Membership Information
The CDA is an in-person debate league, holding monthly tournaments hosted by high schools throughout the state. We went online for two years due to COVID, but returned to in-person debateing for the 2022-23 school year. We expect to debate in-person, though we will use online debate as an option in the event of bad weather or lack of hosts.
Membership in the Connecticut Debate Association is open to any high school, public or private. Most members are schools located in the State. Our membership year coincides with the school year. Each member school is required to pay dues for the year. Payment is made through the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) the governing body for interscholastic competition in Connecticut. (Schools do not need to be a member of CAS to participate in the CDA.) Download the CDA Dues Form for payment information.
Membership entitles a school to attend all CDA tournaments. Each school may bring as many debaters in each division as they wish to the Novice Scrimmage and our monthly regular tournaments, limited only by the capacity of the tournament site and the availability of judges. The only exception is the year-end State Finals championship tournament: debaters must qualify through their performance at one or more of the earlier regular tournaments.
Joining CDA
Schools may join the CDA at any time during the school year: contact us, register for a tournament, and just show up! Interested parties may observe at a tournament at any time. Potential new members may participate in one tournament at no cost and with no further obligation. If you are not certain whether the CDA is right for your school, please come to a tournament and see for yourself. For more information please email us.
We are always open to new schools joining the league, but wish to emphasize the CDA is a league, not a series of open tournaments. Our montly regular tournaments are essentially qualifiers for our State Finals tournament at year end. The expectation is that member schools will attend most, if not all, of the regular tournaments during the year. Our model also depends on schools volunteering to host tournaments, so there is some expectation that schools with sufficient classrooms will host at some point over the years of their membership.
For a more information about the CDA read or download our Brochure.
Volunteers and Hosts
The CDA could not function without significant additional contributions of time and facilities. Our tournaments are held at member schools, and our tournaments are run by coaches and other volunteers. The CDA is governed by a Board elected by the member coaches. These services go beyond the simply coaching, judging and debating. We have no formal policy regarding volunteers, but the CDA relies on the generous contributions of members schools beyond their dues in support of our program.
If you are interested in hosting a CDA tournament, download our Guide to Hosting.