TSDC 2025 | Taiwan Schools Debate Challenge 2025

Taiwan Schools Debate Challenge is Taiwan’s largest school-level tournament in World Schools (WS) format that has taken place annually since 2018. It is also the tryout tournament for aspiring debaters who wish to join the National Taiwan WSDC Squad.

This year, seeing the massive growth of the competition pool in recent years, we are now expanding the tournament to a 3-day event in order to accommodate more rounds and learning opportunities. With a combination of international and domestic judging pool, the event promises to provide an inclusive and supportive environment for debaters of all levels.

🎤 Modified World Schools (WS) Format
Each team consists of 3-5 speakers.
Each substantive speech lasts 7 minutes.
Each Reply speech lasts 4 minutes.
Points of Information (POIs) are allowed between the 1st and 6th minute of substantive speeches.
For impromptu rounds, prep time is 30 minutes after motion release.
For prepared rounds, motions are released 2 weeks prior and there is no additional prep time on the day. Team will not know their side until the start of the round.
There will be one prepared motion to be used in 2 out of 6 preliminary rounds, with the 2 rounds being side-locked for all teams. Teams should prepare for both sides in advance.
All other rules remain the same as the original World Schools format.

📝 Registration Policy
Per Debater: NT$ 1,700 (US$ 58)
Per Judge (including N-judge): NT$ 750 (US$ 26)
Registration deadline: September 28

⚖️ Mandatory N-judge Rules
Teams are required to provide affliated judges to enhance the overall competition pool.
N=1 rule applies to all teams, which means every team should provide one judge. For institutional teams, there is a maximum cap of 2 judges, meaning if they are sending 3 teams or more, only 2 judges are required.
N-judge penalty: Teams not meeting the requirement must pay NT$ 1,700 (US$ 58) penalty fee. Registration and penalty fee will be used to subsidize hiring qualified judges.

Teams that have dishonestly provided non-existent or absent judges will be required to pay the same penalty, in additional to the regular judge fee or risk disqualification.

📈 Judge placement
Depending on a registered judge’s past experiences, one could be initially assigned to be a trainee, a panelist, or chair.

Trainees will be judging alongside other experienced, qualified judges but their verdicts will not impact the outcome of a round unless they are promoted to be chair or panelist.

Both chair and panelist are voting judging. They will be making conferral decisions and the majority verdict determines the outcome of a round. They will then deliberate and provide feedback to help the teams improve.

All the judges can be promoted or demoted based on the feedback they received from the judging panel and teams.

🎩 Adjudication Core
Banun Sabri
Micah Cook
Cat Lai
Vinodhan Kuppusamy

🤠 Breaking Eligibility
Junior category: Teams with all of their speakers at Grade 9 or below
Open category: Teams with at least 1 speaker at Grade 10 or above
Mixed teams (debaters from different countries/schools) and international teams are allowed

🎯 National Taiwan WSDC Squad Tryout
While more detailed official policies will be published by Taiwan Debate Union (TDU) at a later date, a few general pointers below may be useful for your consideration:
1.) Individuals who perform well at the tournament will either directly accepted into Squad or offered opportunities to join a Stage 2 Tryout.
2.) While individuals who don’t compete at TSDC may still be eligible to join Stage 2 Tryout, there must be a proof of legitimate reasons to miss out the competition submitted to the TDU committee.
3.) Individuals who have participated at TSDC as either a speaker or a judge will receive a lighter test load at stage 2, if they are invited on the basis of outstanding track records (e.g. speaker ranks and judge feedback)

😔 Refund policy
A 50% refund is allowed until Sep. 11.
No refund will be allowed since Sep. 12. Teams who wish to withdraw may either give up their slot or sell it to another team.

📜 Organizer
Grey Matter Academy

✉️ Contacts
Organizing team: tsdc@gmadebate.com
Convener Jeff Tsai: jeff@gmadebate.com / 0934339192