The Atlanta Urban Debate League is committed to providing excellent debate education programs, services, and opportunities to diverse students, educators, and members of the community!
2025-2026 Debater Division Eligibility Guidelines
Which divisions students are eligible to debate in depend on two main factors: seasons of debate experience and tournament performance. If a team is made up of two students who are eligible for different divisions, the team must compete in the higher division (ex. a team made up of a student who is eligible to compete in the Novice division and a student who must compete in at least the Junior Varsity would not be allowed to debate in the Novice division).
Students are always welcome to move up before they have met the promotion requirements, but please note that students should not move back down after that. The only exception for this is our HS Open division; students who have competed in the HS Open division are also still eligible to debate in the Varsity division.
If there are ever any questions or concerns about an individual student/team’s division eligibility, please email the AUDL staff.
Experience-Based Criteria
1 season of debate = 3 or more tournaments in a school year
Teams in the Novice division should be in their first season of debate.
Debaters with 1 season of experience should be competing in at least the Junior Varsity division.
Debaters with 2 seasons of experience should be competing in the Varsity division (or HS Open).
Middle school experience carries over for students who go on to debate in high school.
Ex. A 9th grader with 3 seasons of experience from middle school would only be eligible for the HS Varsity and HS Open divisions.
Ex. A 9th grader with 1 season of experience from middle school would have to compete in at least the HS Junior Varsity division.
Tournament Performance Criteria
Our tournament performance criteria are based on how many times a student has a 3-1 or better record AND places in the top 20% of teams in their division. Please note that receiving a team award or having a 3-1 record alone do not necessarily mean that a team placed in the top 20% at a tournament. The best way to determine whether or not a team placed in the top 20% is to access the SpeechWire results for the tournament and look at the team results for the division.
Students who have had a 3-1 or better record and placed in the top 20% of Novice teams at 2 tournaments must move up to Junior Varsity.
Students who have had a 3-1 or better record and placed in the top 20% of Junior Varsity teams at 3 tournaments must move up to Varsity.