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.