The general assembly of VDCH (Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen), the umbrella organisation of over 70 german-speaking debating clubs at universities, has elected a new executive board on August 31. Florian Umscheid (Berlin/Bamberg) was elected president by the representatives; vice presidents are Tobias Kube (Marburg), Jennifer Holm (Heidelberg) and Alexander Labinsky (Dresden).   The Achte Minute congratulates the new board and wishes them best of success for their term of office! kem

The general assembly of VDCH (the Association of Debating Societies at Universities) elected a new president and his deputies: Philipp Stiel , Leonid Vogel, Nils Haneklaus and Anna Mattes constitute the new VDCH executive board.

Germany's oldest debating society is becoming 20 years - celebrations of the anniversarystarting this weekend. Please read the German version of this article to learn more about the details.

Debating is starting in VDCH country!Gutenberg Cup is welcoming those who love to do fun debates. Sarah Kempf and Torsten Rössing are going to present a set of joke motions. And teams from 14 societies are going to compete for the title "Master of the Jokes". Follow @achteminute on Twitter for the motions (in German). Read the German version of this to learn more about the Gutenberg Cup in Mainz.

Streitkultur Tübingen is becoming 20 - and celebrating this anniversary with a huge Streitkultur Cup on December 9 to 11. Be part of it and read the German version of this to learn more about it.

Read more on Tübingen's Streitkultur Cup in the German version of this article and find out how Marcus Ewald won the audience, how Natalie Wieseotte won a version of "Who wants to be a millionaire" on OPD (the German format of open parliamentary debate) and how Pauline Leopold won in a competition on the rules of OPD but still felt ashamed. ...

Mixed teams of all kind are welcome at the Streitkultur Cup 2010. That comprises novices and experienced speakers, male and female debaters, and even debaters from different institutions. The most renowned open competition on the German speaking debating circuit will take place on 11 December in Tübingen and will be held in the format of OPD (open parliamentary debate, a format developed by the hosting society), hence teams of three may now register via vorstand[at]streitkultur.net. Please let your host, the famous Streitkultur Tübingen, know how many teams your institution is going to send to the tournament. Registration fees are 10 Euros ...

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 ...

Jens Fischer won the Masters' Cup 2010 of Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft (DDG), the German Debating Society for Alumni. Saturday night he prevailed opposing the motion "This House would operate the Loveparade 2011". His opponents in the final where Sebastian Berg, Lukas Haffert and Patrick Ehmann. CAs Jan Lüken and Gudrun Lux judged the final with Caroline Moll, Wiebke Nadler and Anja Pfeffermann. ...

Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) is looking for the "Jokes Champion". The annual Gutenberg-Cup in Mainz is a tournament with exclusively funny motions. This year it is held on October 16 and 17, debating style is Offene Parlamentarische Debatte (OPD; teams consist of tree speakers and one adjudicator), language is German. Registration is open now via e-mail to kempf.sarah[at]gmx.de. Fee is 15 Euros per person, crash is available.

Die Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) widmet dem Debattieren in ihrer Ausgabe vom heutigen Dienstag, 25. Mai, einen fünfspaltigen Artikel (S. 45). Unter der Überschrift "Überzeugungsredner" berichtet Andreas Lochner davon, dass "Politisches Debattieren [...] mittlerweile auch an deutschen Unis mit Leidenschaft geübt" wird. Locher besuchte die Streitkultur Tübingen und bettet Informationen rund um das Debattieren in szenische Beobachtungen von einem Tübinger Clubabend. Leider ist der Artikel noch nicht online abrufbar, also lauft zum Kiosk und kauft Euch eine SZ! Aktualisierung 14 Uhr: Der Artikel steht jetzt auch unter dem Titel "Es lebe die Freiheit" online zu Verfügung. Hier gibt es ein paar Zitate aus dem ...

Begeisterung allenthalben: Die Debattierclubs berichten von der ZEIT DEBATTE in Tübingen. Hier gibt es Zitate, Ein- und Ausblicke. ...

Die Streitkultur Tübingen hat eine Internetseite zur ZEIT DEBATTE Tübingen online gestellt. Auf der Homepage finden sich die aktuelle Pressemitteilung, die bewährten Tübinger Turniergarantien und viele weitere Informationen für Teilnehmer/innen der ZEIT DEBATTE, die von 14. bis 16. Mai an der Wiege des deutschen Debattierens ausgetragen wird - dort wo vor über acht Jahren auch die allererste ZEIT DEBATTE überhaupt stattfand. Zur Tübinger ZEIT DEBATTE werden Mitte Mai 27 Teams antreten, die sich im Debattierformat OPD miteinander messen. Chefjurorinnen und Chefjuroren des Turniers sind Pauline Leopold (SK Tübingen), Tim Richter (DC Bonn), Andrea Gau (DCJG Mainz) und Mario Dießner (Wortgefechte Potsdam), ...

Die Anmeldung zur ZEIT DEBATTE Tübingen 2010 ist eröffnet. Das Turnier wird von 14. bis 16. Mai in Tübingen ausgetragen. Philipp Stiel und Anna Mattes vom VDCH-Club Streitkultur Tübingen, der das Turnier organisiert, baten am Osterwochenende alle VDCH-Clubs, bis 18. April die Anzahl der für das Turnier gewünschten Teams via E-Mail an philipp.stiel[at]streitkultur.net mitzuteilen. Dabei soll der Betreff "Anmeldung ZEIT DEBATTE Tübingen" angegeben werden. Bei dem Turnier können 27 Teams starten. Jeder VDCH-Club erhält zunächst einen Startplatz. Sollten sich mehr als 27 Clubs anmelden, so erhalten die ersten 27 Clubs den Zuschlag. Sollten sich weniger als 27 Clubs anmelden, so werden Zweitstartplätze zunächst an Clubs ...