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Greetings from the Northwestern Debate Society!
We are excited to invite you to the 61st Owen L. Coon Memorial Debate Tournament, to be held at Northwestern University’s Evanston campus from Saturday, September 12th through Monday, September 14th, 2026. Below please find essential tournament information.

Tournament packet: the full tournament packet with all logistical info has been posted on the right-hand menu of this page.

Location: all debates, including elims, will take place on the NU campus in Evanston. Elimination debates on Monday will take place in Tech.

Hotel: as in 2025, we are not securing a hotel block or designating a tournament hotel. Please make arrangements in the Evanston, North Shore, or Chicago-area hotel that best meets your program's needs. We know that Evanston-area hotel prices have increased significantly - please consider lodging in the Skokie/Old Orchard area, or near O'Hare.

Schedule: the tournament schedule is available here - there may be small adjustments if needed.

Meals: the tournament will provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner to all participants Saturday; breakfast and lunch Sunday (dinner is on your own - with extra time built into the schedule to get dinner for your squad); and breakfast for teams, coaches and judges still in the tournament on Monday. There will be snacks available throughout the weekend.

Fees: tournament fees will remain unchanged from 2025 - each in-person participant (debater, judge, coach, or observer) will be assessed a$70 fee. Each online team will be assessed a $140 fee. We understand that there are many programs facing budget difficulties; please contact the tournament directly (see contact info below) to discuss possible accommodations if you would like to participate but are unable to due to budget challenges.
The tournament will send invoices to each program after the drop deadline on Wednesday, September 9th. The link to pay fees online is in the tournament packet and available here: https://nudebatepayments.securepayments.cardpointe.com/pay

Format: 8 preliminary rounds and a double-octafinal bracket in the Open division. Six preliminary rounds and elimination debates featuring at least half the field in a JV division. There was insufficient demand for a novice division - the two novice entries have been merged into JV.

Modality: while in-person entries are strongly encouraged, we will accept both in-person and online entries.

Tab staff: Dr. Daniel Fitzmier is the Tournament Director. Gary Larson will tabulate the tournament. Jeff Buntin will be the Assistant Tournament Director.

We look forward to welcoming you in September! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at d-fitzmier@northwestern.edu and j-buntin@northwestern.edu

Sincerely,
Daniel J. Fitzmier

Associate Professor of Instruction
Lance E. Rosenzweig Director of Debate
School of Communication
Northwestern University