A good judging pool at tournaments is eminent for the competitions - and for excellent feedback. Achte Minute talked to Philipp Stiel and Leo Vogel, president and vice-president of the association of debating societies at universities (VDCH, or Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen). Please read more on this in the German version of this article.

Berlin! Berlin! Berlin! Again we're cheering for Berlin: Team A of the Berlin Debating Union (BDU) made it to the semis: Jonas Werner and Niels Schröter - yay! In quarters, they were closing opp in a debate on "This house supports life sentences without the possibility of parole for serial re-offenders." Now, they're debating the motion "This house believes that the militaries in newly democratized Arab countries should act as the guardian angels of society" from closing gov. ...

And here is the even more so awaited open break to quarters at the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros). It's called "open" because it's open to any team that's good enough to compete with Oxbridge or TCD Hist or any of the big names. Please find the ranking and the draw below. ...

Long awaited, heavily fought for, now it's here: Theeeeeeeeeee brrrrrrreak! Please find below the teams that made it to the quarter-finals of the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros) 2012 in Belgrade Serbia. As usual, there are two categorie, ESL (English as a Second Language) and Open (open to everybody who is good enough). Here's the ESL break and the draw. ...

Yep, the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros) is still going on. It's day 3, the last three prelims are scheduled for today. We've got an update on the results of most of the teams from under the roof of VDCH (Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen, or association of debating societies at universities). This is how they performed in the first six preliminary rounds: Results after round 6 Gutenberg, Nicolas and Robert, 9 points Gutenberg, Thore and Willy, 8 Tübingen, Konrad and Jonas, 8 Tübingen, Marie and Sophie, 6 Heidelberg, Lucas and Jan, (Sorry, no update available so far!) Stuttgart, Andreas and Gregor, 10 BDU, Dessi and ...

A little less hot in Belgrade, said the weather forecast. Only 31 degree Celsius, said the weather forecast. Must have felt like a fresh breeze after 40 degrees the day before. At least, today no one complained about the Serbian heat on Twitter. Rather, some obviously ate ice cream in between rounds for reasons of refreshment. Apart from the weather, there's more exciting news from the Serbian capital: Again, Willy Witthaut helped us gather the results for VDCH club - thank you! (Again, of some teams we only have the data after previous rounds. We're trying to collect more data.) Results after ...

Alright, guys, London Olympics is out - all eyes on Belgrade now: "#EUDC is officially open!" Debaters of Europe have assembled in the Serbian capital to compete for the title of the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros). Numbers include 200 teams, nine preliminary rounds, two quarters (in the categories "open" and "English as a Second Language," ESL), two semi-finals and two finals. That makes a schedule as follows: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday three prelims each Thursday both open and ESL quarters, ESL semis Friday open semis, both open and ESL finals A European debating championship needs motions need a chief adjudicator: Art Ward. ...

Wine, debates, WUDC and much much more - please read the German version of this article to learn more about the German language debating championship still going on in Vienna. Them motions of the first five prelims: Dieses Haus verpflichtet Pharmakonzerne, die Hälfte ihres Forschungsetats auf Krankheiten zu verwenden, die primär in Entwicklungsländern auftreten. Dieses Haus verbietet Inlandsgeheimdiensten, Parlamentsabgeordnete zu überwachen. Dieses Haus trägt die Fußballeuropameisterschaft weiterhin mit 16 Teams aus. Dieses Haus, das technisch dazu in der Lage ist, klont den Neandertaler. Dieses Haus führt Eurobonds ein. It's the first time the German language debating championship (Meisterschaft im deutschsprachigen Debattieren or MDD) is hosted outside Germany. ...

The German language debating championship is about to start in Vienna, Austria. Competing for the title are 68 teams from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, or debating societies from Aachen, Bayreuth, Berlin, Bonn, Dresden, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Graz, Göttingen, Halle, Hamburg, Hannover, Heidelberg, Ingolstadt, Jena, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Klagenfurt, Köln, Konstanz, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Mainz, Marburg, München, Münster, Potsdam, Regensburg, Salzburg, Stuttgart, St. Gallen, Tübingen, Wien, Würzburg and Zürich. Learn more about MDD in the German version of this article and follow us on Facebook and Twitter (hashtag #MDD12). It's the first time the German language debating championship (Meisterschaft im deutschsprachigen Debattieren or MDD) is hosted ...

