...

This weekend, VDCH debaters took part in tournaments in Stuttgart and Leeds. On top of that, our neighbors in the Netherlands have also been competing at a tournament. Three tournaments, three CA teams, three languages. Find all motions of this weekend here. Additionally, we kindly ask you, our much appreciated readers, to do us a favor: Which motion did you find the most interesting, the best to debate, the most exciting? Which one did you think was no good idea? Please do not hesitate to leave your comments below and vote for your favorite motion. ...

Göttingen (Nicolas Friebe and David Lamouroux) won the final of ZEIT DEBATTE Stuttgart 2011! Best Speaker Award goes to Katharina Wagner from Dresden Debating Union. Please read more on this in the German version of this article. ...

Please read the German version of this article to find out who broke to the Grand Final at ZEIT DEBATTE Stuttgart! ...

Please read the German version of this article to find out who broke to semi-finals at ZEIT DEBATTE Stuttgart! ...

This article is not yet available in English, please check back later or read the German version.

Berlin Debating Union (BDU) has elected a new board. Dessislava Kirova is the new president, leading the club by her side is now Jonas Werner. Patrick Ehmann resigned as BDU's president to concentrate his commitment on organizing the World Universities Debating Championships 2013, as is reported by Dessislava. Congratulations and good luck for your work! vro / apf

Egyptian queen in the German capital - The motion of the second masters’ debate of Berlin Debating Union (BDU) was especially directed to a Berlin audience: "Who is owning Nefertiti? This house would give the bust of Nofretete back to Egypt!" Georg Sommerfeld and Johannes Häger (Opening Government) talked about the rude and somehow illegal methods that were used to bring the bust to Germany in 1913. They also explained that Nefertiti is an important symbol for the Egyptian history and identity and so would belong to Cairo. Juliane Mendelsohn and Niels Schröter (Opening Opposition) disagreed. Nefertiti's bust has been exhumed ...

Daniel Grotzky has been announced CA for ZEIT DEBATTE Stuttgart. As Nils Haneklaus from Debattierclub Stuttgart (DCS) informed Achte Minute, Daniel is going to replace Andrea Gau. Daniel is one of the most experienced debaters in Germany, he has been CA of Southern German Championships 2007 and 2010 and of the German Championship 2010. In the season of 2007/2008 Daniel was president of VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities, 2008/2009 of the German Debating Society for Alumni (DDG). Originally associated to Debattierclub München (Munich), he is now committed to debating in Switzerland since he works in ...

We're sorry, this piece is not available in English. Please read the German version of this article to learn more about what deb socs from Stuttgart and Vienna have to say on Botswana Worlds 2011 and what Berliner Zeitung reports on the Berlin Debating Union, the future host of Worlds 2013. ...

The next big event of the ZEIT DEBATTEN open its registration: Nils Haneklaus from Debattierclub Stuttgart just opened registration for the ZEIT DEBATTE which will be held in Stuttgart from 11th to 13th March. ...

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version of this article to see what various debating societies say about the ZEIT DEBATTE in Mainz on their websites! ...

Please read the German version of this article to find out who broke to semi-finals at ZEIT DEBATTE Mainz!

On his blog, Manos Moschopoulos compiled unofficial tabs for ESL and EFL respectively for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds). He did so based on data provided by Leela Koenig, judge at Botswana Worlds, and the competition's language committee. So far, official ESL and EFL tabs have not yet been published by the adjudication team of CA Logandran Balavijendran. According to Manos’ compilation, a correction of the Top Five EFL Speakers has to be noted: “Simon Belak (Ljubljana C) and Andreas Lazar (Stuttgart A) are joint top EFL speakers (initially, they were announced as 2nd and 1st respectively),” Manos ...

We’re sorry, this article is not or not yet available in English. Please read the German version.

Johanna Mai and Julian Schneider of Debattierclub Münster won Berlin Punk 2010. They faced in the final teams from Frankfurt, Münster and Magdeburg. Motions: Round 1: Dieses Haus würde eine Abstimmpflicht bei Volksentscheiden einführen. Round 2: Dieses Haus würde Organspenden nur noch an Menschen vergeben, die sich ebenfalls zu einer Organspende bereit erklärt haben. Round 3: Dieses Haus würde Briefe, Tagebücher und unveröffentlichte Manuskripte posthum nicht ohne die Einwilligung des/r SchriftstellerIn veröffentlichen. Round 4: Dieses Haus würde Menschen, die unter Alkoholkonsum ein Gewaltverbrechen begangen haben, den Alkoholkonsum verbieten. Round 5: Dieses Haus würde Einrichtungen verbieten, die eine Heilung von Homosexualität versprechen. Semis: Dieses Haus würde es Staaten verbieten, bei der Verteilung von Entwicklungshilfe ihre ehemaligen Kolonien zu bevorzugen. Final: Dieses Haus würde Menschen auch ...

Clemens Lechner and Moritz Niehaus from Debattiergesellschaft Jenahave just won this year's Berlin Invitational hosted by the Berlin Deabting Union (BDU) in the German capital. The motion read "Dieses Haus fordert nach drei Straftaten Haft bis ans Lebensende". They defeated the other teams (Debattierclub Magdeburg/BDU, BDU proper, Wortgefechte Potsdam) from the position of Opening Government. vro / apf

The following made it to the final of the Berlin Invitational 2011: Opening Government: Clemens Lechner and Moritz Niehaus (Debattiergesellschaft Jen) Opening Opposition: Jan-Dirk Capelle and Jonas Werner (Debattierclub Magdeburg/Berlin Debating Union) Closing Government: Dessislava Kirova and Filip Bubenheimer (Berlin Debating Union) Closing Opposition: Moritz Kirchner and Florian Umscheid (Wortgefechte Potsdam) Judges are Torsten Rössing (Klartext Halle), Daniel Sommer (Debating Club Heidelberg), Bernd Hoefer (Debattierclub Kiel), Patrick Ehmann (Berlin Debating Union) and Katharina Kleine-Tebbe (Debating Society Paderborn). The motions: Dieses Haus würde Haiti in die USA eingliedern. Dieses Haus würde die europäische Außenpolitik an Macchiavelli ausrichten. Dieses Haus fordert eine Erbschaftssteuer von 100% zugunsten ...

This article is not yet available in English. Please read the German version to learn more about the Berlin Invitational and Berlin Punk, both hosted this weekend by the Berlin Debating Union.