The Newark Invitational 2025

2025 — Newark, NJ/US

Boom! It's the Newark Invitational!

Dear Esteemed Colleagues,

We are thrilled to announce the upcoming 2025 Newark Invitational Debate Tournament taking place at Science Park High School in Newark, NJ from January 10th-11th.This gathering of minds symbolizes our commitment to fostering excellence in forensics, nurturing critical thinking, and celebrating the persuasive power of words. We are so happy to have such a collection of great people join our wonderful city, even if for just a weekend.

We offer varsity and novice level competition in Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Policy debate. Please note that Novice Policy is restricted to the NDCA packet.

We offer a TOC Bid in quarterfinals in Varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate. We offer a TOC bid in Gold for finals and Silver for semis in Varsity Public Forum debate.

[NEW FOR 2025] There are event-wide and per-school entry caps that have been implemented for this year. Based on initial tournament/school registrations, we will open up space for more entries. We understand that it can affect travel plans for some of you and are open to have those conversations earlier on, on a case-by-case basis.

[IMPORTANT] The Newark Invitational will not accept registrations from independents. All entries will need to be supported by a valid, degree-granting institution with an adult on site.

[IMPORTANT] Similar to last year, VLD will be running with 4 preliminary rounds on Friday. We will be enforcing strict forfeit times of 10 minutes after the posted start time. Judges, please keep comments short! Remember that you can always edit comments later and catch competitors in the hall!



For detailed information, schedules, and registration, please follow the link below so you can access the full invitation and Live-Doc.
[Newark Invitational Live Doc]


Embrace the challenge, shape the discourse! Yay debate!

Warm regards,
- 2025 Newark Invitational Team