Debating at the Dutch Open: From 30 to 31 March, the Erasmus Debating Union of Leiden is host to up to 52 teams. 50 Euros per team for five prelims, 7-minutes-speeches, break to semis, a novice final, meals on Friday and Saturday, two socials and crash - plus, judges go free! Apropos judges: As usual, the n-1 rule applies. The chief adjudication team is formed by Rogier Baart (WUDC ESL finalist), Becky West (EUDC semi-finalist), Steph Bell (WUDC finalist) and Marcus Ewald (EUDC ESL quarter-finalist). Register now via Google Spreadsheet - don't wait longer than 1 March! More details are available ...

Manuel Adams took part in the World Debate Forum (WDF), this time staged in Manila. It was in Botswana where the WDF was hosted for the first time, an initiative of Logan Balavijendran. 50 participants, 15 papers, 2 days - these are the numbers of the forum, please read the German version of Manuel's report to learn more about the facts: debating in Burma, teachers' education in Iraq and the distribution of debating on the Balkans and many more circuits. ...

New FDL results: Tübingen (44) Mainz (37) Heidelberg Debating (34) AFA Wien (20), Hamburg (20) Top speakers FDL: Philipp Stiel (44) Willy Witthaut (38) Zsolt Szilagyi (35) Read more in this in the German version.

Julian Ohm and Barbara Schunicht from Debattierclub Hamburg won the Berlin Punk 2012. They defeated Andreas Lazar and Roxanna Noll from Debattierclub Stuttgart and two teams from Berlin Debating Union: Jonas Werner and Katja Krüger aswell as Christina Dexel and Lilian Seffer. The final motion read “Dieses Haus glaubt, dass Menschenversuche Richtern als Strafmaß zur Verfügung stehen sollten.“ ...

sorry, there is no English translation available. Please read the German version. ...

Trauma overcome! Worlds' runner-up Dessislava Kirova gives Achte Minute'e appreciated readers an insight on how she and her team mate Juliane Mendelsohn have overcome their trauma of being defeated in quarters - and how the proceed straight on to the finals of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) in Manila, Philippines. (The story is in German, please check back later for an English translation.) ...

Female power straight on through to the final - Dessislava Kirova and Juliane Mendelsohn of Berlin Debating Union (BDU) are runner-ups to Omer and Sella Nevo from Israel who won the ESL final of the World University Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds). Congrats from Achte Minute to all! The ladies gave Achte Minute an interview - please switch to the German page to read the full story or check back later for an English translation.

We are sorry, this article is not available in English.

Changes on the executive board of Debattierclub Münster: Teresa Widlok just replaced Gerrit Gottschalk as vice president of the debating society. She is now working with president Aris Miro Marinello and Philipp Schmidtke who have already been elected in summer. Good luck!

For debaters at De La Salle Worlds in Manila today was launch day, with three preliminary rounds taking place at De La Salle University (DLSU). During preliminary rounds, no distinction is made between different language levels (Open/ESL/EFL), so especially round 1 saw a wild mix of debaters from all over the world, clashing over the motion "This house would make fathers take paternity leave", a nice and not-too-hard start into the day. ...

Today, De La Salle Worlds in Manila kicked off for good! Day 1, however, was an easy one for debaters. Many of them were asked to take part in ESL and EFL interviews to confirm their status in the respective category: English as a Second Language and English as a Foreign Language. Adjudicators were challenged more thoroughly. They had to go through a test to determine their skill as a judge. It consisted of a live debate performed in front of the adjudicators, which they had to critique. The motion for that test debate read: "This house would ban all reporting ...

Debaters from all over the world are flocking in to Manila, Philippines. From 27 December 2011 to 4 January 2012, they assemble at De La Salle University (DLSU) to compete for the title of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds). From under the roof of VDCH there will be the following debating society competing with around 400 teams from about 70 countries - all in a peaceful competition, the WUDC 2012 or DLSU Worlds: Berlin Debating Union: John Eltringham, Narendran Ramasendaran, Dessislava Kirova, Juliane Mendelsohn, Kai Dittmann, Matthias Winkelmann S.A.E.C.L.O. Greifswald: Rafael Heinisch, Ida Heidecker Debattierclub Mannheim: Jana Gilke, Katrin Sadroschinski Debattierclub Johannes ...

Dear readers of Achte Minute, dear friends, we wish you merry holidays and a happy new year! On top of that, we would like to thank you for being such devoted readers. We hope that after the holidays we will be the sams up-to-date and reliable reporters that you are used to when it comes to debating-related issues on the German speaking debating circuit and beyond. Achte Minute is a honorary project which is supported by the commitment of many. We thank you all for your commitment that makes Achte Minute what it is. We are always happy about recent information and ...

