Thessaloniki Wins WUDC 2016 Bid, Debating Comes Home to Greece

Debating is coming home.  Greece, the land where the method of dialectics was first introduced more than 2,400 years ago, will host the 2016 World Universities Debating Championship after a bid to hold the competition in the country's party capital of Thessaloniki decisively triumphed over a proposal from South Africa. The Greeks got 76 votes in the WUDC Council yesterday while their rival only collected 37.

After a string of organizational shortcomings in WUDC Chennai, the council put in place measures to prevent a repeat. There will be an audit on the preparations 3 to 6 months prior to the event and the committee must have a professionally accredited financial officer who can explain budgetary issues to the council. An aspect from WUDC 2014 that stays is the team allocation that considers the past breaking achievements of teams.

WUDC Thessaloniki promises to create a escrow account for adjudicator subsidies that will be controlled by the council and paid before debates begin. They have also uploaded their £500,000 plus budget that includes £50,000 for judge subsidies. The organizers, the Debate Society of Greece, also promise to hold training before and in between rounds for developing teams that will be led by WUDC 2013 champion Nita Rao.

The debates will mostly take place at the University of Macedonia, which is located only 3 km away on the same street from the main accommodation. The chief adjudicator is Manos Moschopoulos, a Greek debater formerly from Deree College who won the best EFL speaker award in WUDC 2010. His current deputies are WUDC 2013 best speaker Chris Bisset (Monash, Sydney) and WUDC 2007 ESL champion Tasneem Elias (IIU), who both have adjudicated in Indonesian tournaments before. Three more DCAs will be hired this year. Universitas Indonesia debater Boby Andika Ruitang will be a member of the language committee that will decide whether a debater is eligible for the ESL or EFL categories.

South Africa, Greece Launch Bid to Host WUDC 2016

Asia will host the next two World Universities Debating Championships but the tournament will head for a different continent in 2016. Bids from South Africa and Greece, two countries that have hosted WUDC before, are out with unique features for debaters to mull over until the vote next month.

University of the Witwatersrand

University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg is behind the South African bid. The bid's most attractive offer is not its yakka party or safari tour. It is the promise to create the biggest WUDC ever by accommodating at least 520 teams. No WUDC has exceeded 400 competing pairs. Another unusual part of the bid is the origin of the chief adjudicators who will not come from the home institution, country or even continent. WUDC 2013 best speaker Pam Cohn (Toronto, Durham, ULU) and Asian BP 2012 best speaker Syed Saddiq (IIU) from Malaysia have been recruited for those positions. Click here for details.

Waterfront of Thessaloniki

The other bid shouts 'Debating Comes Home'. The Debating Society of Greece wants to bring WUDC back to the land of Socrates who planted the roots of dialectics 2,400 years ago. It is billed as Thessaloniki 2016, underlining the host city, an ancient port that has turned into South Europe's party capital. Most debates would be at the University of Macedonia. The CA would be Manos Moschopoulos (Deree, ULU), one of Greece's most accomplished debaters. Click here for details.

Indonesia is part of the group of nations with the most votes (4) in the WUDC Council. The Indonesian choice in WUDC 2014 Chennai can be decisive. For Indonesian debaters, South Africa's larger cap means more teams, regardless of past results, can register but the journey to Johannesburg is longer and costlier than a trip to Greece.       

Australs 2014 Won't Be in Bali, Otago Wins Bid 16-14

It was close. A bid to hold the 2014 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championship in Bali received 14 votes, two less than what rival bidder University of Otago got. The plan promised a debate tournament in Indonesia's paradise but the New Zealand school offered a more formidable adjudication core line up that included 2 Australs winners, an Australs finalist, a two-time Australs ESL best speaker and 2 Worlds finalists. Kudos to Binus University, Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Bali and On That Point speaking institute for fighting hard to bring the second most prestigious debating event in the world to Indonesia. Only 2 major debating tournament hosting rights went to Indonesia's way so far -- the 2007 Asian Universities Debating Championship by Institut Tekonologi Bandung and the 2012 Asian BP by Jakarta-based Binus International.  

