Are planning freshers' nights? Then don't forget to ask for subsidies from DIE ZEIT! Read more on the details in the German version of this post. The ZEIT DEBATTEN series is convened by VDCH in cooperation with the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT and Deutsche Telekom, supported through VDCH’s media partner ZDF, a German public broadcaster. It has been a decade now since the first ZEIT DEBATTEN series kicked off with at least five annual tournaments, among them the German debating championship. The series is nested under the honorary patronage of the ...

Representatives of VDCH went to the Berlin conference of VRdS. What's with all the Vs? Well, the first stands for the Association of Debating Societies at Universities (or Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen, VDCH), the latter for the Association of Speechwriters in German Language (or Verband der Redenschreiber deutscher Sprache, VRdS). ...

VDCH experts Benedikt Nufer and Sarah Kempf analysed the debate between candidates for the Berlin senate, Klaus Wowereit and Frank Henkel. Their analysis was published in the Germa newspaper DER TAGESSPIEGEL. Please read the German version for more details.

Change in the adjudication panel: Bernd Hoefer will replace Isabelle Loewe, currently vice-presidentof Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft (DDG), the German alumni debating society. Bernd really is an old stager on the German language debating circuit: He was a runner-up at the German debating championship in 2002, vice-president of the then newly founded Association of Debating Societies at Universities (Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen, VDCH) and sat in numerous panels as final judge and was chief adjudicator at tournaments of the renowned series ZEIT DEBATTEN, among them the German debating championship in 2004. Benedikt Nufer, currently VDCH president, is going to support him ...

Keen on Ireland after Galway Euros? Well, then, off you go to the Cork IV in the south of the Emerald Isle. On December 2 and 3, debaters will compete in debates on motions by chief adjudicators (CA) Art Ward and Doug Cochran. Art is going to be CA at Belgrade Euros next year, Doug will be CA-ing the Worlds in Berlin. Both Art and Doug do have a reputation as both speakers and as judges. Registration is free for international teams while it is 75 Euros for IONA teams where IONA stands for Islands of the North Atlantic. Free as ...

Eleven months until Belgrade Euros start - and here's some news about it in the media! Also found: More statements concerning the ESL final motion of the European Universities Debating Championsips (EUDC or Euros). And the Israeli press is delighted about team Tel Aviv winning that very final. ...

Die gute Nachricht gleich mal vorneweg: Reinhold Koch vom Debattierclub München hat das Turnier beim International Debate Camp in Porto, Portugal, gewonnen. Lest hier den Bericht von G. Rhydian Morgan, der als Debattiertrainer schon die ganze Welt bereiste - diesmal das westlichste Land Europas. It started as an idea, back in November 2010, when the first Portuguese participants attended the renowned IDAS training held annually in Slovenia. Impressed and encouraged by the quality of instruction and the intensity of the programme, a group of debaters from the University of Porto Debating Society (SdDUP) headed by their President, Ary ...

A face lift every now and then... well, it’s always welcome with elderly homepages. That is the case with the website of the Debating Society Germany (DSG). After the total make-over, you may now find everything nicely and well-arranged. Most striking is the logo of the British Embassy Berlin – since early July a strong supporter of English language debating from under the roof of DSG. “Online resoures” leads you to a page full with useful debate-related links, directing you to the format of Worlds Schools Debating for instance. Or to an online debate database. Under “Regions” you will see ...

Sina Strupp was awarded for being the most promising debater new on the German language deating circuit at the German Language Debating Championship in Heidelberg in June this year. Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft, the alumni debating society of Germany, grants this award every year to one of the up-and-coming debaters. Read here the interview of a first year who will soon be debating with and against old stagers at the Masters' Cup in Eisenach. It's in German, though. “Wie eine Explosion“ war es für Sina Strupp, als sie im Sommer bei der Deutschen Debattiermeisterschaft (DDM) in Heidelberg mit dem Nachwuchspreis ausgezeichnet wurde. Den ...

