Blog · The US circuit
Where to compete: the World Schools tournament map
3rd Best APDA Debater · TOC Semifinalist · Columbia Debate Society Coach
· Updated
“Where can I actually debate World Schools?” is the most common question we get from families new to the format, and the answer has changed dramatically. The US now has a real circuit: a bid system, dedicated WS tournaments, state championships, and a national invitational, plus a set of international opens that American school teams can enter directly. Here is the whole map, with links: the highlights first, then every posted World Schools division for 2026–27 (126 events across 19 states plus the online circuit, read straight from Tabroom on September 12, 2026).
The US season, month by month
The spine of the domestic circuit is the Tournament of Champions World Schools bid list: 36 tournaments in the 2026–27 season, tiered by bid level (reaching quarters, semis, or finals at a designated event earns the TOC qualification). The highlights:
September
Greenhill Fall Classic· Greenhill School, Addison, TX · Sep 16–21, 2026
Quarters bid (Gold division), the highest bid tier, right out of the gate. A Green division for developing teams.
NSDA Season Opener· Online (NSDA Campus) · Sep 11–13, 2026
The circuit’s curtain-raiser, fully online; semis bid, plus a Junior division.
Grapevine Classic· Grapevine HS, TX · Sep 11–13, 2026
Texas season opener; finals bid.
Stephen Stewart Memorial· Milpitas HS, CA · Sep 25–27, 2026
West-coast opener; finals bid.
October
Yale Invitational· Yale University, New Haven, CT · Oct 2–4, 2026
The Northeast’s marquee fall WS division; semis bid.
Jack Howe Memorial· CSU Long Beach, CA · Oct 3–5, 2026
Open World Schools division; finals bid.
Westminster· The Westminster Schools, Atlanta, GA · Oct 9–11, 2026
Georgia’s circuit anchor; finals bid. Coppell Classic (TX, Oct 15–17) runs a semis-bid division and a round robin the same week.
Heart of Texas· St. Mark’s School, Dallas, TX · Oct 16–18, 2026
Major national-circuit stop; finals bid.
Florida Blue Key· University of Florida, Gainesville · Oct 29–Nov 1, 2026
School entries capped in WS, no hired judging; finals bid.
November
Ed Long Invitational· The Hockaday School, Dallas, TX · Nov 6–7, 2026
Semis bid.
Peach State Classic· Online · Nov 13–15, 2026
Full WS division with published motions.
John Lewis SVUDL Invitational· Online (NSDA Campus) · Nov 20–22, 2026
Hosted by the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League; finals bid.
December
Longhorn Classic· UT Austin, TX · Dec 4–6, 2026
One of the deeper WS fields. Quarters bid.
Isidore Newman Invitational· New Orleans, LA · Dec 11–13, 2026
Finals bid. Dripping Springs Tiger Tussle (TX, Dec 11–12) runs novice and varsity WS the same weekend; finals bid.
John Edie Holiday Debates· The Blake School, Minneapolis, MN · Dec 18–21, 2026
Late-December tradition; semis bid.
January
Cavalier Invitational· Durham Academy, NC · Jan 15–18, 2027
Finals bid.
Barkley Forum for High Schools· Emory University, Atlanta, GA · Jan 22–24, 2027
Emory’s national tournament now runs a World Schools division.
Sunvitational· NSU University School, Davie, FL · expected mid-January
Florida’s big winter WS division, middle-school divisions too (its WS division carries no TOC bid). 2027 page not yet posted.
Mount Vernon Invitational· Mount Vernon HS, WA · Jan 15–16, 2027 (hybrid)
The Northwest’s WS stop; semis bid. Southlake Carroll Dragon Faire (TX, online) the same weekend; semis bid. Neither page is on Tabroom yet.
February
Harvard National Tournament· Cambridge, MA (varsity in person, open online) · Feb 11–15, 2027
Presidents’ Day weekend; quarters bids in both divisions.
Stanford Invitational· Online (NSDA Campus) · Feb 6–8, 2027
TOC division (quarters bid) plus a novice division.
