Once again the anglophone World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) took place during the turn of the year. This year's location was Mexico City. The tournament started the 27.12.17 and ended the 04.01.18. After nine preliminary rounds the teams breaking to the outrounds were announced on New Year's Eve. At the WUDC, teams participate classified as one of three language categories: EPL (English as a Proficient Language), ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language). EPL-classified teams can only participate in the Open Break, ESL-teams depending on their ranking either in the Open Break oder the ...

[caption id="attachment_33086" align="alignright" width="400"] The winners and chief adjudicators of the Munich Open 2017. From left to right: Nishith Hedge (CA), Gigi Gil, Devin van den Berg, Melda Eren (CA), Paul Smith (CA) - © Julian von Lautz[/caption] Gigi Gil and Devin van den Berg from Leiden won the Munich Open 2017, speaking as team Leiden B in Closing Government to the motion „TH supports the creation of an artificial island for those who do not want to live under the jurisdiction of any state.“ They beat Kustin is not to be trusted (Anna Akimova, Artyom Zolotareb) in Opening Government, Stockholm ...

[caption id="attachment_32040" align="alignright" width="158"] Winners of the Helsinki Open - Alex Harris (left) and Brian Wong (right) - © Brian Wong[/caption] Congratulations to ‘Alex is never Wong’ (Alex Harris, former ULU, and Brian Wong, Oxford) for winning the Helsinki Open 2017. They won the final from Closing Government defeating ‘The Cupcakes or Your Life’ (Miri Muntean and Ingo Bandhauer, Vienna) in Opening Government, ‘Schrodinger’s Dichotomy’ (Jenni Juvonven, former Tampere, and Martijn Roo, Berlin) in Opening Opposition, and ‘Mainor A’ (Oskar Gross and Kasper) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This House would grant an amnesty to citizens who fought for ISIS ...

[caption id="attachment_31439" align="alignright" width="400"] Monica Forman and Daan Welling - © Balázs Dezsényi[/caption] The team Orban Outfitters (Daan Welling & Monica Forman) won the final of the 96-team Budapest Open 2017. They were Opening Opposition on the motion "THBT it is the Moral Imperative of Liberals within Eastern Europe to stay within their Home Country, rather than Emigrate to More Progressive Countries.” Orban Outfitters beat out We know team names. We have the best team names (Olle Reberg, Jamie Batchelor) in Opening Government who replaced the advancing Melda + Jonah (Melda Eren, Johan Båge) who left due to scheduling conflicts. They also ranked above Tel Aviv Ya Habibi ...

Is it your first time at the World University Debating Championship? Don't worry - Melanie Sindelar has written down what experiences might await you. [caption id="attachment_28791" align="alignright" width="400"] WUDC in Malysia 2014 - © Matthias Carcasona[/caption] Attending Worlds is an experience like no other. There is so much to learn from each debate, so much excitement from travelling to a new place, and above all: so many new friends to meet. I myself have made many friends from different corners of the world despite not being the most forthcoming person in a competitive setting. Jokes aside: even as you pace back and ...

[caption id="attachment_29710" align="alignright" width="344"] View over Warsaw - © Lennart Lokstein[/caption] The European Universities Debating Championship is over. Winner of the ESL-final is Tel Aviv A (Dan Lahav, Ayal Hayut-man) from Closing Government, thus becoming ESL-Champions, whereas the teams Tel Aviv C (Tom Manor, Noam Dahan) from Opening Government, Leiden D (Lisa Schallenberg, Simon Martina-Perez) from Opening Opposition and Leiden A (Floris Holstege, Emma Lucas) from Closing Opposition become vice ESL-Champions. The final's motion was "This house believes that western states should support breakaway regions in former Sovjet states (e.g. East Ukraine l South Ossetia) joining the Russian federation conditional on holding free and ...

Yesterday the 35th World University Debating Championships were officially started by the grand Opening Ceremony. The German speaking debating circuit is represented by a strong delegation this year. Seven members of the VDCH – the Association of German Speaking University Debating Societies are comprised of ten teams and ten adjudicators. Debating societies Berlin Debating Union (BDU, Berlin), Debattierclub Goethes Faust Frankfurt (Frankfurt), Debattierclub Kiel, Debattierclub München (Munich), Debattierclub Münster, Wortgefechte Potsdam, Debattierklub Wien (Vienna). [caption id="attachment_25445" align="alignright" width="400"] The Opening Ceremony. © 2014 Matthias Carcasona[/caption] Debate teams BDU A: Philip Schröder, Christina Dexel BDU B: Lilian Seffer, Alexander Hans BDU C: Pegah Maham, Christof Kebschull Frankfurt A: Andreas Dreher, Sven Schuppener Kiel ...

