The Association of Debating Societies at Universities (VDCH) has announced the details on the first adjudication workshop in the current season 2011/2012. From February 4 to 5, judges with basic experience can deepen their analytical and feedback skill in the Rhineland-Palatinate capital Mainz. Trainers will be Andrea Gau (Mainz), Torsten Rössing (Halle), Pauline Leopold (Tübingen) and Lukas Haffert (Cologne). Both BPS and Open Parliamentary Debate (OPD)will be covered. Reg fee is 15 Euros and registration is opened until January 15. To registrate, please contact VDCH vice-president Simeon Reusch via simeon.reusch@vdch.de. The number of spots is limited to 25. xzy / tr ...

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.

Please read the German version of this article to learn more on how Miriam Hauft experienced the Elbe Open in Magdeburg.

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version to learn more about the forthcoming Elbe Open 2011. xzy / tr

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?". ...

The German Debating Championship is getting more and more exciting. The motion reads "Soll die Wikipedia Weltkulturerbe werden?", or "Should Wikiepedia become World Heritage?". Read here who made it to quarters in Heidelberg: ...

This article is not available in English. Please read the German version to learn about which teams, free speakers and adjudicators made it to octos at the Deutsche Debattiermeisterschaft (DDM), or German Championship in Heidelberg. ...

It's because of the copyright: The former "The double Otto" tournament is going to take place as "Elbe Open" and is named after the River Elbe that flows through Magdeburg. Debattierclub Magdeburg shortly announced, the date remains 2 and 3 July. The convenors changend not only the name of the tournament, but also the style. Instead of the Open Parliamentary Debate (OPD) the style is now BPS with five prelims, semis and a final. Isabelle Loewe, Miriam Hauft and Torsten Rössing are certainly worthy of note. Isabelle is EUDC winner 2006 (ESL) and was one of the CAs at the Vienna IV ...

“Embracing Dissent“ is the motto of the WUDC Berlin 2013 – “We believe this reflects the enlightening and liberating clash of ideas that shaped European and German history - and, of course, what makes debate relevant and exciting”, the Facebook site of WUDC Berlin 2013 announced. No doubt, there is a natural dissent between the fractions of a parliamentary debate. Yet, there might also be dissent during the preparatory phase of the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds), for instance in a heated debate about the motto. However, consent was the motto when now WUDC convenor Patrick Ehmann travelled the ...

Wanted: Your ideas and your money! Contribute the first at the WUDC 2013 Forum in Jena during the ZEIT DEBATTE tournament, akquire the latter through helping the Org Comm find sponsors for the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds). Read the German version of this article to learn more about how the umbrella association VDCH and the WUDC org comm of Patrick Ehmann cooperate to make Worlds an all-German event. More detailed info is also available from Benedikt Nufer, vice-president of the VDCH, via benedikt.nufer@vdch.de and from Patrick himself via p.ehmann@wudcberlin.com. For sponsoring, turn to Torsten Rössing via t.roessing@wudcberlin.com. Die ...

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. ...

Please read the German version of this article to learn more about the German regionals in Bayreuth (South), Frankfurt (West), Osnabrück (North) and Halle (East). 60 teams from all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland are expected to compete on the next two weekends for the titles - and additional teams for the German Debating Championship in Heidelberg in June. ...

The regional championships will take place from 16 to 17 April 2011 with exception of the South German Championship which will be held one week earlier.The Northern regionals will be hosted by Debattierclub Osnabrück, a society still not much older than a year. Convener of the Southern regionals is going to be Debattierclub Bayreuth which is located in Franconia. Host of the Eastern regionals will be Klartext Halle, acting Eastern regional champion and German debating champion of 2008. Stage to the Western regionals will be Frankfurt by the river Main, hosted by Debattierclub ...

Clemens Lechner and Moritz Niehaus from Debattiergesellschaft Jenahave just won this year's Berlin Invitational hosted by the Berlin Deabting Union (BDU) in the German capital. The motion read "Dieses Haus fordert nach drei Straftaten Haft bis ans Lebensende". They defeated the other teams (Debattierclub Magdeburg/BDU, BDU proper, Wortgefechte Potsdam) from the position of Opening Government. vro / apf

The following made it to the final of the Berlin Invitational 2011: Opening Government: Clemens Lechner and Moritz Niehaus (Debattiergesellschaft Jen) Opening Opposition: Jan-Dirk Capelle and Jonas Werner (Debattierclub Magdeburg/Berlin Debating Union) Closing Government: Dessislava Kirova and Filip Bubenheimer (Berlin Debating Union) Closing Opposition: Moritz Kirchner and Florian Umscheid (Wortgefechte Potsdam) Judges are Torsten Rössing (Klartext Halle), Daniel Sommer (Debating Club Heidelberg), Bernd Hoefer (Debattierclub Kiel), Patrick Ehmann (Berlin Debating Union) and Katharina Kleine-Tebbe (Debating Society Paderborn). The motions: Dieses Haus würde Haiti in die USA eingliedern. Dieses Haus würde die europäische Außenpolitik an Macchiavelli ausrichten. Dieses Haus fordert eine Erbschaftssteuer von 100% zugunsten ...

