2026 National Speech & Debate Asscociation Season Opener

VDA wins top awards at University of Kentucky NSDA season opener

Dozens of the best teams in North America converged at this tournament for a grueling 3 day test of critical thinking, persuasion and endurance in the first tournament of the new season. Despite the fierce competition our VDA team rose above the rest and achieved exceptional results.

VDA, competing in the Worlds Schools debate category, was the 5th best team in the entire tournament in the preliminary stage doing well enough to skip the Octofinals entirely and jump straight to the quarterfinals. This was an unbelievable showing given the team, made up of Sophia Jia, Karina Lam, Branca Xiao and Charlene Wang, had only done a single tournament before.

The second-comers have now consecutively broken records coming off an octofinals run in their previous tournament. Special shoutouts to Karina Lam and Sophia Jia that became the 5th and 8th best speakers respectively in the entire field of over a hundred students.

In the Public Forum category, VDA debaters Flora Tu and Joshua Zhou also delivered an impressive performance, successfully advancing to Triples. Competing against strong teams from across North America, Flora and Joshua demonstrated strong argumentation, clear communication, and excellent composure under pressure, advancing through the preliminary rounds and earning a spot in the Triples round.

These achievements were the product of the exceptional talent, dedication and work ethic of the team for whom this is only the beginning. The future of VDA looks bright as the meteoric rise of our advanced class team continues to shock everyone and we’re sure the future is only up with even grander achievements to come.

Congratulations to all of our debaters on an outstanding tournament. We are incredibly proud of your hard work, perseverance, and sportsmanship, and we look forward to seeing even greater achievements in the competitions ahead.

Let’s go VDA!!!