Where is the NDCA National Championships held?

The event is held in West Des Moines, USA.

What level of eligibility is required for participants?

The competition is open to high-school level participants.

What is the format of the competition?

The event is a national championship, indicating a competitive format for debate.

2027 NDCA National Championships

Mar 19–21, 2027West Des Moines, USAIn-person

The NDCA National Championships represent a significant annual gathering for high school debaters. Hosted in West Des Moines, USA, this event brings together young minds to engage in competitive debate, fostering critical thinking, public speaking, and analytical skills. It serves as a platform for students to test their abilities against peers from across the country, culminating in a national recognition for excellence in debate.

Committees & topics

Security Council 1 (UNSC)
United Nations Security Council I: The Situation in Sudan
Security Council 2 (UNSC)
United Nations Security Council II: Cybersecurity and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure
Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty
Committee on Digital Affairs and Sovereignty: Governing the Cross-Border Data Order
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Economic and Social Council: Sovereign Debt Restructuring in Developing Countries
UNESCO
UNESCO: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict and Crisis
UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
UN Environment Programme: Concluding a Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution
World Health Organisation (WHO)
World Health Organization: Implementing the Pandemic Agreement
Human Rights Council (HRC)
Human Rights Council: Human Rights in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Why it matters

This championship is crucial for the development of future leaders and diplomats. By participating in high-level debate, students learn to articulate complex arguments, understand diverse perspectives, and engage in constructive discourse. These skills are fundamental for navigating the intricacies of international relations and domestic policy-making.

The event also highlights the importance of intellectual rigor and the pursuit of knowledge. It encourages participants to delve into various subjects, from current events to philosophical concepts, thereby broadening their understanding of the world. The competitive environment, while challenging, is designed to be educational, pushing students to refine their research and presentation techniques.

Furthermore, the NDCA National Championships contribute to building a community of young scholars passionate about civic engagement and informed discussion. The connections made and lessons learned extend beyond the competition rounds, influencing participants' academic and professional paths. It underscores the value of structured argumentation in addressing societal challenges.

How to prepare

For participants, thorough preparation is paramount. This involves extensive research into various debate topics, understanding different argumentation styles, and practicing persuasive delivery. Students should focus on developing a robust understanding of both sides of an argument, anticipating counter-arguments, and formulating effective rebuttals. Utilizing resources on topics such as "Dynamic Analysis" can provide a framework for dissecting complex issues and developing nuanced positions.

Coaches and mentors play a vital role in guiding students through this preparatory phase. They can help students identify their strengths and weaknesses, refine their research methodologies, and improve their public speaking skills. Emphasizing the importance of ethical argumentation and respectful engagement, even in a competitive setting, is also crucial. Lessons on "Engagement Strategies" can be particularly useful in this context.

Beyond the technical aspects of debate, students should also prepare for the mental and emotional demands of a national competition. This includes developing strategies for managing stress, maintaining focus, and learning from both successes and setbacks. The experience gained here is not just about winning, but about personal growth and the development of resilience, which are invaluable for any future diplomatic or leadership role.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

United States

As the host nation, the USA emphasizes the development of critical thinking and civic engagement among its youth through competitive debate.

Role in topic

The USA provides the primary platform and organizational structure for this national-level high school debate championship, fostering a culture of intellectual competition and public speaking skills among its student population.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Security Council 1 (UNSC)

United Nations Security Council I: The Situation in Sudan

Sudan has been engulfed in civil war since April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ("Hemedti") erupted into open conflict in Khartoum. The rivalry traces back to the 2019 ouster of Omar al-Bashir, the joint 2021 coup that derailed Sudan's democratic transition, and a failed integration of the RSF into the regular army. Fighting has since spread across Darfur, Kordofan, and Gezira, producing what UN agencies describe as the world's largest displacement crisis, with famine conditions declared in parts of Darfur in 2024. The Security Council has struggled to mount an effective response. The Darfur arms embargo established under Resolution 1591 (2005) is widely flouted, with credible reporting of external weapons flows to the RSF via the UAE and to the SAF via Egypt and Iran. A June 2024 UK-drafted resolution demanding a siege lift on El Fasher passed but had limited effect; a November 2024 ceasefire resolution was vetoed by Russia. The ICC retains an active Darfur mandate, and the OHCHR Fact-Finding Mission has documented atrocities by both sides, including ethnically targeted killings in West Darfur. Today the Council must address arms embargo enforcement, humanitarian access through cross-border corridors from Chad and South Sudan, protection of civilians in El Fasher and the Kordofans, and coordination with the AU and IGAD-led Jeddah process. Underlying disputes concern whether to expand the embargo nationwide, authorize a protection mission, and confront the regional patrons fueling the war.

