The registration for the Zagreb EUDC 2014 will start on Sunday, March 2nd at 12 o'clock CET and will be open for 24 hours. For the registration one should send a mail to zagreb.eudc.register@gmail.com. During the first phase of registration the convenors need the institution name, country, delegate representative name, contact e-mail and number of teams and judges. Every institution will be granted one team. The distribution of the 2nd and 3rd teams will be similar to the procedure at WUDC, that is to say allocation will be according to the instition's performance (number of ESL and open breaks) at the ...

Die Veranstalter der Europameisterschaft 2014 in Zagreb haben vor einigen Tagen auf ihrer Turnierwebseite Informationen zur Anmeldung bekanntgegeben. Dort heißt es: "Dear European Debating Community, Registration for all institutions that wish to participate in Zagreb EUDC 2014 will open on Sunday, March the 2nd, at 12:00 CET (Central European time). That is 11:00 London/Dublin/Lisbon, 12:00Belgrade/Paris/Amsterdam/Berlin, 13:00 Athens/Ankara/Tallinn and 14:00Moscow/Doha time. Registration policy Registration will stay opened for 24 hours. Every institution will be able to register a maximum of 3 teams. We will be following the registration policy set up by Manchester EUDC and similar to one used at WUDC. All registered institutions are ...

The OrgComm of Zagreb EUDC 2014 has announced that they opened the DCA application process to the feedback stage. They would like to invite all members of the international debating community to provide feedback on the applicants based on their personal experience of working with them either as debaters, judges, CAs or DCAs. They are interested in feedback regarding judging ability and motion setting. In addition, they welcome any feedback on how well applicants work in teams and their other personal attributes. In alphabetical order, the applicants are: Alon van Dam (Israel, RRIS) Andreas Lazar (Germany, University of Stuttgart) Ashish Kumar (IONA, Cambridge University) Ben ...

On August 23 EUDC Council assembled in Manchester. Amongst other things the decisions on who will host Euros in 2014 and 2015 were made, with bids by Durham and Zagreb for EUDC 2014 and a bid by Vienna for EUDC 2015. Zagreb took the win over Durham and will host Euros next year.  Vienna’s bid was confirmed, which makes them the hosts for Euros the year after next. Teresa Widlok  was present in Council in her capacity as International Officer of the Association of German Speaking University Debating Societies and German delegate to Council. The following article describes her impressions ...

The Europen Universities Debating Championship 2014 will take place from 18th - 24th August 2014 in the capital of Croatia Zagreb. The championsships will be organised by joint efforts of the Zagreb Deebating Union, Open Communication and Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Nika Jelaska, Prospective Convener of Zagreb EUDC 2014, said: "Zagreb’s EUDC bid was motivated by a desire to bring debating back to the Balkans. Debating is an important and integral activity - it plays a role in how we engage, communicate and persuade. While in some societies debating is recognized and valued as an activity that should be ...

Wie Nika Jelaska, Cheforganisator der Europameisterschaft 2014 in Zagreb, bekannt gegeben hat, ist die Bewerbungsphase für einen Posten als Chefjuror eröffnet. Das Bewerbungsformular kann hier heruntergeladen werden. Über das Anforderungsprofil und den Bewerbungsprozess heißt es: Selection Criteria: Zagreb EUDC plans to appoint five Deputy Chief Adjudicators. The Org Comm says, that they have a strong preference for a geographically diverse adjudication team, with DCA’s that come from all over the continent. The team will ideally have members from developed and developing circuits, as well as a mix of those with extensive adjudication experience and those with less experience on adjudication teams. They are ...

Last weekend a dream that many debaters dream came true for Peer Klüßendorf and Emilia Carlqvist: They became European Debating Champions in English as a second language. Peer started debating in highschool when he attended "Jugend debattiert" and advanced to its national and international final in 2007. One year ago, he resumed debating when he moved to Lund. Emilia just moved to Lund in 2011 and tried debating at a local tournament. Despite liking it, she was too busy and did not debate again until 2012 when she decided to run for the board of Lund Debate Society. Achte Minute ...

