The National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) is one of the two national intercollegiate parliamentary debate organizations in the United States. The other is the American Parliamentary Debate Association. Its membership is national with participating schools throughout the country. In 2015, NPDA was the largest debating organization in the United States with around 200-250 participating schools in any given year.
Rules In tournaments sponsored or sanctioned by the NPDA, teams of two debate head-to-head. Tournaments issue a new topic each round, generally on issues such as politics, philosophy and current affairs. After the announcement of the topic, the two teams have 15 minutes to prepare plus the time it takes to walk to the furthest away round in which debates will be taking place (usually rounded to 20 minutes), during which to write out their respective cases.
The standard time limits for an NPDA debate are: Preparation period: 20 minutes First proposition speaker: 7 minutes First opposition speaker: 8 minutes Second proposition speaker: 8 minutes Second opposition speaker: 8 minutes Opposition rebuttal: 4 minutes Proposition rebuttal: 5 minutes
There are tournaments, however, at which these are modified, generally to a 7-7-7-7-5-5 format. The Claremont Colleges tournament, for instance, uses this 7-5 format. During constructive speeches, debaters may introduce new arguments and the speaker's opponents may rise to ask questions of the speaker. Constructive speakers can accept or reject any given question. Rebuttals are exclusively for summarizing the arguments that were made during constructives.
Over the past few years, many coaches and competitors have referred to the official title of speeches with different names. These are unofficial yet very popular with many judges: Prime Minister Constructive Leader of Opposition Constructive Member of Government Constructive Member of Opposition Constructive Leader of Opposition Rebuttal Prime Minister Rebuttal
Debaters may not bring in printed, published evidence and consult it during the round. It is expected that debaters will use their own pre-existing knowledge and research conducted prior to the start of the actual round to back their arguments with reasoning and empirical data. This places parliamentary debate in stark contrast to the other common intercollegiate debate format, policy debate, where debaters may utilize quoted evidence.
Championship Tournament The NPDA runs one debate tournament each year: the NPDA Championship Tournament, held in late March or early April at rotating host sites. While the inaugural tournament in 1994 only hosted around 40 teams, the 2004 Championship Tournament had over 300 in the field from over a half-dozen nations. The tournament's practices are generally modeled by smaller invitational tournaments, which provide the bulk of year-long competition. NPDA sanctions many of these tournaments, and the school that does the best at sanctioned invitationals over the course of the year is awarded a year-long sweepstakes championship.
Relationship to other tournaments and organizations There are usually several NPDA-sanctioned invitational tournaments in the US to choose from on almost every weekend of the academic year. The largest of these tournaments include the Mile High Swing held in January co-hosted in recent years by Texas Tech University and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, the season-opening Bowman Debates at William Jewell College in September, the Steve Hunt Classic held at Lewis & Clark College in October and the Paul Winters Invitational at the University of the Pacific in November.
Communicating between tournaments Almost from its inception, the NPDA community has taken advantage of the Internet to continue debates (and to debate about debates) between tournaments and in the off season. For years, this took place via the official electronic mailing list, much to the chagrin of those who saw that resource as best used for official communication such as posting tournament invitations and results.
Today, much of the online debate (especially between competitors) in the NPDA community takes place via the online forum Net-Benefits.net, founded by University of Southern California then-undergraduate Jed Link. The name Net-Benefits is a pun, referring to the debate paradigm by which the debate judge weighs the net benefits of two competing policies. The site is now an electronic hub for discourse and information on parliamentary debate.
