The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation is proud to announce its annual Coolidge North Carolina Open, a one-day debate tournament that will be held on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Chapel Hill.

Overview of the Tournament
Date: Saturday, April 25, 2026.
Times: A detailed schedule will be available soon. Check in at 8:00 AM, the morning seminar begins at 8:30 AM, and the awards ceremony concludes by 4:15 PM.
Format: 2v2 Coolidge debate format.
Location: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, buildings TBD.
Eligibility: All students currently enrolled in grades 6-12.
Cost: Free with lunch provided.
Registration: Registration closes Tuesday, April 22, at 11:59 PM EDT. 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 resolution, which will be announced in December. We will also provide a research brief.

Tournament Overview
Participants will begin Saturday with a topic seminar from a subject matter expert. You will debate against other teams in four rounds throughout the day, getting a chance to argue both sides of the resolution. 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.

We ask that you find a partner in advance and register as a team. If you do not have a debate partner, you may register solo, also known as "maverick." Such entries are discouraged but permitted, and may be asked to partner with another maverick entry at the tournament officials' discretion. Maverick entries must also provide an adult judge.

All students in grades 6 to 12 from any school are invited to compete, including homeschool students and independent entries (students attending without the formal support of their schools).

Format and Style
Students will compete in the Coolidge 2v2 debate format. If you are new to debating in this league, we highly recommend reviewing our debate education resources that provideinformation about this particular format, style, and rules.

Coolidge Cup Bids
The fifth and final tournament of the league calendar, known as the Coolidge North Carolina Open, will serve as a qualifier tournament for the 2026 Coolidge Cup national championship tournament which takes place July 2-4 in Plymouth, Vermont. Each individual debater from top four finishing varsity high school teams (based on wins and total speaker points) will receive an invitation to compete at the Coolidge Cup. Note that the Coolidge Cup uses a 1v1 format in which students compete individually.

Divisions
The tournament will have three divisions: Middle School, High School Novice, and High School Open/Varsity.

• All students in grades 6-8 must enter the Middle School division. Only students in grades 6-8 may compete in the Middle School division.
• High school students with no experience or minimal experience may elect to participate in the Novice division. (We define a novice as a high school debater who is in their first year of any speech and debate competition.)
• High School students with experience debating in either the Coolidge Debate League or other leagues should participate in the Open/Varsity division. Any student in grades 9-12 may choose to enter the Open/Varsity division. Teams must compete in the division of their most experienced partner (e.g., a team of a novice and a varsity debater must compete in varsity).

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 here to volunteer as a judgeor have your school's coach enter you on this site as part of your official entry.

Questions
If you have any questions about the tournament, the league, or about judging, please contact Coolidge Foundation Director of Speech and Debate, Jonathan Peele.