Kyiv? What is that? That's the Ukrainian capital that is also called Kiev. The Kyiv Open will be held there on October 1 and 2 hosted by the Ukrainian Youth non-governmental organization Debate Academy. Language of the tournament by the river Dnieper is English, the format will be BPS. Registration fees are 15 Euros for members of the Ukrainian Debate Academy, 30 Euros for all other debaters and 10 Euros for judges. Participants are offered accommodation, meals and transfer around Kyiv. The team cap is 40, the convenors insist on the n-1 rule. Chief adjudicator is Anne Valkering (The Netherlands) ...

Would you like to spend a few days in the warm tropics, a cool sea breeze playing in your hair, the sun high in an immaculately blue sky, as a turquoise sea crashes onto a secluded beach? So would we. Nevertheless, you may also be interested in the 2011 Centrale Paris IV taking place on December 2 and 3. It will be staged at the “picturesque campus” of the École Centrale de Paris – only half an hour by public transport from the centre of Paris. Très centrale! Language of debate is English, the format will be British Parliamentary Style (BPS). ...

After the the rules for OPD (a format called Offene Parlamentarische Debatte which is widely spread in Germany) have been revised, so have the materials for introduction and training. Streitkultur Tübingen have made the documents available on their homepage.

Facts: BPS workshop (advanced) Mainz September 16 to 18, 2011 BPS, German 15 Euros Coaches: Marcus Ewald, Lukas Haffert registration until September 7

Supporting debate events in any language is the main and common goal of IDEA and OSF. IDEA stands for International Debate Education Association, OSF for Open Society Foundations.Both aim at building democracies that are responsible to their citizens, both do that through supporting debate activities - this time on a very local basis with (limited) financial means. You're planing a debate event? Or have an innovative idea that needs to be subsidized? Apply now for support! More info is available from the website of OSF. General standards for assigning subsidies are the following: Only groups established for a not-for-profit purpose with ...

Facts: September 17, 2011 Zurich BPS, German 20 Euros ProAm teams registration until 10. September

Ahhhh, summer holidays! Finally: Sleeping in, extended breakfast, enjoy the summer day, relax from school. A good book might compete with the all-too-fast online world. Uhm, well, the German delegation who went to the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC or World Schools) 2011 in Dundee obviuosly meant to do the oppositie of all this: Long trip to Scottland, getting up early in the morning, out into Scottish weather, in to the next debate, out of the  debate, doing late night online research for the next day. Tired, hungry, disappointed by losses, totally euphoric from wins, running between venues, competing with ...

The next season of the German debating ZEIT DEBATTEN series is set: the general assembly of VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities, came together in August and decided upon dates and locations of four ZEIT DEBATTEN tournaments, three regional championships and the German debating championship (MDD) 2012. An overview over the coming season 2011/12 is provided here: ZEIT DEBATTE Karlsruhe, 25 to 27 November 2011 Organised by Debatte Karlsruhe, CAs Yin Cai (DC Heidelberg), Christoph Krakowiak and Mario Dießner (both SK Berlin), ormat OPD. ZEIT DEBATTE Hamburg, 13. to 15. Januar 2012 Organised by Debattierclub Hamburg, ...

Gudrun Lux, president of Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft (DDG), the German alumni association for debaters, announced the CA team of Masters' Cup 2011. Traditionally, one member each from VDCH and DDG executive boards are the chief adjudicators of Masters’ Cup. This year, this will be the recently elected president of VDCH Benedikt Nufer and Gudrun's deputy, DDG vice president Isabelle Loewe. The Masters’ Cup is the annual tournament which is staged at Eisenach since 2005. The venue for the final is the ballroom at the world heritage site Wartburg. The Masters’ style was specifically developed ...

Extra, extra! The first women only debating tournament in the history of German debating took place: Jena hosted the girls from August 17 to 19. Chief adjudicators Andrea Gau (Mainz), Sarah Jaglitz (Greifswald) and Dessislava Kirova (Berlin) and female debaters from Greifswald, Halle, Münster, Mainz, Tübingen and Jena assembled in the Thuringian town to debate. Fun Fact No. 1:  It was the boys who were catering for the girls: Coffee, cake, and hot'n'spicy Curry à la Clemens Lechner. Yummy! Fun Fact No. 2: Half of the debaters for vegetarians. Hence, the vegetarian curry. Fun Fact No. 3: An ...

