[caption id="attachment_21882" align="alignright" width="379"] Jonas Huggins (l.) and Nikos Bosse (c) private[/caption] The editorial board of the Achte Minute is complete again. The publishers of the online-magazine, the Association of German Speaking University Debating Societies (VDCH) and the German Debating Society (DDG), have filled two posts: Taking effect immediately, Jonas Huggins (Berlin Debating Union e.V.) is Editor-in-chief; Assistant Editor-in-chief is Nikos Bosse (Streitkultur e.V. Tübingen). This has been announced by Florian Umscheid, President of VDCH, in a mail to all member clubs. For the first time since 2006 the editorial board now comprises of three persons. Together with Editor-in-chief Sarah Kempf, Jonas ...

After Florian Umscheid has run the Achte Minute along with Annette Kirste since January 2013, he will assume a new task now: The representatives of german-speaking debating clubs elected him the president of VDCH (Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen), the umbrella organisation of over 70 mostly German and Austrian debating clubs at universities. Along with Annette, Sarah Kempf will now run the Achte Minute as editor-in-chief. She has been Chief Convenor of the German Universities Debating Championship 2009 and the Gutenberg-Cup 2009 and 2010. Since 2010, she reports on local affairs and culture for the daily newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung in Mainz. ...

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 ...

Please read the very, very entertaining report that Sven Hirschfeld has written for Achte Minute on the Gutenberg Cup, the expertise on carnival in Mainz and an obviously superb tournament. Please got the German version to do so. Pleeeeease!

Mainz won the Gutenberg Cup! Please read the German version of this article to learn more about the details.

The final break at the Gutenberg Cup in Mainz: Mainz (prop) vs. Freiburg (opp), Free Speakers are Robert Epple (Frankfurt), Michael Powala (Mannheim) and Victoria Reuter (Heidelberg). On the panel are CAs Sarah Kempf and Torsten Rössing, by their sides Marion Seiche (president), Pauline Leopold (chair), Ruben Brandhofer, Sven Hirschfeld and Daniel Jurjew. The final motion: God is a woman.

Debating is starting in VDCH country!Gutenberg Cup is welcoming those who love to do fun debates. Sarah Kempf and Torsten Rössing are going to present a set of joke motions. And teams from 14 societies are going to compete for the title "Master of the Jokes". Follow @achteminute on Twitter for the motions (in German). Read the German version of this to learn more about the Gutenberg Cup in Mainz.

Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) is looking for the “Jokes Champion”. The annual Gutenberg-Cup in Mainz is a tournament with exclusively funny motions. This year it is held on November 12 and 13, debating style is Offene Parlamentarische Debatte (OPD; teams consist of tree speakers and one adjudicator), language is German. Registration is open now via e-mail to andrea_gau@yahoo.de. Fee is 15 Euros per person, crash is available.

VDCH experts Benedikt Nufer and Sarah Kempf analysed the debate between candidates for the Berlin senate, Klaus Wowereit and Frank Henkel. Their analysis was published in the Germa newspaper DER TAGESSPIEGEL. Please read the German version for more details.

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. ...

After five prelims, team Freiburg Türme, Zsolt Szilagyi and Friedemann Groth, won the final of Stuttgart Punk on the past weekend. The motion read "Dieses Haus würde Vegetarier werden", or this house would become vegetarian. Best speaker of the final was Clemens Fucker from Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz. Chief adjudicators Sarah Kempf, Nils Haneklaus and Andreas Lazar made up motions for five prelims and a final: 1. Vorrunde: Dieses Haus würde Einwanderern die Staatsbürgerschaft verleihen, wenn sie im Einwanderungsland Militärdienst geleistet haben. 2. Vorrunde: Dieses Haus würde Handelsbeziehungen mit Ländern abbrechen, in denen Christen verfolgt werden. 3. Vorrunde: Dieses Haus lehnt den ...

