At the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC) in Zagreb, the EUDC council will meet to decide who will host the EUDC in 2016. A couple of weeks ago, the University of Cork announced their bid for the EUDC 2016. Now there is a second bid: The University of Warsaw Debate Society has joined the ranks of the applicants to host the prestigious tournament. Marcus Ewald, former President of the EUDC council, asked both bidding societies to provide information to enable debaters to compare the bids. The full information gathered is compiled in a Google Doc. As a caveat, Marcus notes that ...

For a few years now, it has been a loved and honoured tradition of the South African Delegation to host a Yakka-Party. Until Worlds 2013, the party was organized separately from the official part of the tournament. Money was collected and the ingredients for the Yakka (lemons, wodka and sugar) were bought in a private context. For the first time in 2013, the organizers of Berlin Worlds decided to integrate the Yakka-Party into the official schedule. This led to discussions within the OrgCom prior to the event and to discussions between the participants during and afterwards it. Marcus Ewald, member ...

The break is now bigger than ever! 48 instead of 32 teams do break after nine preliminary rounds at this World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC or Worlds). That is twelve percent of all teams breaking instead of only eight percent. “Thus, the system we have now is fairer than any of the other proposed systems for the WUDC break,” Marcus Ewald, president of the EUDC Council, is sure. “Huh?” you may go, “how, mathematically speaking, can 48 teams break to octo-finals? How do they fit into eight rooms?” Well, with the new system, the first 16 teams break save to octo-finals. ...

It is impossible to find out when the first participants of WUDC 2013 arrived in Berlin – too many have already been around and have spent some days in Europe, Germany or Berlin. But just from a glimpse into the WUDC accommodation, Hotel BerlinBerlin, it is clearly visible: today was arrival day! Dozens of participants dropped into the Hotel each hour and stopped at the registration desk in order to check in to their “Worlds” 2013. And in less than 24 hours, Patrick Ehmann, Convener of WUDC Berlin 2013, will open the 33rd World Universities Debating Championship officially. Thus, the biggest ...

This weekend a big experiment started. Seven countries, seven capitals, seven tournaments, one league: The Debating League of Europe.  With the DLE, the European debating circuit could get what the circuit has almost become already anyway: A cohesive debating scene where debaters from all over Europe regularly meet and mingle. The League provides a common framework for keeping track of results of chosen tournaments across Europe to find a winner at the end of a season. The rule is simple: The biggest tournament of the capital of a country is eligible. The DLE is open for participation for every debating society ...

Ewald for president! Again, after Jens Fischer, a German debater is now holding the office as president of the EUDC Council sitting at the annual European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros): Marcus Ewald is the new EUDC president! He answered Willy Witthaut's question about his agenda about a European debating league and the new and complicated break system at Worlds. ...

And the winners are... Some tears, standing ovations and two exciting and excellent final debates - a lot of emotions at the finals of this year's European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC or Euros). Now, really, without further ado, here are the winners from two categories, ESL (English as a Second Language) and Open (open to everybody proficient enought): ...

From the 4th to the 7th of June, the Worlds Debating Council will cast a vote. The council is the place where representatives of every debating nation decide on important common issues. This time, council will decide about the most important issue in the debating world: Who will host the World University Debating Championships (WUDC) from December 27th 2013 to Jan 4th 2014 and be the successor of Berlin Worlds 2013? Two universities are bidding for that honour: The Rajalakshmi Engineering College (REC) of Chennai (India) and the Chulalangkorn University of Bangkok (Thailand). But this time, something is different. For the ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

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 ...

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

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 ...

Deutschlandradio interviewed Marcus Ewald, vice president of the umbrella organization Association of Debating Societies at Universities (VDCH or Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen). To read what Marcus has to say on speaking in public, see the online version of the interview. xzy / apf

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: ...

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 ...

Severin Weingarten, Moritz Niehaus and Clemens Lechner of Debattiergesellschaft Jena won the 11th German Debating Championship. More informations to follow soon. Please read the German version meanwhile.

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?". ...

Heidelberg calling: Debaters from all places on the German language debating circuit assemble by the river Neckar to compete for the title at German Nationals, or Deutsche Debattiermeisterschaft (DDM). 45 Teams from 34 debating societies follow the call of Debating Club Heidelberg: Aachen, Bayreuth, Berlin, Bonn, Dortmund, Dresden, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Göttingen, Graz, Halle, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Ingolstadt, Jena, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Köln, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Mainz, Marburg, Mannheim, München, Münster, Potsdam, Salzburg, Stuttgart, St. Gallen, Tübingen, Wien and Zürich. Internationally speaking, the 11. DDM gets more attention than ever: Four societies from Austria and two from Switzerland will participate in the tournament held ...

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

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 ...

Marcus Ewald, VDCH vice president, published the 4th VDCH Newsletter 2010/2011. Der VDCH Newsletter No 4 is now available online (in German). ...

Please read the German version of this article to learn more about how our author saw the Eastern German Championship of mid-April and how he mocks the creativity of some judges when it came to knowing the rules of the format OPD, or open parliamentary debate.

East, West and North have debated all day long in Halle, Frankfurt and Osnabrück to select the best debaters at German regional championships. Format of this year's regionals is OPD, or Offene Parlamentarische Debatte (open parliamentary debate). Achte Minute has all the results for you. ...

The GSDC, or Germans - both stands for the German Schools Debating Championship -will be stagedat schools in Stuttgart from June 2 to 5. As Achte Minute reported earlier, university student debaters are more than welcome as judges. Now, the venue of the grand final has been announced: It will be hosted by the Patch High School in Stuttgart-Vaihingen. That school is part of the US-American military facilities and hence de iure located on American soil. This is why special rules apply, as David Whitehead, chair of the Debating Society Germany (DSG), pointed out. In order to have easy access to ...