[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, ...

[caption id="attachment_35501" align="alignright" width="400"] The winners of the Vienna IV 2019: Hilla Schwartz,Jonathan Shapira - © Debattierklub Wien[/caption] At the Vienna IV 2019, the team BGU A (Hilla Schwartz, Jonathan Shapira) was victorious in the grand final. Out of Closing Opposition, they defeated KCL A (Joel Richardson, Emily Frizell) in Opening Government, Targyarean & Snow (Klaudia Maciejweska, Jure Hederih; Warsaw/Oxford) in Opening Opposition and One of us is sort of retired, the other one is actually from Australia (Brian Wong, Jack Solomon; Oxford) in Closing Government on the motion "THBT Gavrilo Princip was justified in killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand (incl. infoslide)". ...

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. ...

The weekend of May 26th and 27th featured this year's Vienna IV, chief-adjudicated by Alex Moise and Monica Forman and, as every year, complemented by a Schnitzel night and a post-final karaoke. In the final, judged by Elaye Karstadt (chair), Monica Forman, Alex Moise, Huyen Nguyen and Katrin Fallmann, BGU A (OO, Ayal Hayut-Man and Noa Ovadia) prevailed over The von Shap Family (OG, Yonathan Shapira and Michael Shapira), Belgrade DCA (CG, Ilija Ivanišević and Miloš Marjanović) and Jenseits von Vergleich und Analyse (CO, Philipp Müller and Calyxx Peucker) on the motion "This House believes that consent isn't the solitary ...

[caption id="attachment_33925" align="alignright" width="400"] Left to right: Dan Lahav (CA), Idan Bressler (Winner), Amichay Even Chen (Winner), Ido Kotler (Best Speaker), Duncan Crowe (CA) - © Annie Schwartz[/caption] After a weekend in Greece the Athens Open 2018 got won by ‘Tel Aviv A’ (Amichay Even Chen and Idan Bressler). They spoke in the final from Opening Government defeating ‘Novi Sad kenobi’ (Jovan Petronijević and Milos Marjanovic) in Opening Opposition, ‘Tel Aviv - You’ve been struck by a smooth POI’ (Annie Schwartz and Gil Peled) in Closing Government, and ‘Random nomen graecum’ (Roy Schulman and Elaye Karstadt) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This house believes that the general approach of states ...

[caption id="attachment_29710" align="alignright" width="344"] View over Warsaw - © Lennart Lokstein[/caption] The European Universities Debating Championship is over. Winner of the ESL-final is Tel Aviv A (Dan Lahav, Ayal Hayut-man) from Closing Government, thus becoming ESL-Champions, whereas the teams Tel Aviv C (Tom Manor, Noam Dahan) from Opening Government, Leiden D (Lisa Schallenberg, Simon Martina-Perez) from Opening Opposition and Leiden A (Floris Holstege, Emma Lucas) from Closing Opposition become vice ESL-Champions. The final's motion was "This house believes that western states should support breakaway regions in former Sovjet states (e.g. East Ukraine l South Ossetia) joining the Russian federation conditional on holding free and ...

  Worlds are over, but some questions remain. Why was there a delay during the preliminary rounds every day? Did Tabbie2 malfunction at any time? Or were the adjudicator scores lost? Worlds Tab Master Jakob Reiter from DK Wien talked to Achte Minute about tabbing the biggest international tournament, his software Tabbie2, and other technical details. Achte Minute: Dear Jakob, you were one of the Tab Masters at the World University Debating Championships in Thessaloniki. How do you feel after this tournament? Jakob: I am really happy I had the opportunity to be the Tab Master. It is always a great challenge to ...

This summer, about 1000 people will travel to Vienna for the 17th European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros). The Debattierklub Wien (DK Wien) hosts the week-long tournament. Stefan Zweiker is the convener, overseeing 23 other members of the organising committee and international volunteers.One year after and 267 kilometres to the north of Zagreb EUDC, the championship is again up for grabs. Until then, Sheffield holds the title; in the category of English as a Second Language (ESL), the current champions are from Belgrade.The Blue Danube Euros, as the organisers call them, will last from August 2-8.The Chief Adjudicators (CAs) ...

The CBS Debating Society announced the second Copenhagen Open. The tournament takes place from the 27th to the 29th of March 2015 and will provide five preliminary rounds with seven minute speeches and a break to semifinals. The detailed schedule is available at the Facebook-Event.There are going to be two Chief Adjudicators (CAs) and two Deputy Chief Adjudicators (DCAs):CA Dessislava Kirova, who served as DCA at Manchester European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC) 2013, Co-CA of the Pan-African University Debating Championship in Limpopo 2014 and is an English as a Second Language (ESL) Finalist of the Zagreb EUDC 2014, Finalist of ...

The Organising Committee (OrgCom) of the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) 2015 in Vienna published their call for international volunteers. Everyone can apply to support the existing crew and be part of the this year's EUDC.Stage one of the application process consists in reading the International Crew Recruitment Guideline and filling out the International Crew Recruitment Survey. In stage two beginning in mid-April, the OrgCom will contact the applicants if they have questions or need their expertise and knowledge. Stage three is the tournament itself.Everyone can apply for being an international volunteer - the OrgCom emphasizes that age, ...

