The final of the Astana Open 2020 was won by the team Arie Potter and Ron Weasley (Arie Mora, Ron Leizrowice; Kiev/Bristol). Out of Closing Opposition, they defeated the Opening Government MDM A (Jason Woods, Maurice Coutiel; Edinburgh/London), Opening Opposition Astana is where I put my laptop (Eyal Horowitz, Boaz Katzir; Tel Aviv) and Closing Government we can do anything we put our minds to ???‍♀️✨just not this????‍♀️ (Daniela Williams, Isabelle Healy; Dublin). The debate on the motion "THBT the Kremlin should support Svetlana Tichanovskaya (incl. infoslide) was judged by Milla Huuskonen as chair, Aigerim Shadeyeva, Caoimhin Hamill, Dani Georgiev ...

The Zagreb Random Pro Am, hosted by the Zagreb 2022 bid's organising team, was held on August 29th and 30th 2020 and comprised of 32 teams, some registered together and some randomly assigned as partnerships. The Chief Adjudication Panel consisted of Emma Lucas, Matt Hazell, and Lovro Sprem. The tournament featured three preliminary rounds followed by a break to three finals corresponding with the positions 1 - 4; positions 5 - 8; and positions 9 - 12. Each final debated the same motion: "For crimes with low prosecution and conviction rates (e.g. sexual assault, domestic violence or membership of criminal gangs), ...

[caption id="attachment_36956" align="alignright" width="455"] The Dutch victory celebration featuring European champions Katharina Margareta Jansen (4th from left), Emma Lucas (5th f.l.) Louis Honee (6th f.l.) and David Metz (7th f.l.) - © Louis Honee[/caption] The Astana EUDC 2020 has come to an end and it has been a successful tournament for the Leiden Debating Union. The Dutch debating society was able to win both the ESL and Open final and topped the ESL speaker awards as well. In the grand final, Leiden A (David Metz, Emma Lucas) took the victory out of Closing Opposition against the Opening Government Leiden C (Louis Honee, ...

The champions of the St Petersburg Online Open are LSE A (Hamza Chaudhry, Ciara Mitchell). In the grand final, they spoke in Closing Opposition on the motion "THBT the scientific community should reject the notion of 'non-overlapping magisteria' ". Speaking against them were Bristol (Timothy Lo, Ron Leizrowice) in Opening Government, Edinburgh (C)lutchies (Jason Woods, Cerys Walsh) in Opening Opposition, and TCD Hist Ayyy lmao (Caoimhin Hamill, Jack Synnott) in Closing Government. The Grand Final was chaired by Alicja Filbier together with Anasuya Narasimhan, Dani Georgiev, Olja Bosnjak and Suzanne Elliott.  The top speaker was Ciara Mitchell with an average of 82.4 speaker ...

At the Imperial Online IV 2020, hosted on June 27th and June 28th, 2020, the team Hybrid Statoosh (Lucy Murphy, Maurice Coutiel) has emerged victorious in the Open Final out of Opening Opposition. They spoke against Imperial IR (Ivan Kapelyukh, Rhys Steel) in Opening Government, LSE BD (Katya Broomberg, Andrea D'Souza) in Closing Government, and Stop talking about erectile dysfunction and start talking about female orgasmic dysfunction (Gabrielle Fullam, Jack Williams) in Closing Opposition. The motion read "THBT universities should establish "dangerous spaces (incl. Infoslide)". The debate was judged by Jacklin Kwan as chair, together with Gwen Stearns, Joseph Lewis, ...

The open final of the Astana Debate Union Online Tournament 2020 was won by LSE HC (Hamza Chaudhry, Ciara Mitchell) in Opening Opposition, speaking against GUU A (Emma Chan, Julie Nyerges) in Opening Government, Trying to get my ducks in a row (Lucy Murphy, Miri Muntean) in Closing Government, and Short and to the point (Neta Portal, Miriam Kalman) in Closing Opposition on the motion "THP the rule of the governing AI, with elections on priorities over, traditional representative democracy." The final was chaired by Hadar Goldberg, judging alongside Tin Puljic, Alicja Filbier, Dana Green, and Ron Leizrowice. The top speaker ...