Am Donnerstag und Freitag fanden in Manchester die Ausscheidungsrunden sowie das Finale der European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC) statt. Per Twitter und Facebook wurden die Gewinner bereits kurz nach der Siegerehrung am Freitagabend bekannt gegeben. Der Vollständigkeit halber gibt es hier die Themen und Gewinner nochmals zum Nachlesen. English as a Foreign Language: ESL Quarter-Finals: THBT men should consistently 'call out' and correct chauvinistic claims made by friends and coworkers ESL Semi-Finals: THBT environmentalists should start a campaign of sabotage and property damage aimed at major polluting companies ESL Final: THB the state should not fund works of art/ performance that average citizens would not ...

[caption id="attachment_17792" align="alignleft" width="256"] The University Place - the main debating venue[/caption] Since sunday 214 teams from Europe , 19 of which are from VDCH- Clubs, are competing in the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC). The Manchester Debating Unions is hosting the biggest event in the european debating circuit this year at the University of Manchester. Here are some insights into the tournament, the debates and how the German teams did. The locations The teams live in cosy small apartments with single and double bed rooms around the campus. The distance to the debate rooms is very short - it takes teams 5-10minutes. ...

Am Sonntag geht es endlich mit den lang erwarteten Euros in Manchester los. Fünf Tage voll Debatten und Socials. Zu Recht sind dabei die Debatten und das soziale Miteinander auf den Euros immer das Allerwichtigste! Daneben wird sich aber auch in diesem Jahr wieder das EUDC Council zusammenfinden, ein Gremium, das sich aus Vertretern aller anwesenden Debattier-Nationen zusammensetzt, um wichtige Entscheidungen zu treffen und Diskussionen zu führen. Das Council entscheidet über die zukünftigen Euros und dient als Forum für „Manöverkritik“ an den laufenden Euros. Teresa Widlok ist vom VDCH als Internationale Beauftragte und Vertreterin für Deutschland im Council vor Ort. ...

The CA team at EUDC Manchester has introduced changes to the way POIs are treated; in particular, they have introduced a compulsory POI requirement, and have asked judges to more stringently enforce the allowance for 15 seconds of speaking time during a POI. Michael Shapira wrote a constructive criticism about those new rules. Now Shengwu Li, writing on behalf of the CA team, explains the thought process behind these rulings. He says that they were happy and thankful for the lively debate on this important issue, but he feels, that there need to be some clarifications as to theire reasons ...

The recent briefing and later clarification released by the adjudication core of the upcoming EUDC Manchester 2013 has included some changes in the way we are to treat Points of Information (POI). These changes consist of two major elements. The first is, that being allowed to offer a POI has changed to become 15 seconds of "protected time", in which the POI giver may do as he or she pleases. The second change is an introduction of a "Mandatory POI" under which a speaker must take a POI during their speech. Failing to do so, the speaker is then required ...

Der Debattierklub Wien hat seine Bewerbung um die Europameisterschaften 2015 offiziell gemacht. Es gibt nun ein Bid-Video und eine Website. Hier gibt's die neusten Informationen aus ihrem Newsletter: Org-Com The five people you can see on the picture (Andreas Prischl, Jakob Reiter, Elisabeth Vikydal, Stefan Zweiker and Anika Nussgraber at the scene of the Summer 2015 Teaser) are part of the DKWien crowd that will invest their time into making Vienna EUDC 2015 the Euros you do not want to miss. Our Orga is built around Stefan who takes up the role of convener and Jakob who is in charge of funding and relations to external stakeholders. Yet, there are so many more ...

[caption id="attachment_17141" align="alignright" width="324"] Beyond black and withe: Danique van Koppenhagen (l) and Fred Cowell (r) are looking for Co-DCAs[/caption] The DCAs of the Durham EUDC 2014 bid contacted Achte Minute about the application process for Durham EUDC DCAs. Below are all the informations you need if you want to consider an application. "We will not be appointing DCAs on a specifically regional basis but will instead be appointing those individuals who meet the qualifications and are best placed to fulfil the duties and expectations of a DCA. The qualifications and duties of a DCA are set out below, we will be ...

