[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.                                                         ...

At the EUDC, many teams come together. Some of them are very ambitious and worked hard to have a chance to make the break. So did Milla Huuskonen and Joona Suhonen from Helsinki A. In this interview we asked them about their strategy and more. ...

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. ...

Am dritten Tag enden die EUDC-Vorrunden, der Break steht an. Wie üblich hat die Achte Minute ein besonderes Augenmerk auf VDCH-Teams geworfen. Es breaken: ...

Es gibt einen neuen Zwischenstand der VDCH-Teams in Tallinn. Am zweiten Tag der Europameisterschaften erreichten die Teams aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum folgende Punktzahlen: Berlin C (Christina Dexel, Christof Kebschull), 12 Punkte Berlin D (Frederike Holewik, Kathrin Niederschuh), 11 Punkte Munich A (Melda Eren, Wladislaw Yachtchenko), 11 Punkte Jena (Anonym, Anonym), 10 Punkte Munich VY (Valerie Llim Xuan, Yimin Ge), 10 Punkte Vienna D (Marvin Grünthal, Kata Sebök), 10 Punkte Berlin A (Stefan Torges, Julian Stastny), 9 Punkte Heidelberg B (Benedikt Rennekamp, Pascal Beleiu), 9 Punkte Munich CA (Christian Rausch, Andreas Pritchard), 9 Punkte Munich B (Jannis Hussain, Florens Rilling), 9 ...

The EUDC is attracting many of the same people again and again every year. But there are also always the people who come to Euros the first time and don’t know what to expect and what will be happening. The Achte Minute has talked to some of the people who are at their first EUDC here in Tallinn about their experiences, expectations and how those expectations were met. Hilla Schwartz Tudor Musat Emma van der Horst and Fenna ten Haaf Rachel Mullally Mrinal Kumar Hila Schwartz, Ben Guiron University of the Negev (Israel) [caption id="attachment_32549" align="alignleft" width="213"] Hila Schwartz - © H.Hecke[/caption] AM: So for how long have you ...

This year, a new country applied to join the European circuit at Tallinn EUDC 2017: The United Arab Emirates. Jan-Gunther Gosselke interviewed Nicolaj Thor from their team for the Achte Minute. ...

Nach der Anreise am Montag, Strandspaziergängen und selbstverständlichem Public Viewing der aktuellen "Game of Thrones"-Folge starteten die Teams des Verbands der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen (VDCH) am gestrigen Dienstag in die ersten drei Runden der European University Debating Championships (EUDC) in Tallinn. Für alle Daheimgebliebenen listet die Achte Minute in diesem Beitrag die Ergebnisse nach dem ersten Tag auf. Berlin C (Christina Dexel, Christof Kebschull), 7 Punkte Berlin A (Stefan Torges, Julian Stastny), 6 Punkte Munich A (Melda Eren, Wladislaw Yachtchenko), 6 Punkte Munich B (Jannis Hussain, Florens Rilling), 5 Punkte Munich VY (Valerie Llim Xuan, Yimin Ge), 5 Punkte Vienna A (Melanie Sindelar, ...

Day one is over and the participants of Tallinn EUDC are still hopeful and excited. At least it seems like it. The Achte Minute went around asking participant to deliver their best case for either Government or Opposition on the motions “TH supports coming to Tallinn EUDC” The overwhelming majority proposed that it was a great idea to join and also the voice who regrets coming, can’t really been taken seriously. Some of the arguments focused on the beauty of the city: I generally like traveling. The city and the old town is fun to go around and the waterfront is beautiful. There is ...

With the EUDC 2017 in Tallinn coming closer, people might want to prepare their trip - but what to prepare for? We've asked convenor Selene Gnadenteich about the tournament, including the questions we got from the community. ...

[caption id="attachment_32286" align="alignleft" width="309"] Winning team Toronto 1 - © UTS Speech and Debate Society[/caption] The tournament at the World Schools Debate Academy 2017 was won on a 6 - 3 split desicion by Toronto 1 (Gautam Manohar, Adithya Chakravarthy, Angela Li, Andrei Comlosan Pop and Mia Richmond; Canada) in Opposition on the motion "THBT developed nations should not recruit high skilled workers such as doctors and engineers from developing countries". They debated in the final against the team North European Trade Agreement (Sonia Meehan, Leo Ohl, Julius Schillinger, Luesa Vallin and Mariam Kojo; Finnland/Germany). The final was adjudicated by Duncan Crowe (c), Kristina Loayza, Jenny Tumas, Rok Hafner, Penny Sadeghi , Malvika Kala, Roel Becker, Elizabeta ...