The break to the Finals at the European Universities Debating Championship 2014 has been announced. In the ESL category, Berlin A, Lund A, Belgrade B and BBU A made it through the semi-finals with the motion "This house believes that leaders of minority religions in Europe should strongly encourage their congregations to refrain from public displays of their faith". In the Open break, Oxford A, Sheffield A, Nottingham A, and Edinburgh A won the semi-finals with the motion "THBT the US should invade and forceably partition Iraq". Semi-finals of the Zagreb EUDC In the Open semi-final 1, the following teams competed: OG: Edinburgh A OO: ...

The break of the European Universities Debating Championship 2014 in Zagreb has been announced. The following teams will compete in the out-rounds on the 22nd of August (data might be inaccurate): Open Break 23: Cambridge C 22: Oxford B 21: Cambridge B 21: Oxford A 21: GUU A 20: Cambridge A 20: Oxford C 19: Edinburgh A 19: LSE A 19: Sheffield A 19: Durham B 19: KCL A 19: Hebrew A 19: Nottingham A 19: Durham C 18: BPP A ESL Break 19: Hebrew A 18; Belgrade B 18: Lund A 18: Tartu A 18: Berlin A 17: Tel Aviv B 17: Leiden A 17: Bucharest A 17: BBU A 17: Tilbury House A 17: Mannheim A 17: ELTE A 17 BGU A 16: Belgrade A 16: Tel Aviv A 16: tie of ...

The Cambridge IV 2014 will take place on the 21st and 22nd November in Cambridge, England. The tournament features five preliminary rounds with seven minute speeches, quarter finals, semi finals, and a final, as well as semi finals and a final for teams in the category English as a Second Language (ESL). It will start at 3 o'clock on Friday with team registration and will end with a Black Tie Social on Saturday night. On Sunday, the first Cambridge Women's Open 2014 will take place. Chief Adjudicators (CAs) of the tournament will be Madeline Schultz, Deputy Chief Adjudicator (DCA) of the ...

Yael Bell and Dan Lahav have won the first BBU Open that took place from the 11th to the 13th July 2014 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The team from Tel Aviv won from Closing Opposition in a debate with the motion: You are a scientist. You have discovered absolute conclusive proof that God does not exist. This house would destroy the information. [caption id="attachment_23996" align="alignleft" width="320"] Yael Bell and Dan Lahav(c) BBU DS[/caption] In Opening Government, Belgrade with Helena Ivanov and Stefan Siridžansky competed against Lund with Michael Saliba and Peer Klüßendorf in Opening Opposition and a Mixed team with Georgiana Mihut and ...

The Adjudication team of the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC) 2015 in Vienna, Austria, is now complete as the hosts have released the names of the three deputy chief adjudicators. Gavin Illsley, Emilia Carlqvist and Amanda Moorghen will join the Chief Adjudicators (CAs) Christine Simpson and Michael Shapira. Together, the five will set the motions for the tournament, set up the judging panels and select independent adjudicator for Euros. Gavin Illsley has won Euros in 2006 and has judged two finals of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC). Emilia Carlqvist has won Euros 2013 in Manchester in the category English ...

From August 29th to August 31st, the third Athens Open will be hosted by the Deree College Debating Club. The tournament takes place merely one week after the European Universities Debating Championship in Zagreb and welcomes all debaters who want to extend their holiday stay in the South East of Europe. The Athens Open will be held in British Parliamentary Style and features 5 preliminary rounds with 7 minute speeches, Semi-Finals and a Final. Chief Adjudicators (CAs) will be Christine Simpson, CA of Zagreb EUDC 2014, and Michael Shapira, CA of Vienna EUDC 2015. Registration is open. Registration Fee is 60 Euros ...

From May 30th to June 1st, the SSE Riga Debate Society and the non-governmental organisation QUO tu domā? will host the third Debate Academy. The Debate Academy aims at debaters from different countries who want to learn more about debating and improve their skills. It consists of seven workshops given in four rooms simultaneously to account for different levels of debating proficiency of the participants. Afterwards, a tournament with four rounds and a final will be organsised so that the debaters can apply what they have learned. The trainers for the workshops will be Michael Shapira, Chief Adjudicator (CA) of the ...

The Berlin IV – European Debates Conference 2014 has its winners: Emilia Carlqvist and Peer Klüßendorf from Lund Debate Society won the final in a three-to-two split decision. Peer and Emilia debated in Opening Government as the team "Dixendorf". The motion of the final read: "This House believes that the EU should force member states to adopt socially progressive legislation (e. g. same-sex marriage, abortion rights, ethnic and religious minority rights)." [caption id="attachment_22737" align="alignright" width="400"] Participants during the public debate on Friday (c) Matthias Carcasona[/caption] "REC Truth Department", another team from Sweden consisting of Olivia Sundberg and Martin Devenney, spoke in Closing ...

