While by now, we may have gotten used to Vuvuzelas during the football world cup, Africa is already gearing up for another large event: The World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC) in Botswana! The Chief Adjudicators around Logandran Balavijendran want to guarantee that the judges pool meets the highest standards and therefore pledge special financial assistance for sixty judges from Africa and the rest of the world.

Adjuticators who receive the assistance are exempt from participation fees. They will also be reimbursed up to USD 1,000 in travel costs. Conditions for assistance are previous WUDC participation (as speaker or adjudicator) as well as experience as a judge at Worlds or another large international BP tournament. Furthermore, all applicants must have the capacity to chair a debate. The call for grant applications is aimed at independent adjudicators, meaning those do not participate subject to the n-1 rule.

Those applicants will be shortlisted who fulfill all listed criteria and furthermore are deemed to have chances to break as adjudicators, serve as responsible and reliable chairs and whose participation at Worlds would be impossible or highly uncertain without the assistance.

If you feel called upon, send your application until August 10 to adjudication[at]botswanaworlds.com. You are required to explain why you fulfill the selection criteria and why you are the right candidate to receive such a grant. The conveners also add that those who receive assistance will still be required to take the adjudication test and that granting of a subsidy does not guarantee you will break a the tournament.

apf / glx / fnp