Key players

Security Council 2 (UNSC)

United Nations Security Council II: Cybersecurity and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure

State and state-sponsored cyber operations against critical infrastructure have moved from the periphery of international security to its center. Major incidents — NotPetya (2017), the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack (2021), Viasat at the outset of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Volt Typhoon intrusions into US utilities, and repeated attacks on hospitals and water systems — have shown that cyber means can produce kinetic-scale harm. The UN's Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) processes from 2013 and 2015 affirmed that international law, including the UN Charter, applies in cyberspace, and that states should not knowingly allow their territory to be used for internationally wrongful cyber acts against critical infrastructure. Since 2019, deliberations have shifted to the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on ICT security, which produced consensus annual progress reports in 2022, 2023, and 2024 but remains split over the future institutional architecture. Russia and like-minded states push for a binding cybercrime/ICT-use convention and a permanent state-led mechanism; the United States, EU members, and most allies prefer to consolidate the existing voluntary norms framework and a Programme of Action. The 2024 UN Convention against Cybercrime, adopted by the General Assembly, deepened these divides over human-rights safeguards and scope. The Council now confronts whether to treat large-scale attacks on hospitals, energy grids, financial systems, and undersea cables as threats to international peace and security, how to attribute incidents credibly, and how to reconcile sovereignty-based and multistakeholder approaches. Ransomware ecosystems, AI-enabled offensive tooling, and the targeting of humanitarian organizations sharpen the urgency.

Key players

Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty

Committee on Digital Affairs and Sovereignty: Governing the Cross-Border Data Order

The contemporary internet was built on a presumption of open, cross-border data flows, but the past decade has seen rapid fragmentation. The EU's GDPR (2018) and the Court of Justice's Schrems II ruling (2020) imposed extraterritorial standards on data transfers; China's Cybersecurity Law (2017), Data Security Law (2021), and PIPL (2021) established a sweeping data-localization and security-review regime; India enacted its Digital Personal Data Protection Act in 2023; and dozens of other states from Vietnam to Nigeria have adopted localization or sovereignty-tinged digital laws. These regimes reflect legitimate concerns — privacy, national security, law enforcement access, industrial policy — but collectively risk splintering the global digital economy. At the UN level, the 2024 Global Digital Compact, adopted as part of the Pact for the Future, set out commitments on connectivity, data governance, AI, and digital public goods, and called for a Multistakeholder High-Level Office to coordinate follow-up. The WSIS+20 review in 2025 reopened debates over the multistakeholder model versus more intergovernmental control of internet governance, a fault line dating to the 2012 WCIT in Dubai. Parallel tracks at the WTO Joint Statement Initiative on e-commerce, the OECD, and the G20 have produced overlapping but uncoordinated rules. The committee must navigate competing visions of "digital sovereignty": as a shield for human rights and democratic regulation (EU framing), as a tool of state control over information (Russia/China framing), and as a development imperative for the Global South seeking value capture from its data. Core questions include interoperability of data-protection regimes, government access to data held abroad, treatment of submarine cables and cloud infrastructure, and the place of non-state actors in rulemaking.

Key players

UNESCO: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict and Crisis

The deliberate destruction and looting of cultural heritage has accompanied nearly every recent armed conflict, from the Taliban's demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas (2001) and ISIL's attacks on Palmyra, Nimrud, and Mosul (2014–17), to damage at Ukrainian sites including in Odesa's historic centre (inscribed on the World Heritage List in Danger in 2023), to documented harm to heritage sites in Gaza, Sudan, Yemen, Mali, and Nagorno-Karabakh. UNESCO's legal toolkit rests on the 1954 Hague Convention and its 1999 Second Protocol, the 1970 Convention on illicit trafficking, and the 1972 World Heritage Convention, reinforced by UN Security Council Resolution 2347 (2017), the first Council resolution focused on cultural heritage protection. Implementation has lagged behind doctrine. The Hague Convention's enhanced-protection regime is under-used; "no-strike" lists are routinely ignored; and the illicit antiquities trade — increasingly conducted online — funnels looted objects into legitimate markets via free ports and weak provenance regimes. Restitution disputes, including over the Parthenon Marbles, the Benin Bronzes, and human remains held in Western museums, have re-energized debates over colonial-era acquisitions; several European states have begun structured returns to Nigeria, Benin, and others since 2022. The committee must address strengthening monitoring and accountability for wartime destruction (including potential ICC prosecutions under the Al Mahdi precedent), regulating the online antiquities trade, supporting emergency safeguarding in active conflicts, and advancing a coherent international framework on restitution. Intangible heritage, indigenous knowledge, and climate threats to World Heritage sites are also on the agenda.