Cal Invitational· UC Berkeley, CA (WS division online) · Feb 13–15, 2027
Finals bid.
Liberty Bell Classic· University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia · Feb 5–7, 2027
Penn’s in-person invitational with a WS division.
March
Penn World Schools Invitational· Online (University of Pennsylvania) · expected late March
Dedicated all-WS online tournament (2026: Mar 28–29, 60-team cap, ESL/EFL categories). 2027 page not yet posted.
TOC Digital Series 3· Online (University of Kentucky) · Mar 5–7, 2027
The last of Kentucky’s three online semis-bid weekends (Series 1: Dec 4–6; Series 2: Feb 19–21).
April
Tournament of Champions (WS division)· University of Kentucky, Lexington · Apr 17–19, 2027
The circuit’s championship, entered via season bids (55th edition).
Harvard College WS Invitational· Harvard University, Cambridge, MA · expected April
Dedicated all-WS tournament run by Harvard’s college debaters. 2027 page not yet posted.
Bluebonnet WS International· Grand Oaks HS, Spring, TX · Apr 22–24, 2027
10th edition: championship and novice divisions, plus a clinic and a training track; international delegations attend.
NSDA Last Chance Qualifier· Des Moines, IA (online rounds) · Apr 29–May 1, 2027
The final route into NSDA Nationals for teams that missed districts.
May – June
WISDAA State Debate Festival· Madison, WI · expected early May
Wisconsin’s state festival runs exactly two debate events: Congress and World Schools, in person and online.
NSDA Nationals (USA World Schools Debate Invitational)· Phoenix, AZ · Jun 13–18, 2027
Qualify through your NSDA district; up to two teams of 3–5 per district.
No travel budget? The online circuit is real.
A striking share of the bid list is reachable from your bedroom: the NSDA Season Opener (September), Kentucky's three TOC Digital Series weekends (December to March), Harvard's three online International Series qualifiers, Harvard National's online division (a quarters bid), the Stanford Invitational, and Penn's all-WS invitational all run online. The NSDA also runs free Springboard Series WS scrimmages on NSDA Campus, open even to non-members: 9 are already scheduled this autumn (see below). That is the lowest-stakes first tournament there is.
The bid list also reaches a handful of tournaments hosted in Asia. Texas fields more bid tournaments than any other state. Check the official list for each event's bid level.
The full 2026–27 directory
The highlights above are the events most families plan a season around. The complete list is a page of its own: every North American tournament with a posted World Schools division, 126 events across 19 states plus the online circuit, month by month, with TOC bid tiers, Tabroom links, the 89 hosts expected to post from last season, and a subscribable calendar feed. It was built by reading every tournament page on Tabroom on September 12, 2026 and is re-scanned monthly.
State championships
Six states now run World Schools at or near the state level: Texas, where WS is an official TFA event with impromptu-motion requirements built into state qualification, plus Team Texas, a TFA all-star WS squad with weekly practices; Indiana, whose ISSDA State Debate runs a WS bracket each winter; Florida, whose FFL has offered WS at its Open State Championship; Washington, which has staged WS as a trial event at the WIAA state championships and whose district qualifiers now run it; Wisconsin, whose WISDAA festival runs only two debate events, Congress and World Schools; and Arkansas, whose ACTAA lists WS among its official events. Idaho is the quiet success story in the directory above: more than a dozen Idaho invitationals now run novice and varsity WS divisions, and the Idaho State Debate Tournament ran one in 2026. Georgia is the interesting case: no WS at GFCA State, but a healthy invitational scene (Westminster, Peach State Classic, Barkley Forum). If your state runs nothing, the NSDA district route, the online events above, and the invitational circuit are all open regardless.
The internationals
The summit of the format is the World Schools Debating Championships: one team per nation, well over sixty countries, eight preliminary rounds (four prepared, four impromptu) before elims. Recent editions: Hanoi 2023 (won by the USA), Belgrade 2024 (Scotland), Panama City 2025 (India), and Nairobi 2026 (Canada), the championship's first visit to East Africa; the full record is on our WSDC champions page. For American students, the only route in is the USA Debate national team.
