It's on.

Berlin Worlds as a gesamtkunstwerk (ask DCA Victor Finkel what that means) takes thirteen days. We started today with the arrival day of the scholarship participants (photo) and we will end with the World Debate Forum to be held from the 4th to the 6th.

Alas not all 110 scholarship recipients will make it to Berlin. Some even travelled to another country in order to get their visa for Germany but were denied them in the last minute, which is tragic.

Tomorrow (26th) at ten we start the Scholarship Seminar at the TU. Somehow we incorporated a trip to a Christmas Market into the programme. The trainers are the good people from the Adjudication Core and a few Worlds independent adjudicators.

In the afternoon most volunteers will arrive as well and receive their last briefings before Dec 27th, the official WUDC arrival day.

Some non-Berlin volunteers and adjudicators who had arrived early met on Christmas Eve. This event turned into a rather entertaining work session (photo) with mulled wine and presents under the palm tree.

Christmas, featuring Victor, Doug et al.

Evaluation by Open Society Foundations

The Open Society Foundations are a great contributor to Berlin Worlds, as we announced earlier. On site they want to evaluate their project and we encourage you to talk to them and share your experience.

Please contact Maryanne Olson to set up a time to connect in Berlin, or if you prefer, please contact Subarna Mathes at to set up an appointment for a Skype call. Also please reach out to Subarna with any questions. Thank you in advance for your time and input!

(For more information, read their letter in full)

Berlin Worlds allocation update: 82 countries registered

The 110 recipients of the WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship are from 45 countries, which adds 31 countries to the championship. In total we are counting 82 countries today, which is certainly a Worlds record.



We have updated the detailed list of allocations accordingly.

WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship notifications

Dear WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship applicants,

Our scholarship team has emailed all successful applicants by now. That means: if you have not heard anything from us, we will—unfortunately—not be able to give you one of the 110 scholarships.

The team has intensely reviewed each of the 600 applications and composed a regionally divers and gender-balanced group of recipients.

Regardless of the outcome for you, we thank you for your application and wish you and your debate community all the best.

WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship notifications

We are glad to be able to announce that the first positive WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship notifications went out today. The process in which we email everyone who has applied will take about ten days.

If you have applied, please wait for your notification. You will definitely hear from us. Once we have sent out all notifications to all applicants, we will post a note about it.

WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship update

To all WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship applicants:

We are receiving your messages asking for updates and we would love to move forward rather today than tomorrow. We are sorry the waiting period turns out to be way longer than expected.

The first reason for the delay is a positive one: some 600 persons have submitted formally correct applications, which are many more than anticipated. We are happy that our efforts find this kind of appreciation, although it took us a long time to evaluate each of them with the appropriate attentiveness. Secondly, the allocation of funds is a complex business. Despite, and because of, the generous grant from the Open Society Foundations we are obliged to move prudently for the sake of this important programme. We are determined to find the best possible solution for this and all ensuing technicalities.

And no, we cannot set a date yet. We understand your situation and proceed as fast as possible. As we said earlier: If you have applied, you will definitely get a response. When this process is completed, we will post a note about it.

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).

Updates on general registration and scholarship

These are partially crucial security updates on the WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship and the general Berlin Worlds registration.

Registration

The full-payment deadline was last week. Participant Affairs has been busy sorting things out ever since. In the upcoming two weeks we will do three things: 

First, we will confirm all institutions that have made their payment on time in FastRego, our online registration system. This kicks off the last registration phase. We kindly ask you to fill in the participants' details into FastRego by October 21st 2012. If you don't do that we will not know and cannot take into account your dietary requirements, your roommate preference, the excursion you would like to book, your language status and many more important things.

Second, we will change your balances in FastRego to reflect the actual amount of money that has arrived on our bank account. Unfortunately a large number of you have not included transaction fees in their payment and will have to pay that open balance upon arrival here in Berlin in cash. Note that all speakers of institutions that have not paid their respective open balance by the end of December 28th, will not be able to compete on December 29th. Your institution representative will receive an automatic message from FastRego once we have updated that.

Third, we may be able to grant slots to the institutions on the waiting list. But we will only know after we have sorted out the payments. Please stay tuned if your institution is on the waiting list. Participant Affairs appreciates your patience and thanks you!

Scholarship

The application period for the WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship ended last night and programme coordinator John Eltringham reports the receipt of hundreds of emails, apparently containing more than 700 applications. We are happy that our efforts find this kind of appreciation.

Please be patient with us as the programme officers are working their way through the mountain of mail. They are concerned with evaluating each application with the appropriate attentiveness, which will take them a while. If you have applied, you will definitely get a response. When this process is completed, we will post a note about it. We kindly ask you to wait with questions regarding your application until then.

Entering the last registration phase, we are getting excited to welcome you all so very soon to beautiful Berlin!

Last call for the WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship

[application closed]

Note: Slot allocation included in Worlds scholarship

Dear Debaters,

We have received a number of inquires regarding the WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship. To clarify: The programme was especially designed for debaters and adjudicators who have not registered for the WUDC Berlin 2013 or were unable to make their down payment. All scholarship recipients will automatically be granted a spot as adjudicator or speaker at the tournament.

Best,
WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship Team.

Application open for WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship

We are proud to announce the WUDC Berlin 2013 Scholarship, a comprehensive, need-based programme for speakers as well as adjudicators supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundations, aiming at the enhancement of inclusiveness at the WUDC Berlin 2013 and the promotion of debating in less developed debating communities.

As stated in our Bid Report submitted to the WUDC Council, we reserved team and adjudicator slots for traditionally underrepresented groups. 30 teams and 50 adjudicators will be granted free access to Berlin Worlds. Applicants will be selected on the basis of financial need, their ability to bring diversity to the WUDC Berlin 2013, their potential for personal growth and their desire to use their experience to help effect positive change in their local communities.

To learn more about the Scholarship and the application process, please read the programme description.

The deadline for applications is the end of September 14th 2012 (Berlin time).