National Online Forensics offers over 2 dozen events for competitors to participate in, which means we post a lot of topics for discussion at our tournaments! It is essential that coaches and competitors know what to prepare ahead of competitions. Head to the bottom of the page for each month’s topic announcement posts to see the full releases.

the 2026-27 season Topic schedule at a glance:

ES & MS Public Forum/Lincoln Douglas
September-November Resolution: Governments ought to expand nuclear power development.
December-February Resolution: To be announced on November 1st
March-May Resolution: To be announced on February 1st

HS Public Forum (NSDA topic)
September/October Resolution: The United States federal government should enact a moratorium on hyperscale data center construction.
November/December Resolution: European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
January/February Resolution: To be announced on December 1st
March/April Resolution: To be announced on February 1st
Nationals Resolution: To be announced the last week of April

HS Lincoln Douglas (NSDA topic)
September/October Resolution: Outer space colonization is a moral imperative.
November/December Resolution: De-extinction is unethical.
January/February Resolution: To be announced on December 1st
March/April Resolution: To be announced on February 1st
Nationals Resolution: To be announced the last week of April

College Lincoln Douglas
Season-long Resolution: The United States federal government should substantially increase its public ownership of one or more of the following industries: electric utilities, health insurance, arms manufacturing, pharmaceuticals.

Congress Legislation
Congress dockets are announced on the first of the month for each regular-season synchronous tournament; for example, the docket released October 1st will be used at the October 17th Pearl Invitational. For our asynchronous invitationals, we suggest that competitors use the current month’s legislation, however they will not be penalized if they choose to use different legislation for their video submission.

Mock Trial Advocacy
Fact patterns for Mock Trial Advocacy will be announced on the first of the month for each regular-season tournament. For our asynchronous invitationals, we suggest that competitors use the current month’s fact pattern, however they will not be penalized if they choose to use a different case for their video submission.

World Schools Debate
Two resolutions for Worlds Schools Debate will be announced on the first of the month for each regular-season tournament. Each tournament will have an impromptu topic for the first preliminary round and elimination rounds; the posted topics will be used for the second and third preliminary rounds. For our asynchronous invitationals, we suggest that competitors use one of the current month’s resolutions, however they will not be penalized if they choose to use a World Schools Debate resolution for their video submission.

Assigned Platform
Assigned platform topics will be announced on the first of the month for each regular-season synchronous tournament. For our asynchronous invitationals, we suggest that competitors use the current month’s topics, however they will not be penalized if they choose to use alternative speaking prompts for their video submission.

Impromptu Speaking
Impromptu speaking topics will be announced on the first of the month for asynchronous invitationals. Topics will be announced in-round for synchronous tournaments. No alternative topics may be used in competition.

Extemporaneous Speaking
Extemporaneous speaking topics will be announced on the first of the month for asynchronous invitationals. Topics will be announced in-round for synchronous tournaments. No alternative topics may be used in competition.