A report from the ground – Sarah Elzenbaumer
On a sunny and later windy weekend day, Saturday, 5th April 2025, over 70 young people spent their time mostly inside the Central European University in the south of Vienna. Why?
The Debattierklub Wien organized the Debate Novice Cup 2025! So many talkative debaters united to voluntarily argue about topics they see for the first time and maybe don’t even know much about. How does it differ from everyday arguing? You get your “opinion” assigned, so you might not agree with it – but that’s the fun part. You think outside the box. You would be surprised how many arguments you find on the other side if you must look for them…
After mercifully waiting for latecomers, no time was wasted, and the CAs eventually announced the topic for the first round… The rise of dating apps! We believed this rise did more harm than good, according to our position.
This Novice Cup was very international. People from all over Europe flew or drove to Vienna, from Manchester to Milan and Budapest. To meet people with different backgrounds and motivations to debate was a highlight. Some of our sympathetic opponents we even met in multiple debate rounds!
The second round was on human-replacing technologies. We argued that while technology develops fast, people don’t – and the education of those losing their jobs can’t keep up. In the third round my teammate Chris and I had to defend a world where assisted suicide is accessible for everyone against a world where no one has access – a spicy motion! Morals, principal arguments and economical thoughts were brought up, pressure weighted against desperation and hope. After this round, the breaking teams were announced. We made it to the gold final!! We were so happy about it. Until we heard the final motion:
Should Moldova pursue reunification with Romania? Countries we knew little about. But thankfully, we just have to make logical reasoning and argue for it well enough. Even if it feels more comfortable to know something. While the opposition’s stance was “never ever getting back together”, our proposition saw benefits in economics and safety. Chris added valuable details and comparisons to strengthen our case. Interesting debate. We were delighted to have debated against other strong teams.
When the winner of the silver and gold finals were announced, we initially didn’t have much hope. Our opponents were strong and as in the previous rounds, we knew some things we could have done better. But then our team was called. We won the gold final!! We jumped up and our smiles nearly wrapped around our faces.
After the finals, the night was still young. Not to forget, there were also other teams with good team scores and individual speaker points, some of them from Vienna! We also toasted them at the karaoke bar at Lugner City, where most of us headed. Once the early birds peeled off to catch flights, bus or well-deserved sleep, a small but mighty group stayed strong until around 5 a.m. Many songs were sung, including the necessary ‘Angels’ and ‘Cough Syrup’.
Despite talking for a whole day and shouting and singing in the following night, we didn’t need actual cough syrup the next day. But a huge nap…
Thanks to all the individuals who made this Novice Cup a success and a great memory for everyone, from the organization team, who provided pizza, sandwiches, goodies and overall coordination, to the CAs and the judges for the motions, feedback and their efforts in ensuring a fair competition. Thanks to every team for participating and for all the lovely chats – whether brief or long – before, between, or after the debates. Hope to see you again at another tournament soon!
Legend:
- CA = chief adjudicator
- motion = the topic of a debate, the statement that teams argue for or against
- mechanize = to break down the argument logically, explaining how your claim leads to a specific impact
