Debating by the beautiful Croatian Adria – offered at the Split Union Open from May 13 to 15. But there’s not only the sea, no! There is more: Four prelims with five-minute speeches and a break to finals with seven-minute speeches. While the preliminary rounds will be staged at the law faculty of Split, the final will be held on Peristil, a place where the Roman emperor Diocletian greeted his subjects in late 3rd, early 4th century. Not only will there be ancient history, but also the present and the future – the chief adjudicating team comprises some of the finest ...

Anticipatory joy is the greatest joy: the date for the Masters' Cup 2011 has already been fixed! The tournament will be held from 23 to 24 September in Eisenach. Afterwards, on 25 September, this year's general meeting of the Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft (DDG) takes place. There are a few preliminary rounds and the semis scheduled that will be fought out at Martin Luther grammar school. The final will take place at the historic Wartburg, which is a castle. On Friday evening there will be a visit to an Irish Pub, on Saturday evening the participants will have dinner at the Wartburg and ...

VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities, stages the second adjudication workshop of the current season 2010/2011 from 7 to 8 May 2011. The venue is to be decided by the participants. The trainers are not known yet. Debaters from all VDCH clubs are welcome to inform VDCH vice-president Esther Reinert via esther.reinert@vdch.de whether and with how many debaters they would like to participate at the adjudication workshop.

The western border area of Germany is socializing internationally: On the evening of 24 March a group of debaters and adjudicators from Debattierclub Aachen will drive to Maastricht, to compete with the Dutch colleagues from Universalis Debate at the University College Maastricht. It is a friendship debate which will be held in English in British Parliamentary Style. Aachen is situated just half an hour away by car from Maastricht, so the debaters from the German side hope that in the future there will be more debates of this kind. So the debaters could easily gain international experience in debating also during ...

Debating in the flats of debaters: Wortkombinat Ilmenau offers this possibility to you! The Thuringian debaters invite you to Ilmenau from 6 to 8 May to a small but mighty tournament, which is part of the Freie Debattierliga (FDL). The debates will be held in Wartburg style as a preparation for the ZEIT DEBATTE Jena, which takes place from 20 to 22 May. The special feature: the debates happen in four different flat-shares that are spread over the whole city of Ilmenau. The registration fee is 15 Euro, crash will be provided. You may register until the end of March via ...

Exchange with Lithuanian and Russian debaters? Then go to Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital! From 15 to 17 April, the International Debate Education Association (IDEA) is going to stage a programme there, the IDEA Exchange 2011. Trainers and coaches are going to hold courses on “debate and democracy”, ”new media and free speech”, “social inclusion” and “inter-ethnic coexistence and diversity”. The workshops, training units and debates are about exchange of young people from various countries who may prepare their own presentations. Official languages of the programme are English, Russian and Lithuanian. The exchange will also be stage to two tournaments held in British ...

“Free Speech Since 1842“ – the slogan of the Durham Union Society will also apply to this year’s Durham Open on 18 and 19 June. Chief adjudicators (CA) at this tournament in the North East of England will be Ben Jasper (EUDC finalist 2008, CA of Oxford IV 2010) and Patrick Rooney (EUDC winner 2010, WUDC quarter-finalist 2011, CA of DCU Open 2011). The Durham Open is known for its open motions as well as for copious amounts of Yakka, a cocktail made of vodka, lime juice and ice, as the convenors state in their e-mail to the international debating ...

The LSE Open will be held on 19 and 20 February at the London School of Economics in the British capital. Convenor Scott MacDonald is expecting up to 100 teams. Chief adjudicators are John Ashbourne and Anser Aftab. Together they were running as team LSE A in the grand final of Botswana Worlds earlier this year. In November 2010 they won the Oxford IV, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world. For 40 British Pound, the convenors guarantee crash for all  international debate teams. As usual, they allure to debaters with booze: “Last year we bought more alcohol ...

Merhaba, teşekkür ederim, iyi akşamlar – these words are Turkish and mean Hello, Thank you and Good evening. They might be helpful when you are planning on travelling to this year’s Ankara Open which will be held by METU Debating Society from 25 to 27 March. This will be the third time the open is going to be hosted at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in the Turkish capital. The convenors want to raise the standards, as Emrecan Buyuruçu from the org comm revealed to Achte Minute: In addition to a top judging pool, the convenors offer accommodation in ...

Actually there are no debates scheduled in Dresden because the Technical University Dresden (TU Dresden) is having its semester break. But Dresden Debating Union (DDU) is always on the ball and organized a special event due to current happenings. On 15 February there will be a debate about the topic "welfare scrounger" with an additional discussion afterwards, which is especially addressed to students. The reason for this event is the statement of Henry Hasenpflug, state secretary of the Saxon State Ministry of Science and Art, who said that long-term students are "welfare scrounger". Caz, the student newspaper of Dresden, already published ...