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_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_32163" align="alignright" width="400"] The GUU delegation at the Durham Open with winners Bethany Garry (standing) and Owen Mooney (green shirt) - © GUU[/caption] The Durham Open 2017 was won by GUU A (Bethany Garry and Owen Mooney) in Opening Opposition on an open motion. They debated against Consider Phlebas (Sam van Elk, Cambridge and Joe Roussos, LSE) in Opening Government, Oxford RJ (Jure Hederih and Raffy Marshall) in Closing Government and Cambridge E (Camilo Ruiz and Matt Hankin) in Closing Opposition. The final was judged by Kez Exley (C) Dee Courtney, Aislin Flynn, Rory Flynn and Chris Paschali Best speaker of the tournament was ...

[caption id="attachment_32158" align="alignright" width="400"] Winners Katherine Dunbar (left) and Etsuko Lim (right) during prep time - © TCD Hist/Phil[/caption] The Trinity Open 2017 was won by Cambridge B (Etsuko Lim & Katherine Dunbar) in Closing Government. They debated against Oxford Tecks and Sophie (Teck Wei Tan & Sophie Large) in Opening Government,  Upgrading from Aodhan (Adam Stairs & Clíodhna Ní Chéileachair, UCD Law) in Opening Opposition and Edinburgh A (Tim Squirrel & Nish Hegde) in Closing Opposition on the motion "You are an author who has just been granted a power such that any book you write would be taken as gospel by all who read it. ...

The Amsterdam Open 2017 was won by Floris en Pieter (Jelte Schievels, Utrecht & David Metz; Leiden) in Opening Government on the motion THBT the Left should focus on using class as its central organising principle, rather than other aspects of identity. [caption id="attachment_32071" align="alignright" width="315"] Winners of Amsterdam Open: Jelte Schievels and David Metz - © David Metz[/caption] They debated against In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary: come again? (Anastasia Grishkova, KCL & Bas Tönissen, St. Andrews) in Opening Opposition, Wong Call, Bagequit (Brian Wong, Oxford & Johan Bage, Stockholm) in Closing Government and You are fake news (Weronika Mincewicz-Podrecka, Leiden & John Tsopanis, ULU) in Closing Opposition. The final was judged by ...

[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_31994" align="alignleft" width="206"] The winners of the tournament ©Helena Hecke[/caption] The Maastricht Open 2017 was won by Phil and Gloria (Roel Becker; Leiden and Lucia Arce; Sheffield) in Closing Opposition. They debated against Trivium A (Simone Landman and Daan Spackler; Middelburg) in Opening Government, The Maastricht Titties (Annabell van Beusekom and Milka Gerovska; Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje) in Opening Opposition and The Wong Tangent (Rebecca Lee, Bristol and Brian Wong, Oxford) in Closing Opposition on the motion "You are the commander of an Israeli submarine on the Persian Gulf. It is the day after Israel was annihilated in a ...

[caption id="attachment_31966" align="alignright" width="200"] Winning Team and CA Team of Turku Mini - Craig McDonald (left), Milla Huuskonen (centre), Joona Suhonen (centre) and Kaisa Hyry (right) - © Imène Mimouni.[/caption] Congratulations to the team Winland A (Milla Huuskonen, Helsinki, and Joona Suhonen, Aalto) for winning the Turku Mini 2017! They won the final from Opening Opposition defeating Max&Johan (Johan Vilén and Max Fogdell, Helsinki) in Opening Government, Kakkaa lumella (Ella Jonninen and Aleksi Niemi, Tampere) in Closing Government, and Aalto Right (Sara Halonen and Adnan Abdi) in Closing Opposition on the motion "This House would grant the five veto bearing UN ...

Congratulations to ‘William of Orange is the New Black’ (Monica Forman, Tel Aviv, and Melda Eren, Munich [caption id="attachment_31959" align="alignright" width="146"] Monica Forman and Melda Eren - (c) Craig McDonald[/caption] and UDCH) for winning the Open Final of the Erasmus Rotterdam Open 2017. They won the final from Opening Government defeating ‘She's not that mean in prep.’ (Romée Lind and Jop Flameling, no institution) in Opening Opposition, ‘Devid’ (Devin van den Berg and David Metz, Leiden) in Closing Government, and ‘Privileged Angry Men’ (Philipp R. Mueller, Munich, and Calyxx Peucker, UDCH) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This House Regrets the dominance ...

