Rain, rain, rain - all over Germany! But the brave debaters of the Boddencup never gave in and even did their BBQ in Greifswald. A short lesson on German geography: "Bodden are brackish bodies of water along the southwestern shores of the Baltic Sea, primarily in Germany's state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern around the island of Rügen," as Wikipedia has it. This year's Boddencup was staged by Greifwald's debating society for the third time in a row. It was also the final of the first season of Freie Debattierliga, or free debating league (FDL). Read more on a rainy weekend by the ...

New executive board in the German capital: The Berlin Debating Union (BDU) elected a new board. Dessislava Kirova was confirmed in her office as president. She is now supported by John Eltringham, Juliane Mendelsohn, Kai Dittmann und Juliane Zeuschner. Good luck to BDU, especially with the Worlds ahead!

New executive board in Münster: President is now Aris Miro Marinello, his deputies are Philipp Schmidtke and Gerrit Gottschalk. Congrats to the newly elected triumvirate!

This article is not avalaible in English. Please read the german post. ...

The VDCH general assembly is going to sit in Frankfurt on August 20 and 21. Please read more on the detail in the German version of this article.

The new executive board of Debatte Karlsruhe is composed of Johannes Janosovits, Leo Vogel, Moritz Klammler, Frederik Diehl and Jan Kaufmann.

Mixing cocktails, strolling through Berlin, the German women football team losing to Japan, prospective Worlds and Euros convenors beating each other in distributing their giveaways ... All that and much more is the Berlin IV. Find here the motions, the break to (semi-)finals and the tab! And read the German version of this article to learn more about how Manuel Adams saw the Berlin IV or what it is called these days. The motions: [caption id="attachment_10365" align="alignright" width="226" caption="Convenor Dessislava Kirova talking to a participant of the Berlin IV.  (Picture: Manuel Adams)"][/caption] 1. Vorrunde: This house would financially incentivise parents to have two ...

The debating society Debattierclub Hamburg has a new executive board. Clemens Koester has been elected president, his deputy is Stella Schaller. Responsible for the finances is Melanie Röpke. Congratulations and good luck with your work!

Please read the German version of this article to learn more on how the Hamburg Debating Society seeks for their club champion. ...

Please read the German version of this article to learn more on how Miriam Hauft experienced the Elbe Open in Magdeburg.

News from Stuttgart: His Excellency, the Ambassadorof the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Germany, Simon McDonald, is now patron of the Debating Society Germany (DSG). DSG chairman David Whitehead is really delighted to have the ambassador as patron: "This is a huge step forward for the society and we are deeply humbled by and grateful for this act. Such a patronage will permit us to promote the cause of English-language debating in Germany with more vigour than ever before." The amabassador has agreed to be the patron of the society during his term ...

Big names in a relatively small town - learn how Andreas Lazar saw this year's Durham Open and read the German version of this article.

Tübingen made it: A new world record in non-stop debating! The brave debaters are Pauline Leopold, Steffen Jenner (runner-ups to this year's German Debating Championship), Peter Croonenbroeck (German champion 2010), Sebastian Frankenberger (chair of the German party ÖPD), Boris Konrad (world record in competitive memory) and Roman Kremer (candidate for Die Piraten in the German Federal State of Baden-Württemberg). They have been debating 44 hours without a break. Please read the German version of this to learn about the motions and other details.

Read more about the public debate of Debatte Karlsruhe in the German version of this article.

The biggest festival in northern Europe - that's Kieler Woche. The debating society of the University of Kiel gave a debate there - please read the German version of this article to learn about the details.

The CAs of BaWü, the Open Baden-Wurttembergian Championship, have been announced: Yin Cai from DebatingClub Heidelberg and Christoph Krakowiak from Streitkultur Berlin are going to be the masters of the motions. Please read the German version of this article to learn more about the details. ...

"Ich bin ein Berliner", "I have a dream" and "Yes we can"! Speech may change the world - but where can you learn that? Of course, in a debate club! The team of show "Sommerzeit" of the Austrian broadcaster ORF with presenter Reinhard "Jesi" Jesionek visited Debattierklub Wien to learn how a debate works and what you can do in a debate club. The presenter joined the debate on the topic "Should all search for extraterrestrial life be stopped immediately?" together with the Viennese debaters and was thus able to experience first hand how a debate club breeds excellent debaters ...

The Scotsmen are calling! Let's go and compete at this year's Edinburgh Cup on October 8 and 9. It's an open, so you may "bring whoever you like for 5 rounds of 7-minute speeches over two days, with a break to a semi-final," the convenors promise on their Facebook website. They assembled a great team for adjudication: Isabelle Loewe (EUDC champiom 2006), Ben Woolgar (finalist at Euros and Worlds alike) and Dearbhail O' Crowley (chief adjudicator at the upcoming SOAS Open). They make it a fine start into the new season in fall, being "a great opportunity to get back into ...

Sina Strupp from Mainz won the award for being the up-and-coming debater awarded by Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft (DDG), the German alumni society. ...

For teams qualified for semis of the Deutsche Debattiermeisterschaft (DDM), or German Debating Championship. Read here who competed on a sunny Sunday morning for the title of Deutscher Meister. The motion read "Brauchen wir einen europäischen Marshallplan für Nordafrika?", or "Do we need a Marshall Plan for North Africa?". ...

The German Debating Championship is getting more and more exciting. The motion reads "Soll die Wikipedia Weltkulturerbe werden?", or "Should Wikiepedia become World Heritage?". Read here who made it to quarters in Heidelberg: ...

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version to learn about how the team from Jena gained a reputation to always go second in the German Championship. ...

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version to learn about which teams, free speakers and adjudicators made it to octos at the Deutsche Debattiermeisterschaft (DDM), or German Championship in Heidelberg. ...

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version to learn about how Patrick Ehmann loves trees. ...

"Embracing dissent" is the claim of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC, or Worlds). Please check back later for the English version of this article or read the German version of this piece meanwhile to learn about how Filip Bubenheimer and Matthias Winkelmann came up with this slogan, what they have to say about it and how they are qualified for brand management.

Please read the German version of this article to learn more on how Florian Umscheid saw the ZEIT DEBATTE tournament in Jena.

The Break of the ZEIT DEBATTE Jena is online! Please read the German version of this article to learn who made it to semis. apf / vro ...

This article is not available in English in full. Please read the German version of this article to discover the Jacobs Open 2011 from Florian Umscheid's point of view. ...

“Embracing Dissent“ is the motto of the WUDC Berlin 2013 – “We believe this reflects the enlightening and liberating clash of ideas that shaped European and German history - and, of course, what makes debate relevant and exciting”, the Facebook site of WUDC Berlin 2013 announced. No doubt, there is a natural dissent between the fractions of a parliamentary debate. Yet, there might also be dissent during the preparatory phase of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds), for instance in a heated debate about the motto. However, consent was the motto when now WUDC convenor Patrick Ehmann travelled the ...