NT$750–NT$10,200Price range: NT$750 through NT$10,200
🚁 Basic info Date: October 24-25, 2026
Venue: Taipei European School
Capacity: 40 teams, adjustable by judge pool size Tournament schedule Everything Link
🚀 Registration process
💡 Step 1: Slot order
Each team’s captain or institutional representative registers for a team slot through GMA website. Make sure the right number of debaters/judges are selected.* If you are sending multiple teams, please double check each team slot is order as well. You will find an Order Number (E.g. #2150)in your account’s order history after completion the payment. Save the number for Step 2 later.
💡 Step 2: Individual details
Once a team slot is confirmed, an individual details form will be sent to the captain/representative. Each team’s affliated debaters and judges should use the Order Number from Step 1 on their forms. Everyone should submit one form independently.
*Note: To maximize the diversity of participants, there is an initial 5-team cap on all institutional teams. Institutions sending more than 5 teams will have the remainder of their requested slots wait-listed until Sep. 11, after which available slots will be given out on first-come-first-served basis.
Taiwan Schools Debate Challenge is Taiwan’s largest school-level tournament in World Schools (WS) format that has taken place annually since 2018. It welcomes international teams and is also the tryout tournament for debaters aspiring to join the National Taiwan WSDC Squad.
This year, we are running the tournament over 2 days during the Taiwan Retrocession Holidays to increase accessibility especially for new participants. With a larger team pool, it has expanded to 5 preliminary rounds with both junior and open break categories. 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 in advance and there will be 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 5 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: October 12
⚖️ 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 Sandeep Chulani
Wenyu Weng
More TBA
🤠 Breaking Eligibility
Junior category: Teams with all of their speakers at Grade 9/Year 10 or below
Open category: Teams with at least 1 speaker at Grade 10/Year 10 or above
Mixed teams (debaters from different countries/schools) and international teams are allowed
🎯 National Taiwan WSDC Squad Tryout TSDC is the part of the offical tryout process for individuals aspiring to join the National Squad. For the detailed policy, visit WSDC Taiwan FB page.
The following are a few general pointers that 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. 18.
No refund will be allowed starting Sep. 19. Teams who wish to withdraw may either give up their slot or sell it to another team.
Dylan Hwang (verified owner) –
Such an enjoyable tournament