One quarter of the teams of the ESL break are from Germany! That would make one German team in each room, one could think. But in final rounds, the tab is folded. That means that for instance room one assembles teams ranking on 1, 7, 8 and 16. Thanks to this folding, room three of the ESL qurter finals will see two German teams: Stuttgart A (Andreas Lazar and Michael Saliba) and Berlin B (Patrick Ehmann and Bastian Laubner). Other German teams in the quarters are Berlin B (Florian Umscheid and Dessislava Kirova) and Gutenberg A (Marcus Ewald and Marietta ...

Breaking news from Botswana: Results of our VDCH teams after round 6 leaked from Gabs and we have it all here for our loyal readers. Colm Flynn provided photographs of the tab on his World Debating Website. So how are our German and Austrian teams doing in Gaborone? ...

Marc Lenzke, Marcus Ewald and Isabelle Loewe (DC Bonn) won the prestigious Streitkultur Cup in Tübingen. They defeated as team for Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) another DCJG team consisting of Sina Strupp, Jan Papsch and Nicolas Eberle. The final was completed by the three Free Speakers Lea Weitekamp (Bonn), Hauke Blume (Berlin) and Wladi Jachtschenko (München). Judges of the final were Mario Dießner, Jenny Bachmann (Karlsruhe) and Daniel Grotzky (München/Zürich), president was Gudrun Lux (Mainz/Bonn). The motions were: Round 1:  Sollen Volksentscheide bei Großprojekten verpflichtend werden? Round 2: Soll die Pressefreiheit bei Terrorgefahr eingeschränkt werden? Round 3:  Brauchen wir wieder Militärparaden in Deutschland? Final: ...

The next big event of the ZEIT DEBATTEN series is just around the corner: Nicolas Eberle, president of Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg (DCJG), announced registration open for the ZEIT DEBATTE in Mainz from 14 to 16 January. The convenors allure to German speaking debaters with a system new to the format of OPD (open parliamentary debate) which allows all speakers to enjoy five debates instead of the usual three. On top of that, they show great hospitality so typical for Rhineland-Palatinate: accommodation in a four-star hotel, free cider for everybody, winetasting under the guidance of the wine queen representing the wine-growing ...

Two debaters from Debatte Dortmund (DebaDo) set out in summer to visit debating clubs all over Germany. Jörn Hahn and Jens Schulze now presented a video about their trip. Have fun watching Es gibt immer eine Begründung - Gespräche mit deutschen Debattierern. (In German, no subtitles.) msi / glx

Shout outs to Heidelberg from all directions! Read more on how Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg (DCJG) and Debattierclub Freiburg hail Debating Club Heidelberg for hosting one of the best tournaments - see the German version of this article! apf / glx ...

Heidelberg is going to be stage to the German Debating Championship (DDM) 2011, so many debaters in Germany see the Baden-Württembergian Open (BaWü) 2010 as a kind of dress rehearsal for DDM 2011. But superstitious minds in Germany have it that traditionally the dress rehearsal has to be a terrible disaster – if the real event shall be fine. However, neither the grouches nor the superstitious could find anything to mock about at BaWü 2010 last weekend. After Maike Jung, Jenny Holm and Kristina Seebacher organized the whole event smoothly, our reporter Gudrun Lux is really afraid that DDM 2011 ...

Lukas Windhager, Almut Graebsch and Marco Niedermeier have won BaWü 2010. Best speaker of the final was Magnus Schmagold from Göttingen. More information soon on Achte Minute.

Break to Semis at Baden-Württembergische Meisterschaft: Mainzelmünchen (Daniil Pakhomenko, Andrea Gau, Wladi Jachtschenko) Mainz Phyrgische Mütze (Thore Wojke, Nicolas Eberle, Sascha Schenkenberger) Debatte Karlsruhe (Michael Pruß, Christoph Baumhardt, Jenny Bachmann) München Friedensengel (Almut Graebsch, Lukas Windhager, Marco Niedermeier) Free Speakers (OPD style): Magnus Schmagold (DC Göttingen) Marcus Ewald (DCJG Mainz) Konrad Grießinger (DCJG Mainz) Johannes Vatanyutaweewat (DCGF Frankfurt) Nicolas Friebe (DC Göttingen) Simon Lehle (Streitkultur Tübingen) Adjudicators: Willy Witthaut, Anette Purucker, Jan Lüken, Jörn Hahn, Mario Dießner, Volker Tjaden, Lukas Haffert, Anja Pfeffermann, Yin Cai, Dominic Hildebrand. ...

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Do we need Facebook & Co.? Do social networks make our lifes better?  Students and professors debated about these questions at the Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG)'s show debate on November 9th. While the students - Caroline Moll, Konrad Grießinger and Thore Wojke - tried to convince the audience that Facebook is dangerous and of no use, the professors - former German debating champion Hanna Proner and her collegues Oliver Quiring and Michael-Jörg Oesterle - said that the social networks on the internet are beneficial. About 250 people from the audience, hence the mayority, were convinced by the professors and voted ...

Stuss stands for nonsense: The first show debate in the comedy format STUSS will be held on 17 November at 8 p.m. at Kulturcafé on the campus of the University of Mainz. STUSS is an acronym and stands for "Stramme Thesen und studentischer Streit", but stuss itself means “nonsense”, which is way more important, explains Thore Woijke, one of the founders of STUSS. He and Nicolas Eberle, Marcus Ewald, Carsten Knittler and Clemens Fucker will be performing next Wednesday. STUSS consists of some short debates with teams of two on each side. Speeches should be between three and six minutes. One ...

