site.btaBulgaria Reaches World Universities Debating Championships Finals, Experts Discuss Debate Culture in Bulgaria

A Bulgarian debating team reached the final of the  World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC), which took place between December 27, 2022 and January 4, 2023 in Madrid. The team of Nikolay Angelov and Rumen Marinov finished second in the competition, which was attended by over 250 teams from around the world, but ranked first after the general rounds. This is the first time this has happened in the history of debates in Bulgaria.

The two also received individual recognition - Rumen Marinov was awarded as the second best speaker, and Nikolay Angelov came in sixth.

Two other teams from Bulgaria took part in the debate championship. The team of Maria Macheva and Biser Angelov reached the quarterfinals, and the team of Alek Selveliev and Velina Andonova qualified for the partial round of 16.

Ani Kovacheva, who judged all nine rounds of the WUDC, took part in the Bulgarian delegation.

Nikolay Angelov and Ani Kovacheva talked about Bulgaria's participation, its successes and the nature of debates in a BTA interview.

"There is no preliminary ranking for the world championship itself, you participate in it as a representative of a given university," said Angelov. He explained that the registration is open to everyone.

The WUDC consists of nine rounds, Angelov said. In the first round, teams meet at random, and then, little by little, as they accumulate more points, teams face off against those with a similar number of points, and that is how they are sorted and a leaderboard is created. This year there were about 300 teams. Based on the ranking, the first 48 teams are ranked. The first 16 go directly to the round of 16, and the rest of these 48 go to partial semi-finals and compete for the round of 16, Angelov explained.

Kovacheva said that the Bulgarian Debate Association is the only organization that is actively involved in popularizing competitive debates in different cities and, respectively, in different schools around the country.

She added that in the summer of 2023,  Bulgaria will host the European Universities Debating Championships, which will be held in Burgas, on the Black sea.

Kovacheva explained that a debate's topics are revealed 15 minutes before the actual debate begins. This means that the topic is announced, 15 minutes pass in which the teams prepare, and then the debate begins. During the debate, each team presents their arguments that defend or oppose the topic. Their purpose is also to show why the opposing team's arguments are either wrong or irrelevant.

Kovacheva argued that debates allow one to become more educated in various topics and gain many skills that help in everyday life, for example in presenting ideas and even in everyday communication.