UIL Writer’s Study Report becomes National Policy Topic for 2024-2025
by Jana Riggins - Jan. 26, 2023 (State Director of Speech, Debate, Congress)
High school debaters during the 2024-2025 forensic season will research and debate the topic area developed by Winston Churchill Director of Debate coach Preston Stotle. “The United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in copyrights, patents, and/or trademarks.”
Stotle spent nine months developing and later defending before the National Federation of State High School Associations’ national debate topic selection committee his study report.
Five topic areas were selected by the committee in August to be placed on a national ballot in October. The results of that initial vote narrowed the selection down to two debate areas: nuclear weapons reduction and intellectual property rights. Thirty-eight states and four national organizations participated in the voting process that ultimately selected Stotle’s topic by a vote of 25-17.
Baylor University professor Dr. Rich Edwards who has participated in the selection meeting for five decades shared how impressive Stotle’s work is.
“Preston Stotle, one of the Texas UIL delegates to the NFHS national topic selection committee, wrote an outstanding topic proposal paper which he expertly defended in the three-day meeting in August of 2023. His proposal culminated in the selection of “intellectual property rights” as the national high school policy debate topic for the 2024-25 interscholastic competition year. Stotle’s proposal document does an outstanding job of highlighting potential affirmative and negative positions on the upcoming national policy debate topic as well as highlighting particular sources that will be most helpful to debaters and coaches.”
For a review of the study report presented by Stotle, click here.
The University Interscholastic League is actively involved in sponsoring delegates to the national meeting, providing an opportunity for teachers from Texas to present study reports before the committee and serve in national leadership roles.