The Utopian Final of the Cyberpunk IV was won by The zoom where it happens (Gil Peled, Ido Kotler; Tel Aviv) in Opening Government, speaking against [KDA] the Real ULU A (Maurice Coutiel, Nick Zervoudis; London) in Opening Opposition, Team Underscore Name (Areeb Sherwani, Jacklin Kwan; Sheffield/Manchester)  in Closing Government, and To die hating OO, that was freedom (Josh Freeman, Joseph Lewis; LSE) in Closing Opposition on the motion "Assuming the technology exists, this house would allow people to buy and sell years of their life." The debate was chaired by Emily Frizell, judging with her were Arie Mora, Lucy ...

The Grand Final of the Trinity Open 2020 Online was won by Cambridge Cromwell's Men are Here Again (Matt Hazell, Alasdair Donovan) in Opening Opposition. Debating against them were BDU The prancing ponies (Josef Moscovici, Calyxx Peucker) in Opening Government; Open Break the tab not the quarantine (Hadar Goldberg,  Nadav barak) in Closing Government; and Open [KDA] Thanks Jacklin :D (Milla Huuskonen, Ron Leizrowice) in Closing Opposition. The motion read "This House Supports rioting as a means of fighting for social justice in the U.S." The debate was judged by Marta Vasic as chair together with Katharina Jansen, Nicole O'Sullivan, Lovro ...

NU A (Tashkenbayev Mukhtar, Alisher Juzgenbayev) won the 2020 Parassat Open. They were speaking from Opening Opposition against ULU A (Maurice Coutiel, Przemek Stolarski) in Opening Government, Ateneo AV (Luigi Alcaneses, Mikko Vitug) in Closing Government, and Stay hear hear (Hadar Goldberg, Lior Sokol) in Closing Opposition on the motion: "This House Opposes the commercialization of competitive debating (such as for profit debate training, paid workshops, paying IAs a salary, paying pros to speak with wealthy beginners, etc)". The adjudication panel was chaired by Milla Huuskonen. Judging with her were Alikhan Kazinov, Josef Moscovici, Katharina Margarita Jansen, and Miri Muntean. The Pro-Am final ...

The Central European Cyberspace Open 2020 has been won by We're used to no audience debates (Tin Puljić, Lovro Šprem; Zagreb) in Closing Opposition, speaking against UDS Trivium GDS LDU Chronos Coalition (Joris Graff, Daan Spackler; Utrecht/Nijmegen) in Opening Government, Bristol A (Ron Leizrowice, Timothy Lo); in Opening Opposition, and This house would stay in this house (Hadar Goldberg, Ido Kotler; Tel Aviv) in Closing Government on the motion "THBT all countries should implement legislation similar to the US Defense Production Act to combat the Covid-19 pandemic." The adjudication was chaired by Emily Frizell. Judging with her were Joona ...

[caption id="attachment_36348" align="alignright" width="264"] The winning team: Tin Puljic and Miri Muntean - © Berlin Debating Union[/caption] The Berlin IV 2020 (Online edition) is over. The final was won by the team in Opening Opposition named Quarantined, Scrappy, and Hungry (Tin Puljić, Miri Muntean), a mixed-team by the Zagreb Student Debate Forum and the Debattierklub Wien. The other final teams were real pandemics have curves (Amichay Even Chen, Roy Schulman; Tel Aviv) in Opening Government, A License and a Penance (Srishti Krishnamoorthi-Cavell, Tudor Musat; Cambridge) in Closing Government and LSE CM (Ciara Mitchell, Hamza Tariq Chaudhry) in Closing Opposition. The debate ...

[caption id="attachment_35269" align="alignright" width="400"] Katharina Jansen and Lisa Knodt - (c) Erasmus Debating Society[/caption] The team Merkel II & III (Lisa Knodt, Katharina Jansen) of the Rhetorica Debating Society Maastricht has won the Erasmus Rotterdam Open 2019. Out of Opening Opposition, they defeated the Opening Government Glorious like the Mongolian navy (Milla Huuskonen, Markus Myllymäki; Helsinki), Closing Government Tudor and Anne (but not Henry and Boleyn) (Tudor Musat, Ana Coman; Cambridge/Bukarest) and Closing Opposition We beg you to propose. That's what she said. (Elizabeta Korenčan, Roel Becker; Llubljana/Leiden) on the motion "Assuming the technology exists, TH supports the use of augmented ...