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”.

Chief Adjudicators van Beusekom, Irvine, Smith, Har-Oz, Large, Winners Kotler and Forman – © Jonas Huggins

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, and the Chief Adjudicators Yair Har-Oz, Paul Smith, and Annabelle van Beusekom. The panel came to an unanimous decision. The five-head Chief Adjudication team also included Rebecca Irvine and Sophie Large.

The tournament was convened by Frederick Aly and Calyxx Peucker for the Berlin Debating Union.

The 10 best speakers after the preliminary rounds were:

1. Emma Lucas (81 points on average)
1. Sharon Gil (81)
3. Melda Eren (80.4)
3. Tommy Peto (80.4)
5. Milla Huuskonen (80)
6. Leo Yung (79.79)
6. Roel Becker (79.79)
6. Monica Forman (79.79)
6. Raffy Marshall (79.79)
10. Wladi Jachtchenko (79.59)

The motions of the tournament:

R1: This House would allow the police to use entrapment (with definition).

R2: This House believes that governments should secretly distribute this compound to their populations.

Info slide: A tasteless, odorless, and undetectable chemical compound has been invented that causes all those continually exposed to it to feel perpetually artificially content. There are no side effects. The compound can be distributed through the air with 100 % success rate.

R3: This House would remove minors from families strongly associated with organized crime.

R4: This House regrets corporations’ use of feminism in marketing.

R5: This House would make all individual tax returns publicly available.

SF: This House believes that Brexit was good for the European Union.

Final: This House prefers a world where there is only one religion.

hug./lok.