Monica Forman and Daan Welling – © Balázs Dezsényi

The team Orban Outfitters (Daan Welling & Monica Forman) won the final of the 96-team Budapest Open 2017. They were Opening Opposition on the motion “THBT it is the Moral Imperative of Liberals within Eastern Europe to stay within their Home Country, rather than Emigrate to More Progressive Countries.”

Orban Outfitters beat out We know team names. We have the best team names (Olle Reberg, Jamie Batchelor) in Opening Government who replaced the advancing Melda + Jonah (Melda Eren, Johan Båge) who left due to scheduling conflicts. They also ranked above Tel Aviv Ya Habibi Tel Aviv (Noam Dahan, Tom Manor) in Closing Government and The Clash (Jesper Eriksson, Rita Chudnovskaya) in Closing Opposition.

The final was judged by Olivia Sundberg Diez as Speaker of the House, with a panel of Rebecca Irvine, Sara Filipović, Ilija Ivanišević, and Benji Kalman.

The winners of the novice final: Filip Branović and Mihajlo Pavlović – © Johannes Meiborg

The Novice Final with the motion “TH Opposes the Dominant Narrative in Popular Culture that there exists a Soulmate for Everyone” was won by My hearth will go on and so on and so on (Filip Branović, Mijajlo Pavlović) in Closing Government against the Opening Government MUN Team Rejects (Mohvindh Manirajah, Alexandria Sisson), Opening Opposition Sleek yet nowhere to be seen (Marlyse Lissan, Anais Vue) and Closing Opposition Ljubljana C (Karin Hrovatin, Gea Saje).

The adjudication panel for the Novice Final consisted of Yair Har-Oz (chair), Olivia Sundberg Diez, Fergus Peace, Lisa Knodt and  Milla Huuskonen.

Alon Van Dam was the top speaker of the tournament with an average of 81.8 speaker points while Marta Vosic was announced best novice speaker with an average of 78.6 speaker points.

These teams broke into the open quarter-finals:

1. The Clash on 15 points (Jesper Eriksson, Rita Chudnovskaya)
2. English is our SECOND language on 13 points (Ben Shaw, Jure Hederih)
3. RRIS A on 12 points (Alon van Dam, Talia Teplinsky)
4. Melda + Johan on 12 points (Melda Eren, Johan Båge)
5. Cold & Hungry on 12 points (Elaye Karstadt, Gilad Ramati)
6. Tel Aviv Ya Habibi Tel Aviv on 11 points (Noam Dahan, Tom Manor)
7. Orban Outfitters on 11 points (Daan Welling, Monica Forman)
8. I kissed Shomi on 11 points (Janko Djordjevic, Marta Vasic)
9. Berlin CC on 11 points (Christof Kebschull, Christina Dexel)
10. Vienna Klimt on 11 points (Melanie Sindelar, Katja Schager)
11. Gavrilo Principal Argumentation on 11 points (Aleksandra Mihajlovic, Miloš Marjanović)
12. We know team names. We have the best team names on 10 points (Olle Reberg, Jamie Batchelor)
13. URDU A on 10 points (Ben Frazer, Dan Lemire)
14. Bušmani on 10 points (Tin Puljić, Manuel Kralj)
15. Equity Violation on 10 points (Sabina Weston, Aron Cohen)
16. Peta on 10 points (Eta Krpanec, Luka Petrović)

Floris Holstege answers questions after the first round – © Johannes Meiborg

The breaking judges were (in alphabetical order) :
Agnes Putri, Alex Moise, Aline Fleetwood, Benji Kalman, Dan Lahav, Davy Fung, Fergus Peace, Floris Holstege, Georgiana Mihut, Ilija Ivanišević, Itay Ben Yair, Jamie Jackson, Jovan Petronijevic, Kristina Georgieva, Lio Kaufman, Lisa Knodt, Martin Devenney, Milla Huuskonen, Olivia Sundberg Diez, Philip Schröder, Rebecca Irvine, Sara Filipović, Stav Singer, redacted, and Yair Har-Oz.

The organizers of this year’s Budapest Open were ELTE Vitaklub, CEU Debate Society, EVE – Egyetemi Vitaegyesület and Corvinus Vitaklub with Lamine Kane as the main convenor. The CA team of Olivia Sundberg Diez, Rebecca Irvine, Dan Lahav, and Floris Hostelge also included the feature of one of them answering questions regarding the respective motion after each round. The tournament was held from Saturday, the 4th of March through Sunday, the 5th of March.

The Motions:
Rd 1: THW allow local communities to vote to reduce the amount of policing present within their districts.

Rd 2: THBT China should remove its restrictions on rural to urban migrants.

Rd 3: Info slide: Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory is when an individual has an extraordinary ability to recall their past experiences and events in great detail
 THP a world where everyone has Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory.

Rd 4: Info slide: Womens’ gun rights organisations are feminist activist groups that seek to promote female gun ownership.
Examples of their activities include: organising shooting classes, encouraging their members to socialise, and publicly portraying female gun owners positively. They currently exist in many nations where private gun ownership is legalised.

Given that private gun ownership is legal, This House Supports the Existence of Womens’ Gun Rights Organisations.

Rd 5: THBT African countries should adopt English as the principal language of instruction in schools. [This motion was a replacement for a motion that was accidentally shown prior to the draw]

QF: Info slide: For the purposes of this debate, in countries that have capital punishment, an executioner duty is equivalent to jury duty, but for the part of the execution – i.e. a civic duty of a randomly selected group of people to perform the execution of an individual. For example, if a state has approved death by firing squad, an executioner duty in that state would be randomly selecting a group of individuals to serve as the squad.

In countries that have the death penalty, THW Implement an Executioner Duty.

SF: THW Allow Individuals to Sue Religious Organizations for Compensation for the Harmful Effects of Choices Made as a Result of Adherence to Religious Doctrine.

NF: THO the dominant narrative in popular culture that there exists a soulmate for everyone.

F: THBT it is the Moral Imperative of Liberals within Eastern Europe to stay within their Home Country, rather than Emigrate to More Progressive Countries

anonym/jm.