Mixed teams of all kind are welcome at the Streitkultur Cup 2010. That comprises novices and experienced speakers, male and female debaters, and even debaters from different institutions. The most renowned open competition on the German speaking debating circuit will take place on 11 December in Tübingen and will be held in the format of OPD (open parliamentary debate, a format developed by the hosting society), hence teams of three may now register via vorstand[at]streitkultur.net. Please let your host, the famous Streitkultur Tübingen, know how many teams your institution is going to send to the tournament. Registration fees are 10 Euros ...

The Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) has elected a new vice president at their general asembley on 27th October. Katharina Tschirner is now on board with president Nicolas Eberle and treasurer Caroline Moll. Former vice president Sarah Kempf resigned. Congratulations and good luck with your work! kem / glx / apf

Jens Fischer won the Masters' Cup 2010 of Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft (DDG), the German Debating Society for Alumni. Saturday night he prevailed opposing the motion "This House would operate the Loveparade 2011". His opponents in the final where Sebastian Berg, Lukas Haffert and Patrick Ehmann. CAs Jan Lüken and Gudrun Lux judged the final with Caroline Moll, Wiebke Nadler and Anja Pfeffermann. ...

Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) is looking for the "Jokes Champion". The annual Gutenberg-Cup in Mainz is a tournament with exclusively funny motions. This year it is held on October 16 and 17, debating style is Offene Parlamentarische Debatte (OPD; teams consist of tree speakers and one adjudicator), language is German. Registration is open now via e-mail to kempf.sarah[at]gmx.de. Fee is 15 Euros per person, crash is available.

Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) has elected a new executive board. Nicolas Eberle, Western Germany Champion from 2009 will lead the club as President from now on. Sarah Kempf is once again Vice President, entering her third year in that capacity. Elected to the position of treasurer was Caroline Moll. Congratulation and good luck for your work!

Wir hatten Pressebesuch während der Deutschen Debattiermeisterschaft (DDM): Nicht nur unser Medienpartner, das ZDF, war zugegegen, auch viele andere Journalisten berichten und berichteten über das debattantische Großereignis. Hier schonmal Einblicke in das erste Presseecho! Bereits während der DDM und auch kurz danach sind erste Artikel, Radiobeiträge und Filme über das Turnier erschienen. ...

"Danke, dass du OPD erfunden hast!", verabschiedete sich ein Stuttgarter Debattant am vergangenen Sonntag nach der ZEIT DEBATTE in Tübingen von Michael Hoppmann, dem Godfather des deutschsprachigen Debattierens. Unter dem Motto "Nur die Vernunft lehrt schweigen. Das Herz lehrt reden." hatte am Wochenende die Streitkultur Tübingen zum Debattierturnier an den Neckar geladen: Knapp 100 Redner aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz gaben sich hier ein Stelldichein, ja, gar aus Bozen und Boston reisten Debattanten an, um bei der ZEIT DEBATTE in Tübingen dabei zu sein. "Die Turnierserie kehrt heim" schreiben die Organisatoren von der Streitkultur auf ihre Homepage, denn die ...

Die Berlin Debating Union (BDU) hat die ZEIT DEBATTE Tübingen 2010 gewonnen. Ein Team des Clubs setzte sich im Finale gegen ein Team des Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) durch. Die Auszeichnung der Ehrenjury als bester Redner des Finales ging an Marcus Ewald vom DCJG, der auch von einer Mehrheit des Publikums als bester Redner bewertet wurde und so zudem die Auszeichnung als Publikumsliebling - bei der Streitkultur Tübingen traditionell ein Kaktus - mit nach Mainz nehmen konnte. "Soll die Ganzkörperverhüllung in Deutschland verboten werden?" lautete die Streitfrage, mit der sich sechs Redner und drei Rednerinnen am Sonntagnachmittag im Tübinger Rathaus ...

Der Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG) hat einen Mainzer Bericht über die ZEIT DEBATTE Wien 2010 veröffentlicht. ...