The National Federation of State High School Associations recently tabulated debate ballots from 36 states, Washington D.C., the National Speech and Debate Association, the National Debate Coaches Association, the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, and the National Catholic Forensic League. The 41 states and national organizations that submitted votes was tied for the most participation in the balloting process. The returned ballots narrowed the five proposed topics to two for placement on the final ballot to select the 2024-2025 national high school debate topic. The five topic areas were ranked 1-5 with the two topic areas receiving the lowest totals – Intellectual Property Rights and Nuclear Weapons Reduction – placed on the final ballot. On January 10, 2024, the NFHS will announce the preferred topic area and resolution after states and national organizations are able to place a final vote. The 2024-2025 national high school debate topic and resolution will be posted on the NFHS Speech and Debate webpage and sent to state associations and affiliate members.

The following states returned ballots:

In addition to the above 37 States, the NDCA, NSDA, NAUDL, and NCFL also returned ballots.

Within each of the five topic areas appears one resolution.  The resolutions within the two final topic areas are:

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in copyrights, patents, and/or trademarks.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS REDUCTION

Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce the size and/or restrict the roles of its nuclear weapons arsenal.

The following chart summarizes the balloting on the topic areas and their respective resolutions. Areas ranked 1-2-3-4-5 with low combined total indicative of top ranking.

National Policy Debate Topic Area Balloting:

113      Nuclear Weapons Reduction

115      Intellectual Property Rights

125      Critical Infrastructure

125      Agricultural Subsidies

137      American Arctic Policy

See how we got to 5 topics

Check out FREE resources on the Economic Inequality Topic (Debated in 2023-2024)

Visit the NFHS Arts Advocacy Page

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