Dear Coaches, 

 

You and your team are invited to the Penn High School Debate Tournament to be held on November 8th, 2025. Registration will run from 7:30 - 8:30 a.m., with a judges’ meeting at 8:30, and Rd. 1 starting at 9:00 a.m. Penn High School is in the Eastern Time Zone. The entry deadline is 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 5th. Entries are to be made through Speechwire. Please try to have your judges in by Thursday afternoon. Drops will be available through Saturday morning so feel free to process those on your own during the bus ride. 

 

Policy Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, World Schools Debate, Student Congress, and (new this year) Big Questions Debate will all be offered. There will be a Varsity, JV and a Novice division in all five events. I thought the JV category was a success last year and allowed some of those first year varsity to get some ribbons, so I’ll try to keep it as long as entries allow. 

 

A novice debater is a student who has never debated competitively prior to the 2025-2026 season. Any previous debate competition experience makes that student a JV/Varsity debater.

 

All Events and Divisions will follow ISSDA rules and restrictions. 

 

Topics

 

Lincoln-Douglas Debate – 2025 November/December Topic

Resolved: The United States ought to rewild substantial tracts of land.

 

Public Forum Debate – 2025 November/December Topic

Resolved: The United States federal government should require technology companies to provide lawful access to encrypted communications.

 

Student Congress-November Docket TBA- I’ll try to announce those ASAP

 

Chambers should attempt to debate three bills within each session. ​Varsity/JV chambers may elect their P.O. 

Please email P.O. nominations for the novice chamber to- jstarkweather@phm.k12.in.us

 

​World Schools Debate - Rounds 2 & 3 Prepared topic: This House believes that public services are best run by private companies.

 

​Rounds 1 & 4 are impromptu rounds, with a different topic each round.

 

Big Questions – 2025-2026 Topic

Resolved: Moral systems rooted in theism are preferable to non-theistic moral systems.

 

No electronics allowed for prep or during rounds. This will be enforced at the Penn tournament, and students will NOT be able to use their phones as timers. 

These are the norms :)

Students should write out notes and speeches on paper. They should use printed copies of speeches in prepared rounds. 

• Students may use 2 reference books for impromptu rounds.

• Students will have 1 hour prep per impromptu round. 

 

Policy Debate – 2025-2026 Topic

Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly increase its exploration and/or development of the Arctic.

 

Important Note: ​Novice Policy Topic Restrictions will be in place, and students should use the Novice packet provided by the ISSDA. (Students can cut and retag evidence as needed). 

 

Novice Policy Topic Areas:

Novice limits and resources are available at NSDA Topic List

 

Restrictions:

 

- No counter-plans

 

- No Kritiks

 

- No topicality arguments prior to Nov. 1. Note: Our tournament is post Nov. 1st.

 

****Judges****

We ask that each team provide the number of judges to run the tournament smoothly. 

 

• Congress- 1 judge for every 5 entries

• LD/PF- 1 judge for every 4 entries (since it’s double flighted)

• CX- 1 judge for every 2 entries

• WSD- 1 judge for every 2 entries

 

Please try to bring judges who can judge all events. We will be in need of debate event judges more than we will need Congress-type judges. Therefore, please make sure that your judges are able and qualified to judge more than just Congress.

 

A limited number of student judges will be allowed if they currently have over 250 NSDA points. They will only be allowed to judge Novice competitions.

 

Ribbons will be provided to the top debate entries in each event. Sweepstakes awards/trophies will be awarded to the Top 5 Teams

 

Pizza will be available for students during lunch. In addition, there will be snacks and drinks available for purchase. There will be a coaches'/judges' lounge with complimentary lunch and snacks available. We ask that you strongly encourage your students to make purchases from the concession stand, as this will help us cover the cost of speechwire services. 

 

Questions? If so, contact Jeremy Starkweather Jstarkweather@phm.k12.in.us, or via my cell phone (574) 370-4758.

(vr24)