“How far have you travelled?“is the starting sentence into any kind of conversation this weekend. It is the kick-off into the new season of ZEIT DEBATTEN series at Greifswald. Flirts, smalltalk - they all start with the "How long did it take you to get here" question. Indeed, the Hanseatic town by the Bodden, a bay at the Baltic Sea, is located in quite a remote area. However, about 65 debaters found their ways to Greifswald. Many of them split their journey - it took them a two-day's travel via Berlin or Hamburg to get to Meck-Pomm. To read more on ...

Arguments by the river Rhine: On 9 November, the Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) hosts another show debate. Three speakers from DCJG versus three professors are going to debate at Audimax/Alte Mensa at 6.30 p.m. The motion reads: "Should social networks be prohibited?" Read more on this in the German version of this article. glx / apf

Halle for the first time enters the Top Ten in the VDCH hall of fame, and now draws with Bonn. Munich and Greifswald are victims of Halle’s victory in Greifswald and lose a few places. A new entry on the list is Bremen (Hanse Debating Union, HDU). Jena underscores its position as one of Germany’s top clubs, and Mainz was able to secure a point this last weekend, although this was in debating, not in football. This was an awaited recovery, after Mainz had disappointed during the German Championships in June. The top seated Berlin Debating Union did not win any ...

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Hooray and boohoo: Just eight teams out of 24 had the chance to break at the ZEIT DEBATTEN series kick-off that opens the current season of 2010/2011. Here are the teams that compete for the break into finals on Sunday morning at Greifswald by the Baltic Sea. ...

The Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) has elected a new vice president at their general asembley on 27th October. Katharina Tschirner is now on board with president Nicolas Eberle and treasurer Caroline Moll. Former vice president Sarah Kempf resigned. Congratulations and good luck with your work! kem / glx / apf

Other debating societies report on the Gutenberg Cup 2010. Here you may read over their stories! ...

The Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) hosts two novice nights on Tuesday, 26 October and 2 November, starting at 6 p.m. Welcome to Altes ReWi at Mainz campus are freshmen as well as older students interested in debating. Guests will be introduced to the idea behind debating, the rules of debating plus they will debate themselves. More information may be found on DCJG's website.

The Gutenberg Cup 2010 tab is online, and the first credits of the free debating league (FDL) are listed. Thus, first pickings on the competition hosted by the Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) are presented here. The Tab of the Gutenberg Cup 2010 is available on DCJG’s. It was already after the preliminary rounds that Tübingen’s team Streitkultur Dionysos was a probable candidate for the title of “Master of the Jokes”. A first ranking after FDL’s opening competition can be found on the league’s website. Now, Streitkultur Tübingen is at the top of the new hit list followed by DCJG Mainz. Upcoming ...

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Pauline Leopold, Peter Croonenbroeck and Christoph Krakowiak from Streitkultur Tübingen scored the title “Master of Jokes”. Second time in a row, they won the Gutenberg Cup, the annual tournament of Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG). The motion of the final round reads “Do we need a new Robin Hood?”, where the debaters from Tübingen defeated a home team from Mainz. Best speaker of the final was Hauke Blume who fought in the final round as free speaker, i.e. a speaker with no beforehand appointed position in the debate, a characteristic of the German format OPD (Open Parliamentary Debate) in addition ...

This weekend the Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) is looking for the “Master of Jokes” 2010: At the Gutenberg-Cup it is all about funny, bizarre and absurd things as at the tournament in the capital city of Rhineland-Palatine has only so-called “fun debates” to offer on the day’s schedule. The debate style of the tournament is the Offene Parlamentarische Debatte. There will be 15 teams competing in three preliminary rounds on Saturday. They arrive from all over Germany: Apart from one team of the Berlin Debating Union there will be – for the first time – one team of the just ...

Less than four months until the worldwide debating circuit assembles in Gaborone, Botswana for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC, a.k.a. Worlds) 2011 from 27 December 2010 until 4 January 2011! But before you open your new textbooks and work on your Setswana, the official language besides English, stop and check the technicalities. You need to make sure you have made your final payments. The conveners point out that banks charge a fee up to 25 US-Dollars for international wire transfer. Those who forgot about that fee may pay cash or with a check during physical check-in in Gaborone in ...

The next season of the German debating ZEIT DEBATTEN series is set: the general assembly of VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities, came together in August and decided upon dates and locations of four ZEIT DEBATTEN tournaments, four regional championships and the German debating championship (DDM) 2011. An overview over the coming season 2010/11 is provided here: ...

On Saturday, August 21, thirteen clubs founded the Free Debating League (FDL). The FDL is a decentralized association of debating tournaments aimed at encouraging tournaments outside the ZEIT DEBATTEN series. At the end of each season the most successful clubs and speakers will be acknowledged. The general assembly of VDCH (Association of Debating Societies at Universities) received the initiative with a broad majority. The FDL charter states: “We believe that our project provides long-term planning options, raises the reputation of decentralized tournaments and increases the incentive to take part in these. All debaters in Germany are offered new opportunities to experience ...

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