The Dublin City University (DCU) is going to host this year’s DCU Open on 25 and 26 March. On the Facebook page of the event, the convenors promise a provisional team cap of 40, but will try to accommodate as many teams as possible. The chief adjudicators are well attuned as a speaker team: Eoghan Casey and Patrick Rooney are currently EUDC champions and made it to WUDC quarter-finals in Botswana earlier this year. They also won intervarsities together like Trinity 2010 and Birmingham 2009 and the Irish Mace twice in row, 2009 and 2010. Tabmaster is Harry McEvansoneya who ...

The Glasgow University will be stage to the Glasgow University Ancients on 18 and 19 March. The team cap is 40 – teams may register from now on via e-mail to debates@guu.co.uk. Chief adjudicators (CA) are Leela Koenig, CA of past year’s Amsterdam Euros, and Ruth Faller, CA of this year’s Galway Euros. The tournament offer five prelims, semis and a final at the Debating Chamber of the Glasgow University Union. Dress code: Black Tie. The final night will introduce a great lot of Scottish tradition to you: Convenor Ross Mitchell promises a three course dinner, a “ceilidh” and buckets of ...

The Southern German championship (SDM) 2011 will be staged in Bayreuth. After DebattierClub St. Gallen had to cancel their plans to host the SDM – due to an international conference they have no rooms for prelims – Debattierclub Bayreuth (DCBT) will now fill in for the Swiss to save the competition for the southern part of German speaking debate societies. However, accommodating debaters appropriately makes it necessary to reschedule that tournament: Debaters from southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy will have to come to Bayreuth on the weekend of 9 and 10 April. Usually being held simultaneously, the other regional ...

Apply as judge: On the first weekend in April, the US Universities Debating Championship will be held at the University of Vermont. The convenors expect about 200 teams from 1 to 3 April. They want to encourage judges from all over the world to apply until 1 March with an E-Mail to alfred.snider@uvm.edu. Guaranteed are six prelims of judging with the possibility to break to elims. Moreover, judges are welcome to judge at the America’s Cup on 31 March. Financial subsidy maybe expected, Alfred Snider, debate professor in Vermont, promises in an E-Mail to the worldwide debate community. There he mentions ...

For those spontaneous among female debaters: On 11 and 12 February, the Oxford Women’s Open will be held at Oxford. The name of the tournament makes you think it’s a women only tourney – yep, that’s right! Only female debaters are admitted. On the Facebook page of the event, the convenors promise two great socials – and maybe even a chocolate fountain. Moreover, a great pool of world class judges will give feedback twice as long than usual at IVs. The registration fees are 30 British Pounds (about 35 Euros). Novice teams are encouraged to register. Crash for two nights ...

First BP tourny in Sweden ever: From 15 to 17 April, the Lund Debate Society ((LDS) will host the first Lund Open. Five prelims with seven-minute speeches lead to semis and final. The latter will be staged in a majestic venue, the convenors promise on the Lund Open 2011 homepage. The adjudication team has not been announced yet. But the Lund debaters allure to their fellow debaters with an all-inclusive offer: An optional debate workshop, a guided city tour, and meals are scheduled for that spring weekend as well as a lot of Swedish alcohol, Swedish singing and clubbing after ...

Ever heard of the Issyk Kul? No? Then you haven’t heard of the Russian Language Debate Championship that is going to be staged by this saline lake in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan from 17 to 20 September 2011. The competition will be organized by the International Debate Education Association (IDEA). Language of the tournament is – guess! – Russian, format will be the British Parliamentary Style (BPS) though. The Russian Language Debate Championship is open to Russian speaking teams from all over the world. Workshops for debaters as well as for judges  and socials will be on the schedule of ...

Debating in the direct surroundings of Windsor Castle: This is possible at the Royal Holloway Open 2011 in Egham from 12 to 13 March 2011 - just an hour away by foot from Windsor Castle. The tournament - as the conveners promise on the Facebook website of the competition - is the only tournament in the UK that allows to time- and place-set the cases, which means plenty of debates in fictional universes and historic settings, for instance "Should Nixon have burnt the tapes?". Registration fees are 35 British Pounds for the first and 30 Pounds for any additional team, crash ...

For the third time, Moscow will be stage to the HSE Open. On 9 and 10 April 2011 forty teams are expected to flock into the Russian capital. Language of the tournament is English, debates will be held in British Parliamentary Style (BPS), speakers have six minutes for their speeches. Venue to the HSE Open is the Higher School of Economics. Chief adjudicator is going to be Anne Valkering, convenor of Amsterdam Euros 2010 and Worlds 2008 winner (ESL). Her deputies are Eugene Akulich (WUDC ESL finalist 2005) and Robert Ustyan (EUDC semi finalist). The convenors invite debaters from all over ...