National champions Every year since 1994, the organization has held a national championship tournament. Winning teams include:
Year Team School2026Adrian Lossada & Jasper PachecoSt Mary’s College2025Alexa Grechshkin & Isabel MathyWhitman College2024Tristan Keene & Brenna SeiersenParliamentary Debate at Berkeley2023Tristan Keene & Brenna SeiersenParliamentary Debate at Berkeley2022Jacob Tate & Maximus RenteriaRice University2021Amanda Miskell & Ryan RashidParliamentary Debate at Berkeley2020Mitch Deleel & Adeja PowellMcKendree University2019Co-champions: Jessica Jung1 & lila lavender2/Tom Kadie1 & Henry Tolchard1Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley1/Western Washington University22018Kyle Bligen & Jazmine BuckleyMercer University2017Co-champions: Ryan Kelly & Kaitlyn Bull/Will Starks & Quintin Brown Washburn University2016David Hansen & Katelyn Johnson William Jewell College2015Matt Casas & Anthony Joseph Kansas City Kansas Community College2014Joshua Rivera & Benjamin Campbell Southern Illinois University Carbondale 2013Josh Rivera & Mike Selck Southern Illinois University Carbondale2012Lauren Knoth & Josh Ramsey Washburn University2011Hank Fields & Matt Gander University of Oregon2010Brian Horton & Adam Testerman Texas Tech University2009Max Alderman & David Pena University of Nevada, Reno2008Kristen Owen & Anthony Putnicki Texas Tech University2007Tim Kamermayer & Griffith Vertican Point Loma Nazarene University2006Josh Anderson & Rachel Safran University of Puget Sound2005Meredith Price & Paul Bingham Lewis & Clark College2004Ian Samuel & Marie Tenny Truman State University2003Michael Owens & Joshua Wilkerson University of Wyoming2002 Ben Garcia & Chris Richter University of Alaska Anchorage2001Danny Barak & Will Trachman University of California, Berkeley2000Ryan Kennedy & Jacob Stutzman Truman State University1999Geof Brodak & Bill Herman Colorado State University1998Heath Curtis & Rebekah Gilbert Concordia University, Seward1997Dan Nelson & Marcus Paroske Regis University1996Ryan Levy & Scott Ruthfield Rice University1995Meredith Marine & Neal Sample University of Wyoming1994Marcus Paroske & Tammy Schultz Regis University
Top speakers Year Speaker School2026Zachary StansberyUniversity of Texas at Tyler2025Rija NaqviRice University2024 Jas LiuWhitman College2023Brenna SeiersenParliamentary Debate at Berkeley2022Arshita SandhiparthiUniversity of the Pacific 2021Cam WadeMercer University2020Raine McDonaghLewis & Clark College2019Fiker TesfayeTexas Tech University2018Logan KelleyTexas Tech University2017Grace MillerUniversity of Nevada, Reno2016Ashe Tippins Western Washington University2015Jazmine Buckley Mercer University2014Marten King Whitman College2013Miranda Morton Whitman College2012Ben Reid McKendree University2011Max Alderman University of Nevada, Reno2010Will Van Treuren University of Colorado, Boulder2009MaryAnn Almeida Willamette University2008Kevin Calderwood Southern Illinois University Carbondale2007Ryan Lawrence University of California, Berkeley2006Joelle Perry Western Kentucky University2005Marie Tenny University of South Carolina2004Ian Samuel Truman State University2003Kyle DeBeer Colorado College2002Audrey Mink California State University, Long Beach2001Katie Angliss Point Loma Nazarene University2000Andrew Vogt Colorado College1999Bill Herman Colorado State University1998Daniel Nelson Regis University1997Marcus Paroske Regis University1996Ryan Levy Rice University1995Nick Coburn-Palo Weber State University1994Andrea Roth University of New Mexico
Commonly used books The Parli Prepbook compiled by Kyle Dennis and written by several coaches and renowned competitors, a community-driven guide to modern parliamentary debateThe Parli Prepbook Strategic Argumentation in Parliamentary Debate by Eric Robertson, good for beginners and intermediate Art, Argument, and Advocacy: Mastering Parliamentary Debate by John Meany and Kate Shuster, best for intermediate and advanced On That Point: Introduction to Parliamentary Debate by John Meany, good for beginners Burden of Proof: An Introductory Guide to Argumentation and Guide to Parliamentary Debate by Mark Crossman, good for beginners Competitive Debate: The Official Guide by Richard E Edwards, good for high schools and not just parliamentary debate
See also Competitive debate in the United States
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