Christine Simpson und Michael Shapira, Chief Adjudicators (CA) of the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC) 2015 in Vienna, have published a list of candidates for the post of Deputy Chief Adjudicator (DCA) for the Vienna EUDC. After a phase where feedback can be given, three of them will be selected as DCAs of the Vienna EUDC. The CAs therefore call upon all debaters who know one or more of the following applicants, to submit detailed feedback about their qualifications. Christine und Michael write about the feedback: "What we would like to hear from you is anything that you think is related ...

From July 11th to July 13th the BBU Open will take place in Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania, Romania. To give a first taste of the city and the tournament, the Babes-Bolyai University (BBU) Debate Society published this video on their website: The tournament features 5 preliminary rounds, semi-finals and a final. The Chief Adjudication team comprises of Anser Aftab (WUDC grand finalist 2011 and EUDC champion 2013), Fred Cowell (best speaker at EUDC 2010 and twice WUDC grand final judge), Karin Merckens (ESL grand finalist at WUDC 2013), Michael Shapira (future CA of the EUDC 2015), Milan Vignjevic (future CA of the ...

From Augst 15th to August 17th 2014, the Splitska Debatna Unija will host the Split Open 2014 in Split, Croatia. The city, founded in 300 A.D., is the second biggest city in Croatia and is situated directly on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The hosts promise beach parties and historical venues for everyone not only interested in debating. 3,5 hours by car from Zagreb, the Split Open is also designed as a preparatory tournament in the run up to Zagreb EUDC 2014. With the Ljubljana IV taking place at the same time, debaters now have a choice of tournaments ...

From the 14th to the 18th of September 2014, the Red Sea Open 2014 (RSO) will once again take place in Eilat in the south of Israel. This tournament invites debaters to combine high-level debating with a relaxing holiday trip. In the last years, participants were accommodated in an all-inclusive hotel in vicinity of the beach. Apart from that, the RSO features workshops offered by experienced debaters covering debate theory as well as various topics relevant to debating. The tournament itself will have 6 preliminary rounds, semi-finals and a final. The Chief Adjudicator will be Anat Shapira from Israel, who was CA ...

The Debattierklub Wien (DK Wien) has opened an online nomination process for Deputy Chief Adjudicators (DCAs) for the European University Debating Championship (EUDC) 2015 in Vienna. From now on, every debater can nominate somebody he deems suitable to be part of the Chief Adjudicator team for the EUDC using this online form. However, as the Chief Adjudicators Christine Simpson and Michael Shapira emphasise, a nomination neither is necessary nor sufficient to be selected as DCA. The nomination process serves the only purpose of calling attention to apt candidates who do not apply on their own. The actual application process starts on ...

In 2014 the World University Debating Championship will take place in Chennai. This week, the adjudication team, consisting in Harish Natajaran, Michael Baer, Ely Zosa, Michael Shapira, Fiona Prowse and Steven Whittington, published a Preliminary Briefing for the participants. You can find the original text here: As many individuals and institutions begin preparing for WUDC over the coming months, the Chennai Worlds Adjudication Team thought it would be helpful to provide some guidance on policies that we will be adopting. The vast majority of this year’s briefings (including much of what follows) will match last year’s briefings in Berlin. We want to ...

Last weekend, the first EBS Open organized by Bhavesh Agarval took place in Wiesbaden. There were only 16 teams due to the fact that a lot of teams canceled only a few days before the tournament. However, all participants were happy with the small EBS Open! Chief Adjudicators were Marietta Gädeke and Michael Shapira. Motions: R1: THW make EU voting compulsory. R2: You are a 19 year old boy who just finished his Abitur. As this boy, THW join the Bundeswehr (an infoslide was provided). R3: THW ban private Universities. R4: THW grant all Ethnic Germans a full Right of Return (an infoslide was provided as ...

Between September 8 and 11 2013 BGU carried out the Red Sea Open for the fourth time. Convened by Mor Zoran and Noa Golan hyper-funded by the Ben Gurion University the rounds took place on the Eilat Campus of BGU. 32 teams, an outstanding Chief Adjudication team and an all round board combined an intimate debate atmosphere with a party holiday mood.  And the debate community has a new contender that wants to host EUDC 2016. Eilat, a rather Unconventional Debate Scenery From around a dozen tournaments yearly generated on the Israeli circuit the Red Sea Open is the only one truly ...

The Debating society of the European Business School (EBS), EBS Communicate,will host their fist tournament this year. The EBS Open 2013 will be held in Wiesbaden October 11th - 13th. The Team-Cap is 36 teams, with an insitution-cap of three teams per institution. N-1 will apply, though EBS Communicate encourages aditional judges. The Reg-Fee is 15 Euro and covers meals, socials and a workshop. Crash will be provided if required. The tournament has four preliminary rounds with break to semis. Michael Shapira and Marietta Gädeke will be serving as CAs. Teams can register here, adjudicators find the registration form here. Please check ...

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 ...