WSDC is not the only international table, though. These events run the same format, and several are open to any school team willing to travel (or log on):
| Tournament | When & where | Who can enter |
|---|---|---|
ESDC (Eurasian Schools Debating Championship) Student-organized WSDC-format open; 17th edition set for January 2027. | January · Robert College, Istanbul | Open: school teams |
Singapore’s flagship schools WS event; recent editions drew ~50 teams from across Asia and beyond. | April · Anglo-Chinese Junior College, Singapore | Open: school teams |
Czech Debate Association’s WS-format summer tournament with a worldwide field. | July · Prague, Czech Republic | Open: school teams |
Running since 2001; teams from 40+ countries; full WSDC-style schematic. Confirm the current edition by email. | July · Olomouc, Czech Republic | Open: school teams |
Doxbridge WSDC The established online international: 2025 ran six rounds at £90/team with national and open breaks. | July · Online | Open: school teams |
Founded 1996 by the Debating Society Germany; confirm the current edition before planning travel. | November · Stuttgart, Germany | Open: school teams and national squads |
Around 100 school teams from dozens of countries, including the US; open break plus a novice break. One of the most accessible internationals for American teams. | December · Zagreb, Croatia | Open: school/club teams |
Europe’s continental championship under WSDC rules (2027: Parma); not enterable by US school teams. | Feb–Mar · rotating European host | National teams only |
Asia WSDC The Asian championship in WS format. | Summer · Bangkok, Thailand | Primarily national teams |
This table is the summary. The full guide, including a watchlist of events to verify, travel-window advice, and the famous international tournaments that are not World Schools format, is in taking a bench abroad: the international World Schools calendar.
Building a season from the map
- 1
Anchor on one fall and one winter invitational within travel range, ideally TOC bid events, so results compound into qualification.
- 2
Add your state championship or district tournament the NSDA district route to Nationals needs only that you competed at districts; your district may enter up to two WS teams.
- 3
Pick one stretch goal a TOC bid, the Harvard College WS Invitational, Bluebonnet, or, for the adventurous, an international open like Zagreb’s Winter Holidays Open in December.
- 4
Let every motion feed the file a season on this circuit produces exactly the case-file material that makes the next tournament’s prep hour faster.
For where each rung leads, read the US World Schools pathway, and drill between tournaments with the practice motion bank.
Common questions
Can my school team enter the World Schools Debating Championships?
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No. WSDC entry is one team per nation, so American students compete there only as members of USA Debate, the NSDA-selected national team. What school teams CAN do: enter the open internationals (Winter Holidays Open, ESDC Istanbul, Oldham Cup, Bluebonnet International), which run the same format against genuinely international fields.
What is a TOC bid in World Schools?
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The Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky runs a World Schools division entered by earning bids, which means reaching a specified elimination round at designated events across the season. The official 2026–27 list names 36 qualifying tournaments in three tiers: five quarters-bid events (Greenhill Gold, Longhorn, Stanford, and Harvard’s two divisions), fifteen semis-bid events, and sixteen finals-bid events. Several are online, and a handful are hosted abroad.
How current is this list?
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The full directory page was built on September 12, 2026 by reading every tournament page on Tabroom's North American calendars for the 2026–27 season (about 3,700 tournaments) and keeping the ones with a posted World Schools event, then cross-checking against the official TOC bid list. Hosts keep posting pages through the autumn, so the "expected" list will keep converting into confirmed dates; we re-run the scan monthly. Always confirm on the tournament's Tabroom page or invite before committing travel.
Which tournaments are online?
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32 of the 126 posted World Schools events run online or in a hybrid form, including the NSDA Season Opener, the Stanford Invitational, Harvard National's open division, Peach State Classic, John Lewis SVUDL, and the free NSDA Springboard scrimmages. They are all marked Online in the full directory page.
A season plan beats a tournament list.
Our competition team builds each student’s calendar (which divisions, which bids, which internationals) and trains toward it all year.