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.