The National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence operates an invitation-only national tournament once per year for parliamentary debate. It is very young, having existed only since 2001, but has grown quickly.

Recent Champions

Status within the Parliamentary Debate Community

By its advocates, the NPTE is regarded as highly prestigious within the academic debate community, a national title whose prestige rivals the NPDA national title. Judges at the NPTE are subject to qualification requirements and "mutual preference judging" and as such are often regarded as solid within the community. They usually have a strong background in academic debate and possess knowledge of technical debate theory one would usually only expect of a higher level competitor. The tournament is invitation only; elite debaters are judged by highly preferred judges. Also, topics are selected using a process that seeks to avoid division-of-ground problems experienced at other tournaments.

Critics object to some aspects of the NPTE, including some decisions made by its governing board regarding elibility and rules for debate, the fact that the board is not elected, the selection of some of its tournament locations, the style of debate practiced by many attending teams, and its perceived exclusiveness.

Those interested in learning more about the NPTE can visit the NPTE web page or can post questions at the NPTE forum.

NPTE Board