The National Schools Debating Championship (NSDC) is the most prestigious high school debating tournament in Australia, and one of the most prestigious debating tournaments in the world. The Championships have been held annually since 1971 and the hosts rotate between states and territories. The championships also double as the selection process for the Australian Schools Debating Team, which compete at the World Schools Debating Championship.[1] NSDC 2025 is set to take place in Sydney, NSW.
NSDC uses the World Schools Debating Championship format, which is a variation of Australian-Asia Debating and Parliamentary Debate formats. Each state’s and territory’s affiliate body sends one team of 4 high school students, for a total of 8 teams.[2]
The competition starts with 7 preliminary rounds in a single round-robin. The top four teams then progress to the outrounds, with a double elimination for 1st and 2nd and single elimination for 3rd and 4th.
Each debate in the preliminary rounds is judged by 3 adjudicators. The major and minor semi finals have 5 adjudicators; there is 7 adjudicators for the preliminary final and 9 adjudicators for the grand final.[3]
| 2024 | Adelaide | Victoria | Alice Liberman, Bianca Chung, Jenny Gong, Nicholas Bogdan | |
| 2023 | Melbourne | South Australia | Devika Mukherjee, Max Thomas, Phoebe Chalmers, Thomas Henchliffe | |
| 2022 | Canberra | Queensland | Zoë Fraser, Thomas Musgrave, Thomas Nunn-Rutledge, Harry Rae | |
| 2021 | Hobart | Victoria | Hamish Bruce, Max Fan, Erin Kim, Livia Tropea | |
| 2020 | [Online] | NSW | Brendon Chen, Jinyoung Kim, Ally Pitt, Bennett Roebuck-Krautz | |
| 2019 | Darwin | NSW | Laura Charlton, Ally Pitt, James Price, Anna-Sophia Zahar | |
| 2018 | Perth | NSW | Alex De Araujo, Indigo Crosweller, Sophie Shead, Daniel Yim | |
| 2017 | Brisbane | NSW | Ella Finlay, Isabella Monardo, Elinor Stephenson, Daniel Yim | |
| 2016 | Sydney | Callum Dargavel, Tristan Hurree, Isabel Nolan, Xavier Redmond | ||
| 2015 | Adelaide | NSW | Eden Blair, Imogen Harper, Thomas Shortridge, Sam Wolfe | |
| 2014 | Melbourne | NSW | Imogen Harper, Sophie Large, Seb Rees, James Stratton | |
| 2013 | Canberra | NSW | Gabriel Bowes-Whitton, Fiona Lin, Harry Rogers, James Stratton | |
| 2012 | Hobart | Victoria | Tyrone Connell, John Hajek, Annie Williamson, Ronald Zhang | |
| 2011 | Perth | NSW | Emma Johnson, Bo Seo, Harry Stratton, Evie Woodford |