The Zagreb Random Pro Am, hosted by the Zagreb 2022 bid's organising team, was held on August 29th and 30th 2020 and comprised of 32 teams, some registered together and some randomly assigned as partnerships. The Chief Adjudication Panel consisted of Emma Lucas, Matt Hazell, and Lovro Sprem. The tournament featured three preliminary rounds followed by a break to three finals corresponding with the positions 1 - 4; positions 5 - 8; and positions 9 - 12. Each final debated the same motion: "For crimes with low prosecution and conviction rates (e.g. sexual assault, domestic violence or membership of criminal gangs), ...

[caption id="attachment_36956" align="alignright" width="455"] The Dutch victory celebration featuring European champions Katharina Margareta Jansen (4th from left), Emma Lucas (5th f.l.) Louis Honee (6th f.l.) and David Metz (7th f.l.) - © Louis Honee[/caption] The Astana EUDC 2020 has come to an end and it has been a successful tournament for the Leiden Debating Union. The Dutch debating society was able to win both the ESL and Open final and topped the ESL speaker awards as well. In the grand final, Leiden A (David Metz, Emma Lucas) took the victory out of Closing Opposition against the Opening Government Leiden C (Louis Honee, ...

The Novi Sad EUDC, lasting 30.07.-05.08.18, came to an impressive conclusion: Teams from Tel Aviv won both the ESL (English as a Second Language) and the Open final! The ESL dominance continued with - originally Mexican - debater Lucía Arce, starting for Sheffield, being both top speaker in ESL and in total. Read more about the constellations, teams, speakers, judges and motions below. ...

As the 2018 European Universities Debate Championship progresses, the break is now online. ...

[caption id="attachment_33743" align="alignright" width="400"] The winners of the Rotterdam Open 2018 - © Laurens van Doorn[/caption] The Rotterdam Open (24.-25.03.2018) ist over and the results are here: In the Open Final, the team Cheaper than Couple's therapy (Marike Breed, Amsterdam & Roel Becker, Leiden) took the win as Closing Government on the motion "THW implement a system of ‘lease of life’ for all products of manufacture (such as: shoes, phones and machines)." The motion had an infotext (see below). They debated against Spatha A (Emma Lucas & David Metz, Leiden) in Opening Government, Stormy Daaniels plus one loyal customer (Floris Holstege, ...

[caption id="attachment_33492" align="alignright" width="461"] Happy debaters after a fabulous training weekend in Paris (c) Olivia Sundberg Diez[/caption] Last weekend, on the 3rd and 4th of February 2018, the Debate Training Weekend in Paris took place. It was organised by the Scottish EUDC Training Team, namely Chief Adjudicator of the upcoming Scottish EUDC 2018 Olivia Sundberg Diez in cooperation with the United Debaters of Paris. Over the whole weekend 7 workshops and 3 training debates were enjoyed by 50 participants from Spain, the Netherlands, Belarus, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the UK and from across France. Alex Harris, Daan Welling, Eleanor Angwin and Martin ...

Congratulations to ‘CARDs for our HULLish EXEs’ (Alex Harris, formerly Hull, and Craig McDonald, formerly Cardiff) for winning the Exeter Open. They won the final on the motion: ‘This House prefers a world without Romantic Love’ from Opening Government, defeating ‘Cardiff RS’ (Ryan F. and Sophie Johnstone) in Opening Opposition, ‘Bristol Sleighding our way back to Asia’ (Timothy Lo and Matthew Xiang) in Closing Government, and ‘Lebsky’ (Seb Curtis and Luke Kosky, Bristol) in Closing Opposition. [caption id="attachment_33566" align="alignright" width="300"] Celebratory Selfie! Craig McDonald (left) and Alex Harris (right) - © Craig McDonald[/caption] The final was judged by Rachel O’Nunain in the ...

It is not uncommon for major tournaments to host training programmes, as Duncan Crowe, one of the main organizers of the Scottish EUDC training series, puts it. However, the effort invested in the Scottish EUDC training series has been exceptional in length and extent. Instead of being a selected set of workshops delivered directly prior to the competition, this training series has involved the production and distribution of new, live training content directly to societies across Europe. The launch of the Scottish EUDC Training Platform marks the introduction of a new pillar to the international debate education. ...

[caption id="attachment_32634" align="alignright" width="400"] The "Croatian Dudes" Tin (left) and Lovro - © Angelos Emmanouilidis[/caption] Lovro Šprem and Tin Puljić from Zagreb won the FINDA-IDEA Mini 2017, speaking in Closing Government to the motion “This House would prefer a world in which people cannot deliberately lie”. As team Some Croatian Dudes they beat 1386 ftw (Daniel Azaz, Diogo Videira) in Opening Government, The Pollyana Principle (Anna Vilen, Johannes Majamäki) in Opening Opposition and The Middle Kids (Milla Huuskonen, Adnan Abdi) in Closing Opposition.                                                         ...

The European Universities Debate Championship 2017, taking place in Tallinn, have come to an end. On the day of the finals both the last four teams of the Open track and the English as a Second Language (ESL) track came together at the Nordea Concert hall for the two finals. ...

On the third day of the European University Debate Championship 2017 the pre-rounds come to an end, meaning: The break happens. We've gathered all the information available for you and will edit more once we get our hands on it. ...

[caption id="attachment_32196" align="alignright" width="400"] Roel Becker and Floris Holstege, winners of the Delft Open 2017 - © Helena Hecke[/caption] The grand final of the first Delft Open ever was won by Leiden A(rrogant) (Floris Holstege, Roel Becker) from Opening Opposition on the Motion This house would introduce a Social Credit System in liberal democracies. They debated agains UDS: Sharpay and Ryan (Pieter van der Veere, Angela Portocarrero - Utrecht) in Opening Government, David en Simone (Simone Landman - Trivium, David Metz - Leiden) in Closing Government and Brandeis ST (Ravi Simon, Sagie Tvizer) in Closing Opposition. The final was chaired by Lennart van Laake, who adjudicated together with Daan ...

