2026 High School Debate Championship

For more than two decades, The City Club of Cleveland has hosted the annual High School Debate Championship.\r\n\r\nEvery year, the top two area high school debaters square off in a classic \"Lincoln-Douglas\" style debate at a Friday forum. This allows the debaters to compete-not only for the judges and audience in the room-but also for our radio and television audiences.\r\n\r\nThe finalists Charlotte Kleid, Student, Hathaway Brown School and Anshul Sharma, Student, University School will debate the topic Resolved: The United States military ought to abide by the principle of non-intervention.\r\n\r\nColor commentary throughout the debate is by Michael K. McIntyre, Executive Editor, Ideastream Public Media, and Rory Rohde, Student, Chagrin Falls High School. \r\n\r\nThe debate will be judged by:\r\nMarti Flacks, President & CEO, Cleveland Council on World Affairs\r\nCorinne Lashley, Speech and Debate Coach at Chagrin Falls High School; Cleveland Area Coach of the Year\r\nDevon Snook, Speech and Debate Coach at Vermilion High School\r\n\r\n\r\nOn behalf of BakerHostetler, we are honored to support this annual tradition in memory of Patrick Jordan--a lawyer, fierce protector of democracy and free speech, and a championship debater himself.