Princeton 1 (Greg Weaving, Xiao-Ke Lu) in Opening Opposition has won the Open category of the United States University Debating Championships 2020. Speaking against them were Chicago 1 (Devesh Kodnani, Brian Li) in Opening Government, Princeton 2 (Shreyas Kumar, Preston Johnson) in Closing Government, and Chicago 2 (Jaewon Park, Jay Gibbs) in Closing Opposition. They spoke on the motion "THBT it is in the interest of the US to take measures to significantly reduce its economic ties and connections with China (e.g. reducing investment and redirecting trade, and shifting away from yuan in its reserve currency basket)". Chairing the adjudication ...

The final of the Hart House Inter-Varsity 2020 was won by the team in Opening Government Yale EQ (David Edimo, Eva-Marie Quinones). They defeated MDU FP (Naomi Panovka, Matt Farrell; McGill) in Opening Opposition, UADS BJ (Karel Brandenbarg, Emma Jones; Alberta) in Closing Government and Princeton JW (Greg Weaving, Daniel Ju) in Closing Opposition. The motion of the final read "THBT it is in the interest of countries that experienced Japanese colonial occupation (e.g., South Korea, China, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam) to boycott the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo if far-right paraphernalia (e.g., displays of the Rising Sun flag) are permitted".  ...

The NTU Open Online 2020 was won by Karasuno High (Cavan Tay, Tan Yao Kun) in Opening Opposition speaking against NTU Sheng Siong (Darren, Rohan Kapur) in Opening Government, Bubbles (Vaishnavi Prasad, Nirmal Bhansali) in Closing Government, and NTU C Fairprice (Chaitu, Zhen Zhen) in Closing Opposition on the motion "THBT ASEAN should abandon the China-ASEAN South China Sea Code of Conduct negotiations." The final panel was chaired by Ploopy. Judging with them were Amrit, Connor O'Brien, Hannah Hafidzal, and Vedika Kedia. The Novice Champions were small brain (Joshua, Yi Xuan) debating in Opening Government. They spoke against Pocket Jacks (Dhruv ...

The grand final of the Eastern Online IV 2020 was won by Cornell 3 (Dylan Young, Amaar Jeyasothy) in Closing Opposition, speaking against McGill 1 (Micaela Lewis, Naomi Panovka) in Opening Government, Yale 1 (Eva Quinones, Ko Lyn Cheang) in Opening Opposition, and Brandeis-NU Hybrid (Ravi Simon, Tanay Patri) in Closing Government on the motion "THW spend all of Jeff Bezos's money." The debate was chaired by Marlene Pierce, with a panel of Klaudia Maciejewska, Rob Ruiz, Chris Pang, Germaine Barrett, Niki Linganur, and Reed. In  the ESL Final Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology 1 (Shirsha Songshoptak, Tameer Hossain) took ...

[caption id="attachment_35501" align="alignright" width="400"] The winners of the Vienna IV 2019: Hilla Schwartz,Jonathan Shapira - © Debattierklub Wien[/caption] At the Vienna IV 2019, the team BGU A (Hilla Schwartz, Jonathan Shapira) was victorious in the grand final. Out of Closing Opposition, they defeated KCL A (Joel Richardson, Emily Frizell) in Opening Government, Targyarean & Snow (Klaudia Maciejweska, Jure Hederih; Warsaw/Oxford) in Opening Opposition and One of us is sort of retired, the other one is actually from Australia (Brian Wong, Jack Solomon; Oxford) in Closing Government on the motion "THBT Gavrilo Princip was justified in killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand (incl. infoslide)". ...

[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 ...

The LSE team Line of Control (Hamza Tariq Chaudhry, Mythili Mishra) has won the Manchester IV 2019. Out of Closing Opposition, they defeated the Opening Government Moral Metrics and Shit (Arth Mishra, Josh Ashworth, LSE), Opening Opposition Oxford present and rejected (Abhinav Bathula, Jamie Johnson; LSE/Oxford) and Closing Government something something toxic masculinity (Ciara Mitchell, Cheyenne Ong; LSE). The motion for the grand final read "THBT the scientific community should reject the view that science and religion are non-overlapping magisteria (incl. infoslide)". The final was judged by Jacklin Kwan (chair), Jason Woods, Joel Richardson, John Karellis, Maurice Coutiel, Rosie Vorri and ...

[caption id="attachment_35037" align="alignright" width="400"] Ryan Fisk and Michael Crossely - © University of York Debating Society[/caption] The York IV 2019 was won by the team Breaking On A Points Based System (Michael Crossely, Ryan Fisk) from the University of Hull. They won the final out of Closing Government against the Opening Government He taught me LO, he taught me PM, he taught me Pain, thank u, Fred (Craig McDonald, Georgie Friend; Cardiff/Warwick), the Opening Opposition Rafael Shimabukuro memes for woke male feminist teens (Joshua Varughese, Lucie Slamova; Warwick) and the Closing Opposition Manchester QS (Rae Qiu, Yusuf Steel). The motion read ...

The Yale IV 2018 was won by Harvard CH (John Hunt and Sophia Caldera) from Opening Government. They debated the final on the motion "This House would legalize and train sex workers specifically to work with disabled people" against Brown GG (Jack Gramlich, Sandy Greenberg) in Closing Opposition, Harvard BrMe (Ed Bracey, Dasha Metropolitansky) in Closing Government, and Princeton AO (Samuel Arnesen, Sinan Ozbay) in Opening Opposition. The final was chaired by Michael Mao with Bobbi Leet, Charlie Barton, Daniel Berman, Lorenzo Pinasco. The Novice Final of the tournament was won by  Princeton JW (Daniel Ju, Greg Weaving) in Opening Government, on the motion "This House believes that the horrors of history are incompatible with a belief in ...

