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The 2020-21 calendar currently includes 23 events – 10 high school debate tournaments, 2 tournaments permitting high school students to compete against college debaters (separate awards for the high school student teams and individual speakers), 7 professional events, including 4 Presidential/Vice-Presidential DebateWatches, 3 showcase public debates and an academic conference, as well as 3 PDP Teacher Workshops. Three league tournaments are designated as regional championships – Orange County, Desert Valleys, and Los Angeles County. Six tournaments will be shared events for Southern California and the East Coast – students from both HSPDP regions will be able to compete with each other at those designated events.

For the college-level events, one is a university version of the PDP. The rules barely change from high school competitions. With one exception for speaking time, the university rules are identical to the high school rules. The UPDP adds one minute of time to each speech in the debate – constructive speeches (opening 4 speech in the debate) are 7 minutes and the rebuttal speeches are 6 minutes. HSPDP teams from 3 schools were award-winners at the 2019 competition (the 2020 competition was suspended due to the pandemic). In addition to the general tournament awards (awards are inclusive of all participating institutions), there are separate awards for the high school section of the tournament. The last competition included (university) tournament champion from the French war college, École de Guerre, and (high school) tournament champion The Webb Schools.

The Claremont Colleges Debate Union will host an Academic Conference on Criminal Justice Reform. The conference will be held in Spring 2021. HSPDP schools are invited to attend any portion of the conference (including keynote speeches, professional communication instruction, panel presentations, and group multimedia presentations). There are awards for high school students for top papers, as well as panel and multimedia presentations. The conference will be enhanced with artificial intelligence/blockchain technology sponsored by LearningEconomy, a cutting-edge international education initiative. Keynote speakers include judges, lawyers, and members of the public with expert familiarity with criminal justice. The invitation will be available on November 15, 2020.

High schools students (beginning sophomore year; must be PDP-certified) may judge at Middle School Public Debate Program (MSPDP) events. They may also train and certify as tournament directors and tabulation staff. There are scores of tournaments at 10 Southern California leagues. In addition, high school students may judge at the middle school regional and national championship tournaments. The MSPDP National Championship is scheduled for Saturday, April 24.

Additional debate and outreach events for HSPDP debaters will be announced soon.

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