NSDA topics for 2026-27

Read the December 1 ballot options · winners are announced at 9:00 a.m. CT, not before.

De-extinction is unethical

Resolved: De-extinction is unethical.

NSDA lists this as the November/December 2026 Lincoln-Douglas topic. The same page says 636 coaches and 3,167 students voted, and the winning resolution received 54% of the coach vote and 57% of the student vote. The other wording on the ballot was “The United States ought to vest ecosystems with legal rights.” That wording is not the topic.

Format: Lincoln-Douglas debate, one-on-one. NSDA announces the next LD topic, for January/February 2027, on December 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. CT.

What the resolution asks

• The affirmative defends the resolution as a whole: de-extinction is unethical. The negative defends that it is not.
• Debaters have to say what “de-extinction” covers and what “unethical” is being measured against. Those definitions are arguments, not facts printed on the NSDA topic page.
• The topic is a value resolution. It does not name a particular species, a particular method, or a government actor.

How to start a brief

• Write the resolution at the top of the brief and keep every contention tied to “unethical,” not to a policy plan the resolution does not ask for.
• Separate the announced topic from the ballot option that lost. Do not prep the ecosystems wording as if it were November/December.
• Read the NSDA topic analysis linked from the topics page, then build your own value and criterion. This page does not supply evidence cards.

Sources checked: NSDA Topics · accessed 11 November 2026

European NATO members and the TPNW

Resolved: European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

NSDA lists this as the November/December 2026 Public Forum topic. The page says 629 coaches and 3,281 students voted, and the winning resolution received 57% of the coach vote and 44% of the student vote. The other wording on the ballot was “The Republic of Korea should pursue an independent nuclear deterrent.” That wording is not the topic.

Format: Public Forum, two-person teams. The January 2027 PF topic is announced on December 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. CT. NSDA says Nationals topic options will be announced the last week of April.

What the resolution asks

• The actor is European members of NATO, not NATO as an institution and not every country in Europe.
• The action is ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Signing, a domestic nuclear-ban law, or leaving NATO are different actions.
• “Should” is a policy judgment. Pro and Con still have to clash on the effects of ratification for those states.

How to start a brief

• List which countries the resolution is talking about before you cut cards: European NATO members, not the United States and not non-NATO European states.
• Read the treaty text and NATO’s public statements yourself. Do not treat a topic brief as a substitute for the documents the resolution names.
• Keep the Korea ballot option in a separate file so it does not leak into this contention set.

Sources checked: NSDA Topics · accessed 11 November 2026

National health insurance

Resolved: The United States federal government should establish national health insurance in the United States.

This is the full-season Policy topic. NSDA’s novice case limits for 2026-2027, published on the same topics page, are: Medicare for All (a single-payer system based on the current Medicare model that eliminates private insurance), revise or expand the Affordable Care Act, and a single-payer option to replace private health insurance that is not necessarily based on Medicare. The 2027-2028 topic is not chosen yet. NSDA says the final two topic areas go on a second ballot in November and December.

Format: Policy debate, two-person teams, used for the 2026-2027 season.

What the resolution asks

• The actor is the United States federal government.
• The action is establishing national health insurance in the United States. Affirmatives still have to fit inside the resolution and, for novices, inside the published case limits.
• State and private reforms that do not establish a federal national health insurance program are not the resolution.

How to start a brief

• Start from the resolution and the three novice case limits before adding a fourth affirmative.
• Use the NSDA synopsis linked from the topics page for the problem area, then update evidence to the current season.
• Do not publish a 2027-2028 winner. That vote is still ahead.

Sources checked: NSDA Topics · accessed 11 November 2026

Technological progress and ethical use

Resolved: Technological progress has surpassed humanity’s ability to use it ethically.

NSDA lists this as the 2026-2027 Big Questions topic for the entire year. The page says 485 coaches and 1,830 students voted, and the winning resolution received 74% of the coach vote and 57% of the student vote. The other option was “The pursuit of scientific truth is more valuable than the pursuit of philosophical truth.” Big Questions voting was July 25-31, and the topic was released August 1 at 9:00 a.m. CT.

Format: Big Questions debate, season-long topic.

What the resolution asks

• The resolution compares the pace of technological progress with the ability to use that progress ethically. It does not name one technology.
• Both sides need a definition of “technological progress” and of “use it ethically” that a judge can apply to more than one example.

How to start a brief

• Pick two or three technologies as examples, and say why they support the comparison in the resolution rather than a narrower topic.
• Keep the scientific-truth wording out of the 2026-2027 brief. It was the other ballot option.

Sources checked: NSDA Topics · accessed 11 November 2026

When the next topics come out

NSDA’s topics page says members and one chapter advisor per school vote during the week before each release. Times below are copied from that release schedule.

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