Key players

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

UN Environment Programme: Concluding a Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution

Plastic production has grown from roughly 2 million tonnes in 1950 to over 400 million tonnes annually, with the OECD projecting a near-tripling by 2060 under current policies. Less than 10 percent of plastic ever produced has been recycled; the remainder accumulates in landfills, incinerators, rivers, and oceans, and is increasingly detected as microplastics in human blood, placentas, and food systems. In March 2022, the UN Environment Assembly adopted Resolution 5/14, mandating an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, addressing the full life cycle of plastics. Five INC sessions from late 2022 through INC-5 in Busan in late 2024 failed to conclude a treaty, with negotiations extended into 2025. Core fault lines have hardened: a "High Ambition Coalition" of EU members, Rwanda, Norway, Pacific island states, and others seeks binding global caps on primary plastic polymer production and bans on problematic chemicals and products; major petrochemical producers — Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, and to varying degrees the United States, China, and India — favor a downstream, waste-management-focused instrument grounded in national action plans. Trade implications, finance for developing countries, and the role of the informal waste sector remain unresolved. UNEP must address the architecture of the treaty (global obligations versus nationally determined contributions), provisions on chemicals of concern, extended producer responsibility, just-transition financing, and links with the Basel Convention on plastic-waste trade. Outcomes will shape one of the most consequential environmental regimes since the Paris Agreement.

Key players

World Health Organisation (WHO)

World Health Organization: Implementing the Pandemic Agreement

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed deep weaknesses in the global health-security architecture: late detection, inequitable access to vaccines and therapeutics, fragile supply chains, and an International Health Regulations (2005) framework that lacked teeth. In December 2021, the World Health Assembly established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to draft a pandemic accord, alongside parallel amendments to the IHR adopted in 2024. After protracted negotiations, the WHO Pandemic Agreement was adopted by consensus at the 78th World Health Assembly in May 2025, becoming only the second treaty adopted under WHO's Article 19 authority. The Agreement now enters its implementation phase. Its centerpiece is the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system, under which manufacturers receiving pathogen samples and genetic sequence data would provide a share — debated in the 10–20 percent range — of real-time pandemic-related products to WHO for equitable distribution. Other provisions cover One Health surveillance, geographically diversified manufacturing, technology transfer on "mutually agreed terms," supply-chain transparency, and a Coordinating Financial Mechanism. The United States, having withdrawn from WHO in early 2025, is not a party; several other states have flagged ratification difficulties over sovereignty and IP concerns. The World Health Assembly must finalize the PABS annex, operationalize financing and compliance arrangements, and align the Agreement with the amended IHR and the Global Health Emergency Corps. Persistent disputes concern the balance between IP protection and technology transfer, the role of the private sector, and the treatment of digital sequence information. Concurrently, the body confronts implementation of the 2025 High-Level Meeting on NCDs and renewed antimicrobial-resistance commitments.

Key players

Human Rights Council (HRC)

Human Rights Council: Human Rights in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence

The rapid diffusion of generative AI since 2022 has reshaped the human-rights landscape. Large language and multimodal models now mediate access to information, employment decisions, public services, and political speech, while enabling industrial-scale disinformation, non-consensual intimate imagery, and biometric surveillance. The OHCHR's 2021 and 2024 reports on AI and human rights documented impacts on privacy (ICCPR Article 17), freedom of expression (Article 19), non-discrimination (Article 26), and the right to an effective remedy, and called for human-rights due diligence across the AI lifecycle. A layered governance landscape is emerging. UNESCO's 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI provides a normative baseline. The EU AI Act, in force from 2024 with staged application through 2026, sets the first comprehensive risk-based regulatory regime. The Council of Europe's Framework Convention on AI, opened for signature in 2024, is the first binding international instrument. The UN General Assembly adopted its first AI resolutions in 2024 (A/RES/78/265 on safe, secure and trustworthy AI, and A/RES/78/311 on capacity-building), and the Global Digital Compact (2024) created a Scientific Panel and Global Dialogue on AI Governance. Yet enforcement is thin, and the OHCHR's call for moratoria on certain high-risk biometric and predictive systems remains contested. The HRC must consider establishing a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Artificial Intelligence, clarifying how existing treaty obligations apply to algorithmic decision-making and synthetic media, addressing the human-rights responsibilities of frontier-AI developers, and supporting capacity-building in the Global South. Cross-cutting issues include data labour, content moderation under ICCPR Article 19(3), AI in armed conflict, and the digital divide in AI access.

Key players

Resources

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Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Policy Brief Writing

Conflict Resolution

Frequently asked questions

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Why it matters

How to prepare

2027 NDCA National Championships

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

United Nations Security Council I: The Situation in Sudan

United Nations Security Council II: Cybersecurity and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure

Committee on Digital Affairs and Sovereignty: Governing the Cross-Border Data Order

UNESCO: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict and Crisis

UN Environment Programme: Concluding a Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution

World Health Organization: Implementing the Pandemic Agreement

Human Rights Council: Human Rights in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Resources

Frequently asked questions

2027 NDCA National Championships

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

United Nations Security Council I: The Situation in Sudan

United Nations Security Council II: Cybersecurity and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure

Committee on Digital Affairs and Sovereignty: Governing the Cross-Border Data Order

UNESCO: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict and Crisis

UN Environment Programme: Concluding a Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution

World Health Organization: Implementing the Pandemic Agreement

Human Rights Council: Human Rights in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Resources

Harvard National Forensics Tournament

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2026 Rocky Mountain Debating Championship

Frequently asked questions

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Committees & topics

Why it matters

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Country perspectives

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Resources

Frequently asked questions

Committees & topics

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Resources

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