Binus, Stikes Bali, OTP Seek to Bring Australs 2014 to Indonesia

A bid to bring the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championship to Indonesia next year is in full swing. The parties responsible are Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan (Stikes) Bali, the nursing school that has never competed in Australs before, their mentors from On That Point, the Jakarta-based public speaking institute run by former and current debaters with international debating experience, and the Jakarta-based Binus University from where many of the OTP personnel hail. The other bidder is University of Otago, the New Zealand college that reached the final of the last WUDC.

The Indonesia bid's mantra to beat the Kiwis is the location - the paradise island of Bali. The proposed hotel, the sprawling Grand Inna, is literally on the famous Kuta Beach, where surfers around the world seek the perfect waves, sunbathers seek the perfect tan and sightseers seek the perfect red sunset. It also a hop away from all sorts of nightlife. Several snazzy establishments in southern Bali have been lined up for the parties. As a place drenched in culture and blessed with natural beauty, the tourist haven also has myriad choices of artistic entertainment and excursions.

The four-star hotel would be the venue for everything related to the tournament before the break announcement. The knockouts until the semis would take place at Stikes Bali, which hosted Indonesia's national BP competition in 2012. The Hard Rock Ballroom, across the street from Grand Inna, is the choice for the finals.

While OTP-trained Stikes Bali is the home institution, its students will not hold key posts. The convener and her deputies as well as leaders of the socials, transport, accommodation, food, registration and publication units would be Binus University students with experience in running the annual  Jakarta-based Asian English Olympics debate. The tournament director would be OTP's Aryo Febrian, a Bakrie University student who championed the 2011 United Asian Debating Championship's EFL category. The Balinese would act as liaison officers, runners and unit members.
 
Bryan Gunawan, a Binus University alumnus who founded OTP, is the proposed chief adjudicator. He championed the EFL category of the 2008 Asian Universities Debating Championship and served as DCA at the 2011 Asian BP. His deputies would be Kristen Price (University of Queensland - Australs 2007 Champion), David Maher (University of New South Wales - USU 2011 Finalist), Arinah Najwa (International Islamic University Malaysia - Australs 2011 Best ESL Speaker) and Sandeep Chulani (University of Hong Kong - 2009 East Asian IV Best Grand Final Speaker). The project is expected to spend $20,000 on travel subsidies to strengthen the judging pool.

The main tabmasters would be IBM's Rendy Darmawidjaja, a Binus University alumnus who worked on the WUDC 2013 tabs, and University of Melbourne's Michael Ciesielski, who tabbed Australs 2009.   

The proposed dates would be July 22 to 30, which may pose an issue for Muslims because Eid al Fitr, one of the holiest days of the religion when families gather, falls on July 29 next year. This is no problem from an organizing aspect. While more than 80 per cent of Indonesians follow Islam, Bali is predominantly Hindu and July is always a busy holiday season.                  

WSDC 2013: Australia Wins 9th Trophy, Ruins Swaziland Dream

Australia's Bo Seo makes his point amid Swaziland pressure
during the final of WSDC 2013 in Antalya, Turkey
(photo from WSDC Ltd by Cris Sanchez)

Australia, the most frequent winner of the World Schools Debating Championships, showed who is boss by crushing the dream run of Swaziland in the final of the tournament's 2013 edition. Team Australia (Bo Seo, Tyrone Connell, Zoe Brown, Nick Salmon, James Stratton), gave their country its ninth trophy after a 9-0 unanimous victory against Team Swaziland (Fanele Mashwama, Oliver Mills, Sandile Mndzebele, Lindelani Mabuza, Wabantu Hlope) which only joined WSDC last year. No other country has won more than 4 championships.

