OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

In 2007, the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance was formed to bring competitive policy debate programming to Dallas ISD. At that time, there was virtually no such programming available to public high school students in the district.

In the summer of 2008, DUDA held its first summer camp. This symbolized the emergence of growing university partnerships including the University of North Texas and the University of Texas at Dallas.

In 2011, at the urging of DISD middle school principals, DUDA officially added middle schools to its programming. The middle school program worked with over 400 students across 19 middle schools.

In 2012, DUDA was nationally voted the “Urban Debate League of the Year” by the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues. DUDA won this award while competing with 18 other urban debate leagues around the country.

In 2014, DUDA was the 2014 recipient of the prestigious Jack Lowe Sr. Award for Community Leadership presented by the Dallas Bar Foundation. This award is given annually to an organization making significant strides in education in the Dallas Community.

In 2014, DUDA secured its first formal scholarship partnership by partnering with UT Austin. As a result, three DUDA students received a total of $100,000 in scholarship money to attend UT Austin.

In 2015, two DUDA teams received national recognition by making it to the octafinal round and semifinal round respectively, at the Urban Debate National Championship. While competing against over fifty teams from all across the country, the DUDA team from Woodrow Wilson, by advancing to the semifinal round, made it further than any team in DUDA’s history.

In 2016, students- Crayton Gerst and Vernon Johnson from JBS Law Magnet won the Policy Debate State Championship at the TFA State Tournament.

In 2020, DUDA student Olivia Northcutt-Wyly won the NAUDL Debater of the Year award - https://urbandebate.org/2020-debater-of-the-year-profile/

In the 2021-22 season, the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance began an expansion of its offerings, introducing its first new debate format since its inception: World Schools Debate. Mary Gregg, the debate coach at JBS Law Magnet, was a finalist for the NAUDL Coach of the Year Award and Francesca Gilbard, a policy debater from TAG, was a finalist for the NAUDL Student of the Year Award. Leonidas Patterson, Dallas ISD Student Activities Director, was named the National Speech & Debate Association's National High School Administrator of the Year for his leadership in partnering with DUDA. Two DUDA hybrid WS teams from Emmett J. Conrad HS, Hillcrest HS, Irma Rangel YWLS, and Sunset HS competed at the NSDA National Tournament for the first time.

In 2022-23, DUDA began the season with over 70 high schools and middle schools. We finished as the second largest league in the country with nearly 1600 students across over 100 campuses. Kris Wright, the debate coach at Irma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School, was named the NAUDL National Coach of the Year, and Emyah Cox, a student at Rangel, was a finalist for the NAUDL Student of the Year Award. Rangel also had the first two WS teams to qualify at the TFA State Tournament.

The 2023-24 school year saw the introduction of a new format created by DUDA: Community Action Debate. The league premiered the format as part of NAUDL's "I, Resolve" initiative at the SMU Debate Forum in the fall. As part of the selective "I, Resolve" program (only three leagues in the nation were chosen to participate), DUDA students worked with Newsweek to cover the presidential primary debates. DUDA worked with the Texas Forensic Association to create a qualifying process for the league and two Policy teams and two World Schools teams represented the district at the State Tournament in March. By the spring we had reached over 1700 students from over 110 schools.