WELCOME

The Utah Debate Coaches Association (UDCA) is proud to host theState Championship Tournament for Middle & Elementary School on May 7-8 at Alta High School. As always, we look forward to hosting the best and brightest from around the State and giving coaches, students, and judges the opportunity to make an impact.

Students must qualify to the State tournament and there are entry limits. Most students will qualify through their District tournament but every school is invited to send at least one entry in every event. The Middle School State Tournament offers Policy (CX), Lincoln-Douglas (LD), Public Forum (PF), Extemporaneous Speaking (EX), and Original Oratory (OO). The Elementary State Tournament offers Partner Debate (PD), Original Oratory (OO), and Informative Speaking (INF).

Please use the navigation links on the right hand side of this page for more information or email us with questions. Good luck!

SCHEDULES

Thursday, May 7th (MIDDLE SCHOOL ONLY)

You may arrive anytime after 2:45pm.Teams should meet in the cafeteria.

Registration - 3:00pm

Round 1 - 3:30pm

Round 2 - 4:45pm

Dinner Break

Round 3 - 6:15pm

Round 4 - 7:30pm

Awards - 9:00pm

We hope to be out of the building by 9:30pm.

Friday, May 8th (ELEMENTARY ONLY)

You may arrive anytime after 2:45pm.Teams should meet in the cafeteria.

Registration - 3:15pm

Round 1 - 4:00pm

Round 2 - 5:15pm

Dinner Break

Round 3 - 6:45pm

Awards - 8:15pm

We hope to be out of the building by 8:45pm.

TOPICS

Middle School Policy (CX)- "Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly increase its exploration and/or development of the Arctic."

Middle School Lincoln-Douglas (LD) - TBD (2026 Jan/Feb NSDA LD Topic)

Middle School Public Forum (PF)- "Resolved: In the United States, the benefits of the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education outweigh the harms.”

Middle School Extemporaneous Speaking (EX)- Utah (Economics & Environment), National (Politics & Culture), and International (Security & International Institutions).

Elementary Partner Debate (PD)- “Resolved: The benefits of outer space exploration outweigh the harms.”

NEW RULES

1. New Judge Obligations: In an effort to improve the quality of the judge pool and defray the rising costs of providing tournament judges, the State tournaments will now require schools/districts to bring a number of their own adult judges (in proportion to the number of entries they register). These can be parent volunteers, teachers, or judges from the high school circuit. The State tournament will still supplement judging with experienced high school students and adult judges.

2. No Parent Observers: The State tournament will no longer allow parents to watch or sit in the classroom during their child’s rounds. This rule is in-line with nearly every other academic competition in the State and was implemented because of persistent issues with parents who did not honor the tournament expectations for sportspersonship.