The Committee on OPD Rules (Regelkommission) sat and adapted a few changes. OPD? Yepp, that's the most popular format of debating on the German language circuit: Offene Parlamentarische Debatte, or open parliamentary debate (OPD). It was founded in 2002 and since then updated whenever necessary. The authors of the set of rules are Bernd Rex, Ansgar Kemmann and Michael Hoppmann, all of them debaters from Streitkultur Tübingen, Germany's oldest deb soc. Included in the set is now the permission to use electronic devices such as smart phones during prep time - or more exactly: the convenors may decided upon the permission ...

From 17 to 19 August the first women only debating tournament took place in Germany organized by the Debattiergesellschaft Jena. 16 speakers argued in five preliminary rounds and the final. Sophie Binas (Klartext Halle) and Franziska Bröker (S.A.E.C.L.O. Greifswald), the latter just finished grammar school, won the final from the position of Closing Opposition. To learn more about the tournament and its motions, please read the German version of this article. Get an impression of the tournament from the video that broadcaster Jena-TV published on their website. vro / apf

Furor on the web about the ESL final motion and more blogs and articles that report from the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros): That’s what we found for you on the internet. ...

Disclaimer: This article reflects my (Manos Moschopoulos’) own personal point of view, which does not necessarily reflect the opinion of anyone else involved with the Adjudication core or Organizing Committee of Belgrade EUDC 2012. Addendum: Manos' text refers to a Facebook group where a Dutch debater complains about the motion of the ESL final at the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) at Galway, Ireland. This very debater, Eric Stam, has also voiced his opinion on the website of the Dutch debating assosication. By the way, the motion read "This house believes ...

News from the Western foot of the Black Forest: Debattierclub Freiburg elected a their executive board. Johannes Samlenski and Zsolt Szilagyi were confirmed in their offices as president and vice-president respectively. The newbie on board is Patrick Flamm as treasurer, following Christian von Sieg in the office. Good luck to the three!

A message from Fred Cowell, prospective chief adjudicator of the Leeds bid, reached Achte Minute just now. There he is very sorry that in Leeds they have concluded to withdraw their bid for the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) 2012 and not present it to the EUDC Council in Galway next week. His message reads as follows: ...

They did it: The Dresden Debating Union elected a new executive board. Alexander Sötzner is now president, treasurer is Marcel Sauerbier, Nora Sachse serves as vice president. All the best for their work in Dresden!

Working together for yet another season: The German public broadcaster ZDF (or Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) and the Association of Debating at Universities (VDCH, or Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen) have agreed on extending the cooperation between the two institutions. Jan Lüken, president of the students association, is delighted, “to have ZDF on board for another season. The cooperation proves that debating does have strong partners. VDCH is on a good way to reach the goals of the Roadmap 2015. Having the broadcaster on board is winning partners in key positions to strengthen debating.” ZDF has been VDCH’s partner since spring 2010. ...

Somewhere around Newcastle Euros, I was sitting with Kimon Ioannides, Milan Vignjevic and Marko Cirovic when we came up with the idea of a Belgrade Euros. At the time, we had no idea what it took to run the tournament; it just seemed like a genuinely good idea. Our instincts, two years later, are probably proven right as the University of Belgrade and the Open Communication Debating Network have put together a very strong bid to host the next round of the European University Debating Championships. We ...

You are a German alumnus or alumna debater? Well then, join the German alumni debating society and take part in the Masters' Cup in Eisenach. Stage of this spectacle is the famous Wartburg on top of the Thuringian Forest. Read more on the details and the infamous socials in the German version of this article.

The new president of Debattierclub Stuttgart is now Sven M. Hein, his deputy is Alexey Gyoeri. Treasurer of DC Stuttgart for the upcoming season is Alex Bauer. Good luck and a merry start into the new season!