Who We Are
The National Parliamentary Debate League is the umbrella organization for high school parliamentary debate. It is a 501(c)(3) public benefit nonprofit corporation. Voting membership is open to any high school in the United States that competes in parliamentary debate.
Parliamentary debate (a.k.a. “parli”) is a two-vs-two format. It differs from most other debate formats in that the debate topic changes every round and is usually announced about 15-20 minutes before the round begins. The precise rules may differ somewhat depending on the tournament, but the rules used at NPDL tournaments can be found here.
NPDL activities include:
organizing the NPDL Fall Invitational every fall,
organizing the NPDL Tournament of Champions every spring,
running biannual meetings of members,
creating resources for parli students and coaches,
maintaining the national rankings.