February 29 is a date not so common, recurring only once in four years. This year, it'll be a day to remember for another reason, too: Registration for the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros) opens that day. Get your computers ready, check your internet connection and make sure eveything is in the right place on Wednesday, 12 o'clock CET, i.e. Central European Time. Convener Milan Vignjevic explains it more detailed: "That is 11:00 London/Dublin/Lisbon, 12:00 Belgrade/Paris/Amsterdam/Berlin, 13:00 Athens/Ankara/Tallinn and 14:00 Moscow/Doha time." And he's got another good advice: "Make sure your institutional representative has their clicking finger warmed ...

Simeon Reusch, VDCH vice-president knows the answer: South: Debating soieties from Switzerland, Austria, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria Central: Deb socs from Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Saarland and Thuringia North: Deb socs from Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Northrhine-Westphalia und Schleswig-Holstein Chief adjudicators for the tourneys from 21 to 22 April are: Marcus Ewald and Jan Lüken, for the South, to be held in Ingolstadt Benedikt Nufer and Michael Saliba, for the North, to be held in Kiel Pauline Leopold and Clemens Lechner, for the Center, to be held in Jena Language of debate is German, all competitions will be held in the format of BPS.

Since we guess that our appreciated readers follow us on Twitter your head will most probably be replete with impressions from De La Salle Worlds. But what are the facts and figures about the Wolrd Universities Debating Championships (WUDC)? Or maybe you have been there yourself and want to sort things out now? Your Achte Minute team provides you with all you might want to know – and even beyond. By the way, you still might wanna follow the Hashtag #WUDC on Twitter – you’ll find funny stories and how everybody copes with the aftermath of post-Worlds exhaustion. ...

New year's daywas quiet at World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worls) in Manila:Most debater had the chance to take a tour around the Philippinian capital, relaxed and hang out at the hotel. That was not true today for the national delegates. They had to sit in the WUDC Council where they decide about a new Council president, the confirmation of the current bid for next Worlds and the bid for the Worlds after that. And there we have a new president: Steve Johnson, until recently "registrar", followed Jens Fischer in the office. With him on the Council board are Eoin ...

Seven liberties of university students - debating is one of them according to the German newspaper Tagesspiegel. Read the German version of this to learn more about the newspaper's recommendation of the Berlin Debating Union.

All candidates have applied for the office of deputy chief adjudicator for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) to be held in Berlin. Now the chief adjudicators Doug Cochran and Sharmila Parmanand require the help of the international debating circuit: Give your feedback on the candidates, among them Isabelle Loewe (Bonn) and Ben Woolgar (Oxford)! The full list is available on the blog of WUDC Berlin 2013. Doug and Sharmila point out that they will not accept anonymous feedback and promise that all e-mails will be treated strictly confidentially. They also ask all of you to put special focus ...

Just 15 months until the global debating community is going to assemble in Berlin from December 27, 2012 until January 4, 2013 to compete for the title of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds). Right now, chief adjudicators Sharmila Parmanand and Doug Cochran are looking for deputy chief adjudicators (DCA) to enhance their team. Please use the application form made available for you by Achte Minute. What's the task? Doug gave Achte Minute the answer: DCAs should "serve alongside us in training judges, setting motions, and generally managing the adjudication of the tournament." Sharmila and he are "looking ...

Numbers, winners, facts and pictures! That and more is to be found in international media about the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) that were held at Galway, Ireland from August 7 to 13. Since we assume that our appreciated readers do not want to waste their precious time on thorough research, but still wanna know what's going on - well, your Achte Minute team provides you with a quick overview. ...

Since we guess that our appreciated readers follow us on Twitter your head will most probably be replete with impressions from Galway Euros. But what are the facts and figures about the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros)? Or maybe you have been there yourself and want to sort things out now? Your Achte Minute team provides you with all you might want to know - and even beyond. By the way, you still might wanna follow the Hashtag #EUDC on Twitter - you'll find funny stories and how everybody copes with the ...

One week of debating, nine preliminary rounds, quarters, semis and now the final! This year's European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) held at Glaway, Ireland, produced new champions in the open break as well as in the category ESL, English as a Second Language. ...