[caption id="attachment_31871" align="alignright" width="400"] The winning team: Erik Haamer & Kerli Kalk - © Tartu Ülikooli Väitlusklubi[/caption] Tartu has scored a home victory at the Estonian Open 2017 with Tartu A (Erik Haamer, Kerli Kalk) taking the victory in Closing Opposition on the motion "TH supports US airstrikes on Syrian military targets". They defeated the Opening Government Riga B (Rasmuss Filips Geks, Edgars Klētnieks), Opening Opposition Müün sapaka keret (Vikki Perijainen, Maria Kull) and Closing Government Mainor A (Kaspar Kelder, Oskar Gross). The judge panel consisted of Triin Toimetaja as chair, Daan Welling, Olesja Zorina, Maarja Tambet and Anneliis Rea. [caption id="attachment_31870" align="alignleft" width="199"] Novice winners: Heleriin ...

[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 ...

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 ...

[caption id="attachment_30739" align="alignright" width="400"] Masters this year: 2 vs 2, five minute speeches - © Manuel Adams[/caption] Traditionally, and before the WUDC pre-rounds begin on December 29th, there area few events worth noticing. These include pre-council meetings, the Women's Forum, and other opportunities for exchange. Amongst them is another event worth noticing: the Masters competition. All interested WUDC judges are allowed to sign up in teams for two rounds to show their speaking skills before they judge those of others. This small competition is adjudicated by volunteer WUDC speakers and judges. As is tradition, the competition can be held in the ...

For the eleventh time, the Leiden Debating Union will host the Leiden Open. The tournament will last from February 28 to March 1 and features five preliminary rounds and breaks into semi-finals as well as a novice final. The tournament will be on Saturday and Sunday, but there will be a social on Friday night. A detailed schedule will be announced soon on the tournament’s facebook event. There will be one Chief Adjudicator (CA) with three Deputy Chief Adjudicators (DCAs): CA Daan Welling won last year’s Leiden Open and was a finalist at the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC) in Berlin 2013. ...

The European Universities Debate Champions 2014 have been announced. In the category English as a Second Language, Stefan Siridzanski and Helena Ivanov from Belgrade B in Opening Opposition won the debate with the motion „This house would, assuming it was technically feasible, remove the ability of soldiers to feel fear.” In the Open final, Adam Hawksbee and Matthew Willmore from Sheffield A in Closing Opposition were able to beat their competitors in a debate with the motion „This house believes that the feminist movement should oppose military interventions that claim to further women's rights.” [caption id="attachment_24372" align="alignright" width="240"] Venue of the Open ...

Ashish Kumar and Michael Dunn Goekjian have won the Paris Open 2014. The final jury unanimously decided that the team from Cambridge prevailed as Opening Opposition to the following motion: This House supports the unlimited use of war-time propaganda which aims to dehumanise the enemy. The Top of the tab team Pascal A (Alon van Dam, Harish Natarajan) was in Opening Government, Belgrade A (Helena Ivanov, Stefan Siridžansky) spoke in Closing Government, and Matthew Willmore and Scott Ralston from the team Wigglypuf in Closing Opposition. [caption id="attachment_22946" align="alignright" width="400"] Michael Dunn Goekjian offers a POI while his team partner Ashish Kumar ...

From May 2nd to May 3rd the first international tournament in the history of Danish Debating will take place in Copenhagen. The Copenhagen Open 2014 will be hosted by the CBS Debating Society, Convenors are Erik Thompson (Convenor) and Jeen Chun (Deputy Convenor). It features 5 preliminary rounds with 7 minute speeches, Semi-Finals and a Final. “The tournament is designed to help foster the small debate circuit in Scandinavia”, the convenor explains on facebook. Therefore at least one of the speakers in every team has to be in their first year of university debating. The Chief Adjudicators (CAs) of the Copenhagen Open ...

Ruairidh Macintosh and Daan Welling from Leiden/St Andrews won the Lustrum Leiden Open 2014. The team with the name “Two Guys” beat 57 other teams from all over the world who attended the Dutch tournament. The decision was very narrow: The judging panel took very long to come to a conclusion, in the end favouring “Two Guys” in a 4-3 split decision. Ruairidh also was the best speaker after the five preliminary rounds, scoring 81.8 points on average and remarkable 89 points in the fifth round. The full team and speaker tab is available online. Martijn Otten, Lisa Schallenberg and Gigi ...

On October 11 and 12 the Roosevelt Debating Society will host the second edition of the Roosevelt Open. The tournament will be held in lovely Middelburg, all the way in the south-west corner of the Netherlands. Last year's Open was a great success, and this year the Org Comm promise a well-organized and fun tournament. Through collaboration with the Nationale Jeugdraad (NJR), they strive to make this tournament environmentally friendly. Concise info: British Parliamentary 7-minute speeches 5 rounds & break to semis Max €25 per speaker Domestic team cap of 5 Total team cap of 40 N-1 Adjudication Rule Registration Chief Adjudicators: Daan Welling: EUDC 2012 ESL Champion, WUDC 2013 ...

Achte Minute features today a online post by Daan Welling that can also be found on his blog. He says, that as he is now part of the “old crowd” on the Dutch debating scene, he thinks it ought to be time for him to sit down on the sofa of self-appointed wisdom, and give some general suggestions, ideas and inspirations for the coming debating season. We are excited to see what you think about his ideas. I think our circuit is incredibly fun and inclusive, and serves as a great addition to one’s (student) life. Nonetheless, there are always ...