This article is not yet available in English. Please read the German version to learn more about the Berlin Invitational and Berlin Punk, both hosted this weekend by the Berlin Debating Union.

Please read the German version of this article on the adjudication workshop held in Wiesbaden from 26 to 28 November hosted by the Association of Debating Societies at Universities (VDCH).

The Berlin Debating Union (BDU) unite debating novices as well as old stagers with their January competitions: On 7 January 2011, they host an invitational which has to be understood literally – speakers get an invitation. With four prelims and a final all taking place on Friday, those old stagers get a good chance to compete with each other. This tournament will be held in German, the format will be BPS, chief adjudicators are Torsten Rössing (Klartext Halle) and Bastian Laubner (BDU). On the following two days, 8 and 9 January, Berlin will be stage to BDU’s Punk tournament. While everybody ...

VDCH, the Association of Debating Societies at Universities, stages the first adjudication workshop of the current season 2010/2011 from 26 to 28 November 2010, the venue will be Wiesbaden by the river Rhine. Participants will be taught adjudication by Marcel Giersdorf (Mainz), Lukas Haffert (Cologne) and Torsten Rössing (Halle). Set on the schedule are OPD, BPS and giving feedback which will be practiced through exercises. Fees for participants are 10 Euros including the workshop, accommodation and meals. In addition, a guided tour through Wiesbaden is offered on Friday night. Saturday comes with a surprise in Mainz, just across the river. Debaters from ...

Eisenach is neither very big nor is it very exciting. Out-of-towners attract attention. A bewildered taxi driver asks a party-hungry debater whether he has arrived today. He has not. He has arrived here the day before. What for? To do the same thing, the Deutsche Debattiergesellschaft  (DDG), the German alumni association of former student debaters, has done every year in this small but lovely Thuringian town: Convene its Masters’ Cup. [caption id="attachment_5488" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Die neu eingeführten Manschettenknöpfe mit DDG-Vereinsabzeichen. Daneben gibt es auch Pins fürs Revers und Magnetpins. (Foto: Oliver Hörtensteiner)"][/caption] All DDG members are allowed to compete, all others are ...

Die Zeitschrift TOP Thüringen schreibt in ihrer Sommerausgabe über die Ost- und Mitteldeutsche Meisterschaft. Leider steht der Artikel über das Turnier, das das Wortkombinat Ilmenau Mitte April organisierte, nicht online zu Verfügung, aber hier gibt's einen Auszug - wer alles lesen will, muss sich das Magazin kaufen und auf Seite 92f nachschlagen. ...

Der VDCH-Club Wortgefechte Potsdam lädt für den 26. Juni zu einem Debattier- und Jurierseminar. Es soll insgesamt neun Übungseinheiten geben zu Themen rund um das Debattieren und Jurieren im Debattierformat BPS. Als Trainer haben bislang Isabelle Loewe (Debattierclub Bonn, ESL-Europameisterin 2006), Jens Fischer (Berlin Debating Union, Deutscher Vizemeister 2002), Torsten Rössing (Klartext Halle, Deutscher Meister 2008) und Patrick Ehmann (Berlin Debating Union, Deutscher Vizemeister 2010). Ein Programm für das Seminar ist auf der Internetseite des Potsdamer Clubs online. Sollten sich genügend Teilnehmer (16 bis 20 BPS-Rednerteams) melden, wird am 26./27. ...

Der ostdeutsche Meister Klartext Halle fordert heraus: Die 4. öffentliche Professorendebatte – ein verbaler Schlagabtausch der besonderen Art. Showdebatte zwischen Professoren und Studierenden am Mittwoch, den 12. Mai um 19 Uhr in der Aula im Löwengebäude – Eintritt frei Als Fortsetzung einer erfolgreichen Tradition interessanter und wortgewaltiger Redeschlachten fordern die Studenten des Debattierclubs Klartext e.V. ihre Professoren abermals zum rhetorischen Wettstreit heraus. Dieses Mal werden die Professoren Harald Bluhm (Politik), Gesine Folyanti-Jost (Japanologie) und Caroline Meller-Hannich (Jura) die Herausforderung für die Seite der Professoren annehmen und sich den Studierenden stellen. Das Rededuell läuft dabei nach festen Regeln zwischen den beiden Seiten ab: Beide Teams ...