Diner is over, everybody is well fed, veeeery sweet "sticky toffee" fudge as dessert. But here is, what you're probably really interested in instead of our diet. Maybe the motions of the quarters? Open break quarters: "This house would never fight for King and Country." ESL break quarters: "This house would ban all EU arms companies from selling arms outside the EU." From quarters, it was the following teams who advanced to semis: ...

Tel Aviv A is double breaking at Galway Euros! That is in the open and in the ESL break. Something that is only possible at Euros, not at Worlds. Find the rest of the break to quarter finals below - we have it all for you: The open break as well as the ESL break. That was one exciting announcement ... my goodness! OPEN BREAK The competitors of the open break have to be early birds: Debate starts at 9 a.m., ... Quarter final 1: TCD Hist B King's Inn A UCD L&H A UCC Philosoph B Quarter final 2: Oxford A KCL A UCC Law B Warwick ...

Wow, great applause to our volunteers here at Galway! They are doing a great job and more than deserved the standing ovations they were payed to. They're doing an amazing job. We're right now enjoying a nice and decent soial with traditional Irish music. Everybody's a little tired after nine prelims up to now - but at the same time rrrrrrrreally excited: Who is going to break tonight? Who will compete in tomorrow's quarter finals? It's a tough competition - yeah, really, what else are we supposed to say about it? It is ...

swifObama's taxation failure, donor siblings and hacking - yesterday's motions swiftly summed up. The first was about the debt deal in the United states, the second about siblings selected as donors for much looked-after tissue for their older brothers or sisters and the third was about the question if hacking is an appropriate means of protest. We hope all our much appreciated readers followed us on Twitter during the debates, so we would not bother you with boring summaries of the debates. Two great news from yesterday, the first: There was no rain! ...

Achtung, the Germans! The teams from the German speaking regions make up one of the largest groups here at Galway Euros, the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC and Euros) held in Ireland this year. 17 teams from Germany and Austria are competing for the title at the western coast of the Emerald Isle. To make sure you keep your fingers crossed for the right teams, we are presenting you with the names: ...

... Manos Moschopoulos and Art Ward. Besides live tweeting from the rounds and rooms, we've gone completely, no, not insane, but multimedia. You don't know who Manos and Art are? Then meet them in our video taken Monday night at Galway Euros. They are both involved in the Belgrade bid for Euros next year, Art is chief adjudicator and Manos one of the forces behind this bid from Serbia. The European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) have been held annually since 1999. It was started in Rotterdam where 32 ...

“This house would bring back death penalty.“ Thus read the motion of round one. Easy starting for the first round of a major competition. Everybody would have discussed that topic before, be it as a debater or in an essay back at secondary school. On the other side, that made it quite difficult for the lower half of the tables to find good extension – opening fractions wouldn’t leave any arguments. In our room it ended up being a bit too much about psychopaths we’d say. But valid arguments on both sides helped ...

First things first: If you don't like Irish weather - just wait 15 minutes. It'll be better after that. And then again, after 15 minutes, it'll be worse than ever. And so on. That is only made up to by the people. They are amazingly friendly. You cannot get lost even if you are drunk as hell... there are people everywhere to help you. Only obstacle: The Irish accent. As soon as you get used to it, you're fine. It doesn't matter if you're booked for the finals at Euros or if you're ...

Leprechauns and a pot of gold - those of our appreciated readers who are travelling to Ireland this weekend are most probably not after goblins and treasures, but want one thing: the title as winners of the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros). From Sunday to Friday, Galway at the West coast of Ireland will be stage to Europe’s greatest debate tournament. 200 teams of two are going to compete; they are from all over Europe and as far as from Israel and Qatar. And, of course, from Germany. Language of debate is English, the format is called British ...

Learn about what the media in Germany and beyond have to say about the German Debating Championship, or Deutsche Debattiermeisterschaft (DDM) 2011. Please read the German version of this bit. Find the tabs of DDM online: The one after prelims and the final tab. ...

The Monash Debating Review (MDR) calls itself the world’s only international debating journal and is currently looking for co-editors to support Doug Cochran, editor-in-chief, with the upcoming issue. Doug explains it is “a great opportunity for experienced debaters, adjudicators, and coaches” to help “shaping the global debating community’s thinking about the activity we love.” He is looking forward to welcome three to four associate editors in his team. The Monash Association of Debaters (MAD), founded in 1962 and among the top ten of the world’s best debating societies, has been publishing the Monash Debating Review (MDR) since 2002. The Review offers ...