The use of language in university debating hasn't been studied a lot so far. Miriam Kohn from the University of Rochester did some research - in this interview, she tells us about her results and thoughts on the use of "hedging". Conducting the interview for the Achte Minute was Bexley Brown. Edited for length & clarity with entire thesis and speech transcriptions available here. ...

[caption id="attachment_31902" align="alignright" width="400"] Enting Lee speaks as Leader Opposition in the final round of the 2017 HWS Round Robin (c) Howard and William Smith Colleges[/caption] The HWS Round Robin has claimed yet another weekend of the lives of some of the best debaters in the world. In a tradition that began at the 2016 HWS Round Robin, two judging panels watched each round and delivered oral adjudications independently, with the aggregate number of points & speaker points used to determine the break (tab here). After a struggle for team spots, which can be achieved either through winning a prestigious named tournament or ...

[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_31855" align="alignright" width="400"] Winners of PEP IV 2017: Mark Etzel and Miri Muntean - (c) DK Wien[/caption] Vienna Z (Miri Muntean, Mark Etzel) has won this year's PEP IV, debating the motion 'This House Supports the EU backed Western Balkans Customs Union, even at the price of terminating the free trade agreement with Russia and joining the EU sanctions on Russia' in Opening Opposition against the Opening Government St. Gallen University A (Jan-Gunther Gosselke, Katarina Kuzman), Closing Government CEC A (Kristina Georgieva, Monika Naydenova) and Closing Opposition Bard College Berlin A (John Kay, Matt Caito). Best speaker of the tournament was ...

[caption id="attachment_31828" align="alignleft" width="241"] Winners of Glasgow Ancients - © Srishti Krishnamoorthy-Cavell[/caption] Glasgow Ancients The team Iconic Misandry (Clíodhna Ní Chéileachair, Srishti Krishnamoorthy-Cavell; UCD/Cambridge) was victorious in the final on the motion "THW grant legal personhood to major ecological entities (eg. the Amazon rainforest, the Great Barrier Reef etc.)." They won as Closing Government over 2 indy 2ref: edinburgh drift (Oskar Avery, Chris Paschali; Newcastle) in Opening Government, My teammate didn't want any puns, but Im feeling quite ADAM-ant (Adam Stairs, Aodhan Peelo, UCD) in Opening Opposition and Already Broke (Up) (Lucia Arce, Jure Hederih; Sheffield/Oxford) in Closing Opposition. The Final was judged by Eilidh McCreath in ...

In this week's feature, Helena Hecke investigates the issue of women not being taken serious in adjudication discussions, along with some suggestions to fix it. ...

[caption id="attachment_31824" align="alignleft" width="215"] Winners of the Aberystwyth Open - Katrin Fallman (left) and Tommy Cave (right) - © Craig McDonald[/caption] Congratulations to ‘The Anti-Frederalist League’ (Tommy Cave, Katrin Fallman, University of West Midlands Union (Warwick and Birmingham)) for winning the Aberystwyth Open 2017. They won the final from Closing Government defeating ‘Sounds like your analysis needs a bit more nuance’ (Freddie Marshall, Warwick, Dean Foley, Manchester) in Opening Government, ‘Spanish Armanda’ (Jim McKenna, UCL, and Armand Lluka, Nottingham Trent) in Opening Opposition and ‘What do you mean this isn’t Glasgow?’ (Rayne Goddard, Hull, Abbie Green, Liverpool) in Closing Opposition on ...

In this article, I’d like to argue for more knives in BPS debating. Not because I’m the owner of a knife shop – which I’m not – but because there are certain cases where the current rules are unfair towards certain teams and this could be easily corrected. ...

[caption id="attachment_31750" align="alignleft" width="280"] The Final - © Private[/caption] The Maynooth Open 2017 was won by Men I'd shift if I weren't a misandrist (Tim Squirrell, Richeal Ní Laoghaire; Edinburgh/UCD L&H) in Closing Government in an open motion. Opening Government Minorities are people not extensions (Lorna Staines, Mark Finn; Trinity Hist) set it as "THB the usa should pay reparations to african americans". The other two teams in the final were Nothing wrong with two men crying or taking valium (Eoin O'Sullivan, Chris Costigan; Cork/Trinity Phil) in Opening Opposition and  We all need somebody to Leon (Aodhan Peelo, Leon Langdon; UCD L&H) as Closing Government. [caption id="attachment_31748" align="alignright" ...