Originality, quality and banter – that is what the convenors of the Heriot Watt Open 2011 promise on the tournament’s Facebook website. The Debating Society of the Heriot Watt University of Edinburgh is going to host the Open on 26 March. They also announced that one may expect “motions from a CA team that doesn't include the same old names you see time after time.” Chief adjudicator is Jordan Anderson who won the Warwick IV 2009, Lancaster IV 2009 and the Sheffield IV in the following year. His deputies are Duncan Crowe and Matteo De Martino. Duncan was a finalist ...

British Parliamentary Style inthe French capital: From 1 to 3 April 2011 this year's Paris IV will be staged by the river Seine. Chief adjudicators (CA) are Jens Fischer, Maja Cimerman and Ben Woolgar.All three of them are renown debaters on the international debating circuit: Jens is currently chair of the WUDC and the EUDC Councils, from the latter of which he will resign soon. Maja was an ESL finalist at Worlds 2011 and ESL finalist at Amsterdam Euros. Ben was a finalist at the grand final in Botswana, a finalist of Amsterdam Euros and is the designated CA of ...

Tartu in the South of Estonia and the oldest university in the country is calling debaters to the Estonian Open 2011. From 15 to 17 April the tournament will be held in English, the format is BPS. Chief adjudicator is Maria Kesa (Estonia) flanked by Martins Vaivars (Latvia) and Harish Natarajan (England). “Maria is two times Baltic Champion, World's ESL Semi-finalist (2009 Cork World's) and a finalist at several other IV's,” as is reported on the website of the Estonian Open 2011. Martins was third best ESL speaker at Newcastle Euros, won the Cambridge IV 2008 (ESL) and topped the ...

Debating by the Channel: Save the date for the Sciences Po IV 2011 from 7 to 9 May. The English Debating Society (EDS) is going to host the ESL-only tournament in France's Normandy. The format is British Parliamentary Style (BPS), the language of the tournament is English. In 2009, the Sciences Po IV was held for the first time as the first tournament that is for ELS debaters only, as is reported on the competition’s (not yet updatedf) website. ESL stands for “English as a Second Language“ which is a category at international debating tournaments for non-native speakers of English. While ...

This will be the motion of the show debatte which is to be held on 7 February by the Debattierclub München. The debate starts at 19.30 hrs in room M 118 of the main building of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, admission is free. The professors Prof. Dr. Stephan Lorenz, Prof. Dr. Gebhard Rehm (both teaching Law at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität) and Prof. Dr. Ekkart Zimmermann (Political science, Hochschule für Politik München) are going to call for privatisation of universities. Almut Graebsch, Wladislaw Jachtchenko and Valerio Morelli are going to defend the state universites. The decision upon victory or defeat in the debate ...

The masters' debate of Berlin Debating Union (BDU) gets into its second round: on 10 February the societies' best speakers compete another time with each other in a public debate. This time, the motion reads "Who is the owner of Nofretete?" Like the last time, when the debate is closed and the speakers have left the room, the audience is allowed to follow the process of adjudication. The masters' debate takes place at 7 pm on 10 February, the venue is "Orbis Humboldtianus" situated above the Audimax at the main building of Humboldt University Berlin. vro / glx

The Welsh seaside town Swansea invites for debates in February. The Swansea IV is going to be hosted by the Swansea University Debating Society from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 February. Registration fee will be 25 pounds (circa 30 Euros) and includes crash on Friday and Saturday evening as well as socials on both days. The finals will be held at Saturday and are going to be judged by CA Chris Woods, convenor of the York OV and co-CA of the Sheffield IV. For registration, write to: swanseadebate[at]hotmail.co.uk, for further information have a look at the Facebook page of Swansea IV.

Who is top of the club? The Dresden Debating Union (DDU) wants to figure that out and therefore hosts on Tuesday, 25 January, an internal tournament called "Crosstalk". ...

Apply for the all stars tournament! The International Debate Association (IDEA) und die Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS) invite debaters from all over the world to the University of Vermont where a tournament of the masters is to be held on 8 and 9 April 2011. Occasion is the IDEA/HWS Round Robin, invitees are the 16 top teams of the world who have won one or more of the competitions listed below. Language of the tournament is of course English, format is the British Parliametary Style. Teams will be paired in round robin, i.e. every team is going to ...

Prepare for Euros on the spot! From 11 to 13 February 2011 the National University of Ireland in Galway (NUIG) is open to debaters from all over Europe for the Galway Open. In Summer this year, the same locale will be stage to the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros). To arrange the open tournament in February, two deb socs work together: The Law Society and the Literary and Debating Society. The convenors Evelyn Whyms and Tara Gibbons expect about 80 teams in Febaruary. As chief adjudicators (CA), they engaged Ruth Faller, also CA at Euros in summer, and ...

On January 23rd at 4 p.m., the debating society Streitkultur Tübingen will be organizing the "1st Tübinger Forum"! The overall topic of this first issue will be "Stuttgart21, smoking-ban and an education reform - do we need more civil participation?" The Tübinger Forum is characterized by a panel discussion with audience participation and well-known speakers. tr / apf