Stift und Kalender gezückt und aufgepasst: Morgen startet die Registrierung für die Europameisterschaft im Debattieren. Wie ihr euch einen der heiß begehrten Plätze sichert, erklärt euch die Achte Minute. Zunächst einmal die Fakten: Die European Debating Championship (EUDC) 2013 findet vom 18. bis 24. August in Manchester statt. Organisiert wird das Turnier von der Manchester Debating Union, die bekannt ist für ihre witzigen Videos und das Manchester IV, welches sich von Jahr zu Jahr immer größerer Beliebtheit erfreut. Die Organisatoren versprechen: „We aim to produce a fantastic European competition, 5 full days of excellent debating, fantastic judging and socials ranging in location from ...

Um im Stabhochsprung die Sechs-Meter-Grenze zu überwinden bedarf es der richtigen Umstände. Der Wind, die Anlauflänge, der richtige Stab – alle Faktoren müssen beachtet werden, denn sie können am Ende zwischen Triumph und Niederlage entscheiden. Dabei sind es doch „nur“ ein paar Zentimeter mehr als die Höhe, die der durchschnittliche Olympia Stabhochspringer sonst auch schafft. Zwischen 5,80 und 6,00 Meter liegt doch nur die Distanz zwischen einem ausgestreckten Daumen und dem gespreizten kleinen Finger. Das kann doch eigentlich nicht so schwer sein! Oder vielleicht doch? Sind es manchmal nicht die kleinen und unscheinbar wirkenden Elemente, die am Ende die höchsten ...

Live-Tweets mit - nicht nur metaphorisch gesprochen - Tränen in den Augen bereits während der Finalparty in Belgrad gaben ein erstes Bild von dem, was Andreas Prischl vom Debattierklub Wien (DKW) hier nun ausführlich beschreibt: Ein Video von Open Communications führte allen in bewegender Weise vor Augen, dass die Redefreiheit nicht überall auf der Welt gegeben ist - und dass auch Serbien sie sich erst in jüngster Vergangenheit hart erkämpft hat. Andreas schildert hier seine persönlichen Eindrücke bereits bei der Ankunft in der serbischen Hauptstadt. Der Text erschien zuerst auf der Internetseite des DKW. ...

Ewald for president! Nach Jens Fischer hat wieder ein deutscher Debattierer die Präsidentschaft des EUDC-Councils inne, der Delegiertenversammlung bei der jährlichen European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC oder Euros): Marcus Ewald ist seit den Belgrade Euros 2012 der neue EUDC-Präsident.  Im Interview, das sein Mainzer Club-Kollege Willy Witthaut mit ihm geführt hat, erzählt er, was er während seiner Präsidentschaft auf dem Zettel hat: eine europäische Debattierliga und Bewegung beim neuen komplizierten Breaksystem der Weltmeisterschaft.  ...

"Mir persönlich macht es auch immer viel Spaß vor Publikum zu reden"", erzählt Jonas Werner im Interview mit der Achten Minute. Gemeinsam mit seinem Teampartner Niels Schröter stand er kürzlich im ESL-Finale der European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC oder Euros), bei der in Belgrad 212 Teams um den Titel stritten. Damit sind die beiden Redner von der Berlin Debating Union (BDU) Vize-Europameister 2012. Unser Belgrad-Korrespondent Willy Witthaut sprach für die Achte Minute mit über Mechanismen, Argumentationsweisen und den "utilitarian calculus" der internationalen Debattierszene. ...

Berlin! Berlin! Berlin! Again we're cheering for Berlin: Team A of the Berlin Debating Union (BDU) made it to the semis: Jonas Werner and Niels Schröter - yay! In quarters, they were closing opp in a debate on "This house supports life sentences without the possibility of parole for serial re-offenders." Now, they're debating the motion "This house believes that the militaries in newly democratized Arab countries should act as the guardian angels of society" from closing gov.  ...

