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Coolidge Debate Tournament
General information
This is a High School tournament in Alabama. View manager contact information
The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation is proud to announce its inaugural Coolidge Alabama Open, a one-day debate tournament that will be held on Sunday, January 18, 2026, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This immediately follows the University of Alabama's annual Hall of Fame tournament, which we also encourage you to attend!
Overview of the Tournament
Date: Sunday, January 18, 2026.
Times: A detailed schedule is available here. Students should arrive by 8:30 AM. All four rounds and awards are scheduled to conclude by 5:00 PM.
Format: 1v1 Coolidge debate format.
Location: University of Alabama, building(s) to be announced.
Eligibility: All students currently enrolled in grades 6-12.
Cost: Free with lunch on Sunday provided.
Registration: Registration closes Tuesday, January 13, at 2:00 PM CST. Entries will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If and when we reach capacity, we will move to a waiting list ordered by time of entry.
Judges: Volunteer citizen judges are provided; attendees have no requirement to provide judges but are encouraged to provide judges at a ratio of one judge for every two competitors or fraction thereof.
Attire: Business professional.
Resolution and Research Brief
At this tournament, students will debate our spring 2026 topic, "Resolved: The United States federal government should repeal the Wagner Act." We will post our research brief on this resolution in early January.
Tournament Structure
Participants will begin Sunday with a topic seminar from a subject matter expert, followed by lunch and four rounds of competition for all competitors. Competitors will be paired randomly for round one, and paired high-low within brackets thereafter. To clarify, this means students debate an opponent with the same win-loss record as their own from round two onwards.
The top four finishers in the Open/Varsity division will each receive an invitation and paid travel to the 2026 Coolidge Cup, which is a national invitational speech and debate tournament sponsored by the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation and held in President Coolidge’s historic hometown of Plymouth, Vermont, on July 2-4, 2026. Learn more about the Coolidge Cup.
Format and Style
Students will compete in the Coolidge 1v1 debate format, the same format that is used at the Coolidge Cup. For those new to debating in this format, we highly recommend reviewing our debate education resources that provide information about this particular style and rules. Consistent with Coolidge debate's mission, this tournament will recruit and use volunteer citizen judges. Schools are not required to provide judges for this tournament, but are encouraged to do so at a ratio of one judge for every two competitors or fraction thereof. Please ensure that any volunteer judges you recruit are familiar with the Coolidge format and its mission to remain accessible and persuasive for a broad, civic audience.
Judges
We need volunteer judges for our debate tournaments! We welcome citizen judges of all types, including parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and other members of the community. Experience with debating or judging is not necessary. If you are interested, please take a look at our information for judges. On the morning of the tournament, we will hold a brief judge training session, where we will give you all the guidance you need for the day and will answer all of your questions. Register below to volunteer as a judge.
Questions
If you have any questions, please contact the Coolidge Foundation's Director of Speech and Debate, Jonathan Peele.
Manager contact information Jonathan Peele
Email address: jpeele@coolidgefoundation.org
Phone number: 910.273.7798 Mailing address None provided
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