As the 2018 European Universities Debate Championship progresses, the break is now online. ...

Once again the anglophone World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) took place during the turn of the year. This year's location was Mexico City. The tournament started the 27.12.17 and ended the 04.01.18. After nine preliminary rounds the teams breaking to the outrounds were announced on New Year's Eve. At the WUDC, teams participate classified as one of three language categories: EPL (English as a Proficient Language), ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language). EPL-classified teams can only participate in the Open Break, ESL-teams depending on their ranking either in the Open Break oder the ...

[caption id="attachment_33570" align="alignleft" width="400"] Winners of the Birmingham IV - Alberto Polimeni (left) and Joel Richardson (right) - © Tom Davies (Instagram @tomdgriff)[/caption] Congratulations to ‘KCL Straits of Malaca’ (Alberto Polimeni and Joel Richardson) for winning the Birmingham IV! They won the final from Opening Government defeating ‘Too early for a midlife crisis’ (Dean Foley, Manchester, and Matthew Oldham, former Lancaster) in Opening Opposition, ‘Bulgaro-Serbian school of political correctness’ (Radko Nedyalkov, UCL, and Monica Naydenova, Sofia University) in Closing Government, and ‘Durham B’ (Tim Sharpe and Martha Muir) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This House would nationalise Facebook and Twitter’. The ...

Breaking 9th seed, Darion Hotan and Sam van Elk from Kings College London proceed to win the 2017 Oxford Intervarsity. The tournament's Chief Adjudicators were Evan Lynyak, Sella Nevo, Sophie Large, Teck Wei Tan, and Joshua Bailey. The tab team, SUULUU Candles, was led by Roxana Legezynska and included Katherine Dunbar, Steven Roy, Alex Murray, Joseph Sisson, and Jiwoo Won. [caption id="attachment_33048" align="alignright" width="400"] In Closing Opposition, BPP A ran an economics extension in the Final. photo credit: Justin Kirk[/caption] Debating as KCL A, Darion and Sam proposed that “Assuming it could be done peacefully, this House would replace all existing governments ...

[caption id="attachment_32765" align="alignright" width="300"] The winners: Cian Higgins (left) and Paddy Flynn (right) - © Helena Hecke[/caption] The Novice IV of UCD Law Soc and L&H was won by UCD Law HF (Cian Higgins and Paddy Flynn) from Closing Government. They debated on the motion THB the US media should restrict coverage of mass shooting in the US against UCD Law/ Hist LA (Samuel Ajentunmobi and Jack Lowe) in Opening Government, Edinburgh I am Sasha Fierce (Lukas Augustin Reynoso and Nathanial Cliftion) in Opening Opposition and Bialystok A (Przimyslaw Stolarski and Alicja Owdiez) in Closing Opposition. The debate was chaired by Beth Mallen together with Cian Luddy, Eoin O'Sullivan, Milla Huuskonen and Mark Wilson. The best speaker of the tournament was ...

[caption id="attachment_32040" align="alignright" width="158"] Winners of the Helsinki Open - Alex Harris (left) and Brian Wong (right) - © Brian Wong[/caption] Congratulations to ‘Alex is never Wong’ (Alex Harris, former ULU, and Brian Wong, Oxford) for winning the Helsinki Open 2017. They won the final from Closing Government defeating ‘The Cupcakes or Your Life’ (Miri Muntean and Ingo Bandhauer, Vienna) in Opening Government, ‘Schrodinger’s Dichotomy’ (Jenni Juvonven, former Tampere, and Martijn Roo, Berlin) in Opening Opposition, and ‘Mainor A’ (Oskar Gross and Kasper) in Closing Opposition on the motion ‘This House would grant an amnesty to citizens who fought for ISIS ...

[caption id="attachment_31902" align="alignright" width="400"] Enting Lee speaks as Leader Opposition in the final round of the 2017 HWS Round Robin (c) Howard and William Smith Colleges[/caption] The HWS Round Robin has claimed yet another weekend of the lives of some of the best debaters in the world. In a tradition that began at the 2016 HWS Round Robin, two judging panels watched each round and delivered oral adjudications independently, with the aggregate number of points & speaker points used to determine the break (tab here). After a struggle for team spots, which can be achieved either through winning a prestigious named tournament or ...

[caption id="attachment_31538" align="alignleft" width="152"] Winners of the Liverpool IV - Owen Mooney (left), Skye Brettell (right) - © Bethany Garry[/caption] Congratulations to GUU Bush (Owen Mooney and Skye Bretell, Glasgow) for winning the Open Final of the Liverpool IV 2017. They won the final from Closing Government defeating The unwarranted irrigation extension (Michael Davidson and Cameron Cross, Edinburgh) in Opening Government, Never Speak At Your Own Competition (Jack Stanley, Strathclyde, and Patrick Collins-Price, Liverpool) in Opening Opposition, and I came here for Lucy Murphy because I love her. That is all (Dafe Orugbo and Daire O’boyle, Maynooth) in Closing Opposition on ...

[caption id="attachment_31345" align="alignright" width="163"] Winners of the Manchester IV Open Final 2017: Owen Mooney (left), Eileen De Souza (right) - © Craig McDonald[/caption] Congratulations to the three winning teams of this year’s Manchester IV! The Open Final was won by GUU Clubs of alcohol and depravity (Owen Mooney and Eileen De Souza) in Closing Government. They defeated Oxford HC (Jure Hederih and Louis Collier) in Opening Government, UCL Janeway (Martin Devenney and Leo Yung) in Opening Opposition, and Edinburgh Nevertheless, She Persisted (Ethan Silver and Nishith Hedge) in Closing Opposition on the motion “This house believes that militaries in new democracies should ...