And here is the even more so awaited open break to quarters at the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros). It's called "open" because it's open to any team that's good enough to compete with Oxbridge or TCD Hist or any of the big names. Please find the ranking and the draw below. ...

Long awaited, heavily fought for, now it's here: Theeeeeeeeeee brrrrrrreak! Please find below the teams that made it to the quarter-finals of the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros) 2012 in Belgrade Serbia. As usual, there are two categorie, ESL (English as a Second Language) and Open (open to everybody who is good enough). Here's the ESL break and the draw. ...

Yep, the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros) is still going on. It's day 3, the last three prelims are scheduled for today. We've got an update on the results of most of the teams from under the roof of VDCH (Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen, or association of debating societies at universities). This is how they performed in the first six preliminary rounds: Results after round 6 Gutenberg, Nicolas and Robert, 9 points Gutenberg, Thore and Willy, 8 Tübingen, Konrad and Jonas, 8 Tübingen, Marie and Sophie, 6 Heidelberg, Lucas and Jan, (Sorry, no update available so far!) Stuttgart, Andreas and Gregor, 10 BDU, Dessi and ...

A little less hot in Belgrade, said the weather forecast. Only 31 degree Celsius, said the weather forecast. Must have felt like a fresh breeze after 40 degrees the day before. At least, today no one complained about the Serbian heat on Twitter. Rather, some obviously ate ice cream in between rounds for reasons of refreshment. Apart from the weather, there's more exciting news from the Serbian capital: Again, Willy Witthaut helped us gather the results for VDCH club - thank you! (Again, of some teams we only have the data after previous rounds. We're trying to collect more data.) Results after ...

Die europäische Debattierszene wendet nun (fast) alle Blicke von den olympischen Spielen in London nach Belgrad: Dort sind am ersten Augustwochenende Debatterier aus ganz Europa und darüber hinaus eingetrudelt. Sie treffen sich in der serbischen Hauptstadt, um in den kommenden Tagen die Europameister im sportlichen Debattierwettstreit zu ermitteln. Dazu kämpfen bei der European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC oder Euros) rund 200 Teams zunächst über neun Vorrunden, dann in Viertel- und Halbfinalausscheidungen um den Einzug ins Finale. Von Montag bis Mittwoch finden je drei Vorrunden statt, am Donnerstag werden die Viertelfinals in den Kategorien "Open" (offen für alle) und "ESL" (English ...

Noch ein Jahr bis zu den Belgrade Euros, schon jetzt in der Presse! Außerdem gefunden: Noch mehr Stellungnahmen und Streitfragen zum Thema des ESL-Finales der European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC oder Euros). Und die israelische Presse freut sich über den Sieg des Tel Aviver Teams. ...

Furor on the web about the ESL final motion and more blogs and articles that report from the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros): That’s what we found for you on the internet. ...

Disclaimer: This article reflects my (Manos Moschopoulos’) own personal point of view, which does not necessarily reflect the opinion of anyone else involved with the Adjudication core or Organizing Committee of Belgrade EUDC 2012. Addendum: Manos' text refers to a Facebook group where a Dutch debater complains about the motion of the ESL final at the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) at Galway, Ireland. This very debater, Eric Stam, has also voiced his opinion on the website of the Dutch debating assosication. By the way, the motion read ...

Numbers, winners, facts and pictures! That and more is to be found in international media about the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) that were held at Galway, Ireland from August 7 to 13. Since we assume that our appreciated readers do not want to waste their precious time on thorough research, but still wanna know what's going on - well, your Achte Minute team provides you with a quick overview. ...

One week of debating, nine preliminary rounds, quarters, semis and now the final! This year's European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) held at Glaway, Ireland, produced new champions in the open break as well as in the category ESL, English as a Second Language. ...