International Debating Championship at the UNWE

The International Debating Championship Sofia Pre-EUDC 2023 was opened on the 18 August at the UNWE and will last for two days. The best European debaters of recent years, including UNWE students, are taking part in the competition.

The organizers of thew event are the Bulgarian Debate Association, an NGO with over 300 members and a network of clubs in many schools and universities across the country, and the Inter-University Centre for Career Development at UNWE.

Prof. Dr. Matilda Alexandrova, Vice-Rector for Educational Activities, opened the competition and wished the participants success on behalf of the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov. "I am very pleased that the final round of this most prestigious European debate competition is being held at our university. The winners will participate in the European Debating Championship which will be hosted by Bulgaria and will take place in Burgas from 21 to 25 August. In order to participate in debates, creativity, sound argumentation and communication skills are important qualities that participants must have. I am very happy that our students have proven their qualities and are competing with debaters from the most prestigious universities in Europe, including Oxford, Cambridge, London University of Economics and Political Science", said Prof. Alexandrova.

"A total of 150 debaters compete representing prestigious universities in Europe who will be assessed by 40 judges. This competition is of great importance for all participants as it is a kind of “general rehearsal” for the EUDC 2023 /European Debating Championship 2023/ in Burgas", said Maxim Zangov from the organizing team of the International Debating Championship Sofia Pre-EUDC 2023.

Maxim Zangov explained that the format of the debates is the so-called "British parliamentary", which is the most common in the world. Four teams of two take part in each debate. Two of the teams (called "the government") defend the given topic and the other two (the "opposition") oppose it. Each debate has a judge who announces the winner at the end of the debate. The topics are varied and include politics, economics, social issues, philosophy and sport, with the specific topic for each debate being announced just 15 minutes before the start of the debate.

The judges for the competition have exceptional debating experience and almost all of them are finalists from previous Debating Championships: Matt Kaito from the University of London /the best debater in the world in 2022/, Anna Shrader from the Technical University of Haifa, Israel /she will be the major judge at the European Championship 2024 in Glasgow/, Tamar Ben Meir from the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel /the second best debater in the world in 2022/, Ilija Ivanisevic from the University of Belgrade /major judge at the World Championships 2017/ and Tin Pulic from the University of Zagreb /world champion in 2021/.

Jessica Mussolin and Craig McDonald, the competition advisers and etiquette officers, explained the rules of the competition, which will take place in 5 open rounds and an elimination phase consisting of quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final. On Saturday, 19 August, four quarter-final debates will take place, after them 8 teams will advance to the two semi-finals. From them the four finalists will be selected and their names will be published in the next article.