About 1,400 people will assemble in Berlin in December to compete at the World Universities Debating Championship 2013 (a.k.a. WUDC or Worlds). Kai Dittman from Berlin Debating Union is in charge of the finance department. Viviane Clarin talked to him about what the guests will need and how he is raising the funds. Please read the German version of the interview to learn more about the details.

The Berlin Debating Union bid for hosting the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC or Worlds) was confirmed in Botswana 2011 and reconfirmed in Manila 2012. The hosts expect about 1.400 Debattierer from around 70 countries to be there at the event from December 27 2012 until January 4 2013 when about 400 teams will be competing for the title of world champion in the German capital.

Since 1981, debaters from all over the world have been competing at the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) at alternating locations across the planet. It was not before 1996 that the British Parliamentary Stylebecame the mandatory format for this annual tournament. From 27 December 2011 to 4 January 2012, the international debating community assembled in Manila for the second time: 1999′s host was Ateneo University in the Philippinian capital – the first time for WUDC to come to Asia at all. Language of debate is English and there are three categories: “Open” for native level speakers, “ESL” (English as a Second Language) and “EFL” (English as a Foreign Language). The Monash Association of Debaters from Australia (Amit Golder und Kiran Iyer) won WUDC for the second time in a row,the other titles (ESL) went to Sella Nevo und Omer Nevo from Tel Aviv (Israel) and to the girls from Ewah Womens’ University, Seoul, Korea (EFL).