Yael Bell and Dan Lahav have won the first BBU Open that took place from the 11th to the 13th July 2014 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The team from Tel Aviv won from Closing Opposition in a debate with the motion: You are a scientist. You have discovered absolute conclusive proof that God does not exist. This house would destroy the information. [caption id="attachment_23996" align="alignleft" width="320"] Yael Bell and Dan Lahav(c) BBU DS[/caption] In Opening Government, Belgrade with Helena Ivanov and Stefan Siridžansky competed against Lund with Michael Saliba and Peer Klüßendorf in Opening Opposition and a Mixed team with Georgiana Mihut and ...

Unless you were exiled to some sort of cave of Debateland, if you’re an European novice debater you probably heard about the Vienna Freshers’ that happened last week. True to the motto “Take off to your debating life” 32 teams from 9 countries were introduced to the debate tournament atmosphere, departing from Vienna, to… well, anywhere you want, or so I’ve heard. I’m looking forward to finding out how far the debating life can take someone. Friday afternoon we gathered at the WU campus, mentally thanking the one who came up with the great idea of getting free energy drinks for ...

DKWien invites all newcomers to debating to its novice* tournament in Vienna from 8th - 9th November 2013. The organizers state: "Are you new to debating? Can you feel the urge to take the bird off the runway and kiss the sky? Take some flying lessons and spread your wings at the second edition of Vienna Freshers'! This tourney will get start your debating life in a nice and circumspect way."   Chief adjudicators (CA) a.k.a Chief Aviators: Senna Maatoug and Melanie Sindelar Format: British Parliamentary Style (BPS), English language, 5 min speeches, extra long prep-time 25 min Reg fee: 25 € per person Team cap: 24 N-1 ...

[caption id="attachment_14010" align="alignright" width="400"] Where do they hide among  Announcement Hall der WUDC 2013[/caption] "I was really eager to be part of the largest debating tournament on earth," says Lucas Danco. The 20-year old experiences his first Worlds and is enthusiastic. "It's totally fascinating to see so many different people from so many different cultures come together and compete by the same rules. " Lucas is one of 28 speakers from VDCH clubs that compete at the Worlds in Berlin. The umbrella association VDCH (Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen, engl. Association of Debating Societies at Universities) represents more than 70 debating societies ...

There is enough to say about SOAS IV 2012 itself. The tournament was outstandingly well organised for a British tournament. That is to say that it would still be considered very badly organised if we were to apply continental European standards. However, there was food and hostel accommodation close to the campus. With 140 teams SOAS IV is one of the largest tournaments on the Island. Because it enjoys a friendlier reputation than Oxford or Cambridge with regards to how it treats participants, about 30 ESL teams traveled to London to debate at SOAS IV. 3 of them were sent ...

Welcome the new executive board of Debattierklub Wien: Jakob Reiter is now president, he is assisted by Karoline Lutz as secretary and Regina Puthenpurayil as treasurer. Accountants are Matthias Moser und Lukas Grill.

This is an article about debating evenings, regularly hold in Vienna with support of Citry of Vienna and the Chancellor of Austria. Please read the German version of this article.

The final is over! Team Colgate Extra White, Austin Schwartz and Travis Steele, have won the Vienna IV 2011 from the position of Opening Government. The final motion read: "This house believes that parties' electoral campaigns should only be funded by the state." Their opponents were the following: ...

Debating does not have to stop because students have holidays. This is what Debattierklub Wien thought and invited to their 3rd debating seminar at the University of Economics in Vienna. ...

In today's general assembly, the Debattierklub Wien elected a new executive board. Leonhard Weese, who lead the club through the last year, will remain as chairman of the board. He is flanked by Jakob Reiter as secretary, Melanie Sindelar as press secretary and Stefan Zweiker as treasurer. fnp / glx

A debater's lifestyle is usually manifested through traveling long distances to see old and meet new friends, arguing on sometimes high and sometimes low levels, lots of references to sex, alcohol and drugs and plenty of debating. Between August 8 and 14 about sixty debaters from Austria (Melanie Sindelar, Annabell Knoll, Rosie Halmi, Stefan Zweiker and Leonhard Weese from Debattierklub Wien), Germany (Fabian Farkas from Tilbury House Cologne), Greece, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the United States all enjoyed the above mentioned genuine debater's lifestyle in the remote alpine area of southern Serbia. Just a few kilometers north of Kosovo, we were ...

Die Europäischen Debattiermeisterschaften (EUDC) in Amsterdam stehen kurz bevor, gute Vorbereitung ist nun also Gold wert. Diese Erkenntnis setzte der Debattierklub Wien (DKW) direkt in Organisationsenergie um und lud zum ersten Vienna Debating Workshop in Österreichs Hauptstadt. Zwei Teams des DKW treten in Amsterdam an und  und setzen damit für den Verein einen internationalen Höhepunkt dieses Jahres. Der Vienna Debating Workshop gab ihnen die Möglichkeit, zwei ganze Tage lang mehr über das Debattieren zu lernen und das Gelernte sofort in die Praxis umzusetzen; als Trainer konnten dafür rennommierte international erfahrenen Trainer gewonnen werden, die ihr Wissen und ihre Erfahrung gerne ...