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Nicolas Eberle, member of the executive board of Deutsche Debattiergeselschaft (DDG), prepped Austrian debaters in Vienna. Please read more on this in the German version of this article. ...

FDL Rankings after round 2: 1. Heidelberg Debating (34 points) 2. Mainz (32) 3. Freiburg, Tübingen (19) 5. München (14) The top five speakers: 1. Zsolt Szilagyi (35 Punkte) 2. Almut Graebsch, Victoria Reuter (30) 4. Peter Croonenbroeck (26) 5. Jan Papsch, Willy Witthaut (24) Manuel Adams / apf

New executive for Debado, the debating society of the Dortmund universities: Gregor Steinhagen is now president, Carsten Langhoff his deputy, or vice-president. Good luck!

Heidelberg Debating A (Sven Hirschfeld, Daniel Sommer and Franzi Kriegelstein) won the final of the renown Streitkultur Cup 2011 in Tübingen. They defeated Streitkultur Pheme from Tübingen (Peter Croonenbroeck, Anne Suffel and Jonathan Spanos).Free speakers were Philipp Stiel, Lukas Windhager and Dominic Hildebrand. The final was judged by Vanessa Schilling, Tobias Kube, Oliver Hörtensteiner, Sarah Kempf and Leo Vogel. Mario Dießner functioned as president of the final debate. The audience chose Peter Croonenbroeck as best speaker of the final who was awarded with a traditional cactus. [caption id="attachment_11479" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The winners of the Streitkultur Cup 2011: Sven Hirschfeld, Franzi Kriegelstein ...

The break of Streitkultur-Cup is here: The first team to break in Tübingen is Heidelberg Debating A (Sven Hirschfeld, Daniel Sommer, Franzi Kriegelstein), the second is Streitkultur Pheme (Peter Croonenbroeck, Anne Suffel, Jonathan Spanos). Free speakers breaking: Philipp Stiel, Lukas Windhager and Dominic Hildebrand. The top-of-the-tab team Xavers Zamperl from Munich (Franziska Schuster-Städter, Almut Graebsch, Jan-Felix Schneider)were not eligible to break since the broke something else: the pro-am rule. The fresher in the team must not have started debating before September 2011. Read more on this in the German version of this article.

Germany's oldest debating society is becoming 20 years - celebrations of the anniversarystarting this weekend. Please read the German version of this article to learn more about the details.

Still looking for your lost & found after this summer's DDM? Read the German version of this bit to learn the whereabouts of your shoes, coats and sweaters.

Debaters of Saxony-Anhalt competed in the first Saxony-Anhalt Derby. Read the German version to learn which society defeated the other.

Debating in Germany is just 20 years old - the oldest debating society being Streitkultur Tübingen, founded in 1991. For their anniversary they take a whole weekend to celebrate. Kick-off for the celebrations is a show debate between on one side Ansgar Kemmann and Thomas Schwarz Wentzer, of the generation of the founding fathers, and on the other side Philipp Stiel and Peter Croonenbroeck, winner of the German national championship 2010. The show debate will take place on Friday, December 9. Guest of honor will be Asfa-Wossen Asserate, honorary senator of the University of Tübingen and grandnephew of Haile Selassie. The ...

Did you have fun at Euros this summer? Then Galway is the right address for you: Join the Galway Open on February 11 and 12! Eileen Coughlan,convener of the tournament, will be delighted to welcome debaters from all over the continent. Chief adjudicators are Sean Butler (sixth best speaker at Euros this year) and Muireann O'Dwyer (winner and best speaker of the  Cork Open 2011). Eileen is promising an excellent judging pool, including Worlds and Euros breaking judges, "super-effective tabbing from our tabmaster, David Hartery", "all the food and drink you can handle" and two great socials. To attract more international ...

Daniel Sommer, an old-stager on the German debating circuit, on online debates and their merits. Please read the German version to learn about Daniel's  conclusion. This article was originally published in the recent issue of the newsletter of VDCH, or Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen (Association of Debating Societies at Universities). This issue was on "debates on the internet". Read the complete newsletter on the VDCH homepage.

Gregor Landwehr, who hosts an online platform for debates, on online debates and their merits. Please read the German version to learn about Gregor's  conclusion. This article was originally published in the recent issue of the newsletter of VDCH, or Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen (Association of Debating Societies at Universities). This issue was on "debates on the internet". Read the complete newsletter on the VDCH homepage.

SkypeDebate - online debates via Skype, initiated by Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg. Curious? Read more on this in the German version of this article.