The Open Final of the Europe Queer Open 2020 was won by I Feel Love (Robert Raos, Simon Luo), speaking against Brave (Adam Lambert, Jamie Clayton) in Opening Government, I Will Survive (Jeffrey Huang Ma, Zuha Tanweer), and Born This Way (Lena Kolle, Rachel Homnick). They spoke on the motion "This House Prefers Utilitarianism to Deontology." The Final was chaired by Lucie Slamova. Judging with them were Dominique Jackson, Katherine Harris, Parth Pandya, and Rhys Steele. The Pro Am Final was won by I'm Coming Out (Hannah Gadsby, Daniela Williams) in Closing Government, speaking against Over the Rainbow (Michael Conway, Steward Johnson) in Opening Government, Vogue (Aleks Bell, Rebecca Harrigan), and Come ...

The Grand Final of the Trinity Open 2020 Online was won by Cambridge Cromwell's Men are Here Again (Matt Hazell, Alasdair Donovan) in Opening Opposition. Debating against them were BDU The prancing ponies (Josef Moscovici, Calyxx Peucker) in Opening Government; Open Break the tab not the quarantine (Hadar Goldberg,  Nadav barak) in Closing Government; and Open [KDA] Thanks Jacklin :D (Milla Huuskonen, Ron Leizrowice) in Closing Opposition. The motion read "This House Supports rioting as a means of fighting for social justice in the U.S." The debate was judged by Marta Vasic as chair together with Katharina Jansen, Nicole O'Sullivan, Lovro ...

[caption id="attachment_35314" align="alignright" width="400"] Kit Mercer and Jason Xiao - (c) Eric Barnes[/caption] The HWS Round Robin 2019 was won by Oxford (Kit Mercer, Jason Xiao) speaking in Opening Opposition on the motion "This House believes that the Black Lives Matter movement should embrace open carry gun laws and engage in armed community patrols". The Runner-Up was Melbourne (Stuart Dixon, Connor O'Brien) in Closing Opposition, on a 3-2 split decision. In Opening Government was Harvard HN (John Hunt, Michael Nehme)  and in Closing Government was Harvard DH (Danny DeBois, Mars He). The final panel was chaired by Eric Barnes with a panel ...

The Yale IV 2018 was won by Harvard CH (John Hunt and Sophia Caldera) from Opening Government. They debated the final on the motion "This House would legalize and train sex workers specifically to work with disabled people" against Brown GG (Jack Gramlich, Sandy Greenberg) in Closing Opposition, Harvard BrMe (Ed Bracey, Dasha Metropolitansky) in Closing Government, and Princeton AO (Samuel Arnesen, Sinan Ozbay) in Opening Opposition. The final was chaired by Michael Mao with Bobbi Leet, Charlie Barton, Daniel Berman, Lorenzo Pinasco. The Novice Final of the tournament was won by  Princeton JW (Daniel Ju, Greg Weaving) in Opening Government, on the motion "This House believes that the horrors of history are incompatible with a belief in ...

The World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) 2018 in Mexico, which took place 28.12.17-04.01.18, are concluded and the champions for the three language categories have emerged. Open Champion is Harvard, ESL-Champion is Oxford and EFL-Champion is Comillas. The finals were hosted in the historical Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris in the centre of Mexico-City. [caption id="attachment_33275" align="alignright" width="400"] The Open Final - © Jacky Hsinghsien Chang Chow[/caption] The team Harvard A (Danny DeBois, Archie Hall) won the Open Final as Opening Government on the motion "This house would rather save the life of a single child, over extending the life of 5 ...

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 ...

Ido Kotler and Monica Forman from Tel Aviv won the Berlin IV 2017, speaking in Closing Opposition to the motion "This House would prefer a world where there is only one religion". [caption id="attachment_32206" align="alignright" width="400"] Chief Adjudicators van Beusekom, Irvine, Smith, Har-Oz, Large, Winners Kotler and Forman - © Jonas Huggins[/caption] As team #Reichs_tag_a_friend they beat Munich A (Melda Eren, Wladi Jachtchenko) in Opening Government,  Debating – not even once (Milla Huuskonen - Helsinki, Leo Yung - London) in Opening Opposition and Oxford A (Tommy Peto, Raffy Marshall) in Closing Government. The final was judged by Sivan Avitan in the chair, Namita Gupta, ...

[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 ...

Before the break we asked seasoned veterans for their background and strategies - now the time has come to talk with some of this year's most successful teams. In this article you will find: James Penn and James Rankin, Auckland A Lisa Schallenberg, Leiden C James Penn and James Rankin, Auckland A [caption id="attachment_30968" align="alignright" width="400"] James Penn and James Rankin - © private[/caption] James and James ranked third in the EPL break. They are debaters from Auckland, New Zealand. The interview was conducted by Lennart Lokstein. AM: Hey guys! Congratulations to your break. Did you party a lot? JP: Yeah, too much. Felt it this ...

„We are here because we didn't have a cancellation agreement“ (Jeroen Wijnen and Roel Becker, Leiden) won the final of the Lund IV in Opening Opposition. Debating the motion "THB that nuclear weapons have made the world a safer place.", they defeated "Belgrade A" (Ilija Ivanišević and Đorđe Jovićević) in Opening Government, "UCD Law A" (Adam Stairs and Aodhan Peelo) in Closing Government and "Cambridge CK" (George Clay and Muhammad Asadullah Khan) in Closing Opposition. The full debate is available on Youtube. Best speaker was Aodhan Peelo (UCD Law A) with an average of 82.6 points. [caption id="attachment_30505" align="alignright" width="400"] From left ...