Australia's captain Bo Seo, who is of Korean descent, also took home the overall best speaker in his third WSDC. Swaziland's Fanele Mashwama, who was also part of the first-entry 2012 team, came second. Both teams lost one match in the preliminaries. Australia bowed to Canada in the last prelim while Swaziland lost to Singapore in the first round. Swaziland, which has picked up fans worldwide after their R3 unanimous win over reigning champion Scotland, took revenge against Singapore in the more crucial semifinal.

This year's WSDC was held in the tourist city Antalya in Turkey. The next will take place in Bangkok, Thailand. Fellow Southeast Asian country Singapore has won the bid to host WSDC 2015, keeping the tournament in the East as the West is going through economic recession.

UT MARA Wins 2015 Bid, Brings Back WUDC to Malaysia

Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia's largest university by size and population, will hold the 2015 World Universities Debating Championships after grabbing 57 votes, 16 more than its rival from University of Auckland. This will be the second time for Malaysia, which hosted WUDC, the most prestigious debating competition in the world, once before in 2005. WUDC 2015 can also be the biggest ever as the organisers advertise that they may open registration for 440 teams with an institutional cap of 3 teams and 2 adjudicators.


The chief adjudicators will be Jonathan Leader-Maynard, who debated for University of Oxford in the final of WUDC 2010, and Shafiq Bazari from the host institution, finalist of the 1st Asian British Parliamentary Debating Championship, also in 2010. They will have 5 deputies, 4 of them representing specific regions.

The preliminary debates will be held on the university's Shah Alam campus, a 20-minute drive from Kuala Lumpur. UT MARA will also become the venue of the 2013 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships. The school has pledged to bear all transport costs within the country and provide air-conditioned rooms for debate purposes free of charge.

Chennai Wins Race to Host WUDC 2014

The Indian city of Chennai will be the host of the 2014 World Universities Debating Championships after receiving 55 votes, 19 more than rival Bangkok, in a landmark online voting process.  The main organiser is Chennai-based Rajalakhsmi Engineering College while Rashtriya Vidyalaya Engineering College and the National Law School of India University, both from nearby Bangalore, will officially support the undertaking. Chulalongkorn University was the sole school behind the Bangkok bid.

Indonesia, which holds 4 votes due to its Status A, chose Chennai and became the only Asian nation behind the winning bid outside home country India and its neighbour Pakistan. Other Asian countries, including the sub-continent's Bangladesh, went for Bangkok. Non-Asians overwhelmingly picked Chennai, which promises accommodation in a 7-star hotel and 5 parties with free flowing alcohol. Ireland is the only non-Asian country that backed Chulalongkorn's bid. Click here for the voting breakdown.

It was the first time that a WUDC host was decided via an online voting. No bid was floored at the 2012 Worlds in Manila, triggering a scramble to find institutions that dare to take on the challenge of organising a tournament that has grown into a increasingly demanding and lavish event in recent years. The two bidding parties, coincidentally all from developing Asian countries, collaborated with award-winning debaters from the first world to table excellent proposals to keep the most prestigious debating tournament on the planet alive. WUDC 2013, which will be held in Berlin, was decided in WUDC 2011 Botswana.    


 




Tournament
EUR350/pax rego, 360 teams (may rise to 400), institution cap at 3 teams and 2 judges
Adjudication
CA: Harish Natarajan (University of Cambridge/UK/Finalist EUDC 2009, 2010) and Michael Baer (Stanford University/US/Finalist WUDC 2012)
DCA: Ely Zosa (Ateneo De Manila University/PH/Finalist WUPID 2008, 2009), 3 more will be appointed, including at least one representing the ESL/EFL group.

Hospitality

7-star ITC Grand Chola, overflowing free alcohol, all dietary requirements will be available

Travel

Visa-on-arrival for Indonesians. Organizers promise help. Quickest flight from Jakarta takes 7 hours using Singapore Airlines.