Essential reminders

Three very important points.

1. Open balances: Lots of institutions will have to pay a small open balance in cash upon arrival in Berlin. It is paramount that you settle any open balance you may have on December 27th/28th, i.e. before round 1. If you or your institution fail to do so, your teams will not be able to compete until the balance is settled. We will post and send you the up-to-date balance overview at the end of next week. Note that the one from FastRego is out-dated.

2. Visa: Please get informed about visa regulations asap! If you need a visa, also have a look at the information about "Schengen". It may turn out to be easier for you to get a Schengen visa from a non-German embassy. Then: If you need any paperwork from us, contact us quickly! We understand how important it is for you to receive the right documents but if you contact us last minute, we cannot guarantee for anything.

3. Independent adjudicators: You should have received an email about your online boarding process. If you have not, please contact Head of Registrations Teresa Widlok.

Berlin Worlds independent adjudicators

These are the sixty people chosen and confirmed by the A Core to serve as independent adjudicators at Berlin Worlds.

Alex Worsnip, Amit Golder, Anat Shapira, Andrew Ford, Andrew Tuffin, Anne Valkering, Ben Woolgar, Brett Frazer, Bronwyn Cowell, Buzz Klinger, Colin Etnire, Daniel Warents, Danique Van Koppenhagen, David Stephens, Dino De Leon, Ely Zosa, Eoin Kilkenny, Ewan MacDonald-Russell, Filip Dobranić, Fred Cowell, Gavin Illsley, Harish Natarajan, Jack Watson, James Dixon, John Sadek, Jordan Anderson, Joseph Ware, Kate Falkenstein, Kimera Chetty, Kiran Iyer, Kirsty MacDonald-Russell, Leela Koenig, Loke Wing Fatt, Mary Nugent, Michael Baer, Michael Shapira, Monique Hardinge, Nate Blevins (TBC), Nick Derrington, Nina Ubaldi, Nishita Vasan, Omer Nevo, Philip Belesky, Philip Williams, Pranay Bhatia, Richard Lau, Romeo Maione, Rosie Unwin, Ruth Faller, Sam Block, Sam Natale, Sean Stefanik, Sella Nevo, Shengwu Li, Simone Van Elk, Thoriso M-Afrika, Tom Jackson, Tomas Beerthuis, Will Jones, Zheng Bo.

Additions from December 4th: Dominic Guinane, Jacqueline Yates, Jonathan Leader Maynard, Milan Vignjevic, Nupur Upadhyay, Paul Gross (TBC), Tarit Mukherjee.

Things happening at the moment

As Berlin Worlds are approaching, the number of things going on is increasing. For your overview:

Registration: More than 1,000 people in 51 countries are entering crucial participant details into our registration system. The deadline for this is October 21st. More people from further countries will follow suit once we have final lists of independent adjudicators and scholarship recipients.

Scholarship: Although the selection process for our scholarship programme has been completed, we need some more time to fine-tune the allocation of funds. We don't want to tell anyone they have been accepted without being able to provide any financial details. This is a fairly complicated and time-consuming process and we have to ask for some more patience.

Independent adjudicators: Just a few names are still to be confirmed. Once we have a final list, we will post it.

Masters' Cup: Berlin Worlds Convener Patrick Ehmann has won the German Masters' Cup last weekend. As for our Worlds Masters' Cup, we are about to appoint/confirm two CAs. Feel free to to start forming a national team representing your country.

Public Speaking: We are seeking two CAs here as well and have confirmed one so far. We will announce them together as soon as we have them both on board.

Language: Tasneem Elias completes the leadership of the Language Review Committee. Michael Saliba and Anne Valkering are the other two heads of this body, as we announced earlier.

Equity: We are about to appoint Equity Officers. Before the tournament they will play a key role in drafting the WUDC Berlin 2013 Code of Conduct (CoC). The CoC implements certain standards and procedures (besides those of the Germany law) that are "binding upon all participants" (WUDC Constitution Art. 32,5).

Call for Berlin Worlds independent adjudicators

The application period for independent adjudicators has begun. Our Chief and Deputy Chief Adjudicators are seeking together with our Convener 60 excellent judges from across the world. Anyone regardless of age, student status or number of previously attended Worlds is eligible to apply and to tell their friends about this.

The deadline for applications is June 25th 2012. If you have any questions regarding the process, please do get in touch directly with our Chief Adjudicators Sharmila and Douglas.