Georgetown Debate Seminar

11/15/2025

Imagine spending your summer debating at one of the nation’s top universities — in the nation’s capital! Now that’s called, “Living the GUDS life!” 😎

Our Georgetown University Debate Seminar (GUDS) offers 6 premium workshops designed for students who not only want to sharpen their public speaking, critical thinking, and argumentation skills, but become competitive on the national stage. From Policy Debate to Congressional Debate and Public Speaking, there’s a program for every level and passion.

Dont wait—join a community of driven, like-minded students, learn from expert instructors, and experience what it’s like to think, speak, and lead with confidence.

📩 Got questions? Email us at [email protected]

🧑‍💻 Ready to apply? Applications are live NOW. Just follow the link below 👇

11/14/2025

📣 Ready to level up your debate skills?!

🏛️ This summer, it all happens at the beautiful Georgetown University campus right in the Nation’s Capital

🌟 Choose between 6 premium debate workshops designed for every level—from Policy Debate to Public Speaking, there’s a GUDS program for YOU!

🧑‍💻Applications open November 15th, 2025! Apply early — limited spots fill fast!

✨ This is the GUDS life! See for yourself, and tag a teammate who might need this too!

💻 LEARN MORE: debate.georgetown.edu/georgetown-debate-seminar

👉 APPLY AT THE LINK IN OUR STORY NOV. 15!

📧 QUESTIONS: Email [email protected]



Georgetown Debate Seminar Georgetown Debate

11/12/2025

Ready to level up your debate and public speaking skills this summer? 🗣️✨

The Georgetown University Debate Seminar (GUDS) is back — offering 6 elite workshops right in the heart of Washington, D.C.! From policy debate to congressional argument and public speaking, our programs give you access to world-class coaches, top-tier instruction, and the experience of a lifetime. 🇺🇸

Whether you’re preparing for national tournaments or just want to become a confident speaker and thinker, GUDS gives you the tools to succeed — in competition, in school, and beyond.

📅 Applications open Saturday, November 15, 2025 → (just click the image to access the application).

📩 Got questions? Email us at [email protected] or visit our website at debate.georgetown.edu.

😎 Life is GUDS — come see for yourself!

03/04/2025

Applications are open for the 2025 Georgetown Debate Seminar! Apply soon to secure your spot on the Hilltop!

Information about Georgetown Debate's summer debate workshops

05/17/2024

We still have spots available for the 2024 Georgetown Debate Seminar for both the policy debate camp and the public speaking and argumentation camp. Apply today!

Information about Georgetown Debate's summer debate workshops

04/24/2023

Applications for the Georgetown Debate Seminar and the GDDI are still open!

Fill out an application on our website, debate.georgetown.edu today! 🏆🏆🏆

Our campers have a track record of success after their time at camp with accomplishments including:

🏆Winning the Tournament of Champions & other regular season tournaments.

🏆Countless speaker awards.

🏆Dozens of TOC bids.

Apply now! ✨✨✨

Georgetown Debate

06/03/2020

Follow this link to read: A Letter from the Center for Student Engagement on Combating Racial Injustice

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-8j7scGS19GSF4bPKhaVYYNTwhlyKzRxUJbTfKJ_YlU/edit

04/02/2020

In light of developments in the COVID-19 outbreak, Georgetown University has announced its decision to move to an all-online environment for summer 2020. Unfortunately, this will include all on-campus conferences and camps, including the Georgetown Debate Seminar (GDS) and Georgetown-Dartmouth Debate Institute (GDDI) Fellows programs.

As mentioned in our previous update on March 12th, we have been hard at work preparing for this possibility, and, while we regret that we will be unable to host you in Washington, D.C. and Hanover this summer, we are committed to maximizing the pedagogical opportunities of the remote learning environment and retaining as many of the unique strengths of our programs as possible.

Highlights
- Tuition will be $4,000 for the seven-week GDDI Fellows program $2,000 for the three-week GDS policy workshop.
- Participants will be able to access Georgetown’s electronic library resources for the duration of the program in which they enroll.
- We will spend the next three months drawing upon the resources, experiences, and best practices of the virtual learning environment both at Georgetown and at the various institutions in which our teaching staff is immersed.

For more information, please check out our website or reach out to us at [email protected].

03/13/2020

Georgetown Debate is monitoring the situation with the current coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) very closely, and wanted to update students and parents about our plans for the Georgetown Debate Seminar and the GDDI Fellows program.

Currently, we are in "wait and see" mode, with the hopes and intention that all programs will go forward as planned. Our campuses are focused on events in March and April, and will likely wait to make determinations about summer programs until there is more clarity about what the situation will look like by then. Until we have more information, we are proceeding under the assumption that programs beginning in June can occur as scheduled. You can see some of the precautions we will take for the health and safety of program participants below.

However, we also want to let you know that we are committed to hosting the camp, no matter what. Should the outbreak look likely to affect our ability to host on-site, or to create a significant negative impact on participation, we will provide an option for remote/online attendance. We are currently working with experts and putting into place infrastructure to facilitate this. We intend to keep essentially all aspects of the camp the same to the maximum possible extent, including daily real-time labs, practice debates, extensive instructor feedback, etc. We will release additional details about exactly what this would look like, including an adjusted price structure, as soon as we can. We will also be as flexible with our refund policy as possible given the developing situation, for both in-person and online versions of the program.

We are focused on ensuring the health and safety of our staff and participants. Measures that we plan to implement include the following:

- Coordinate closely with on-campus medical facilities and resources.
- Create a dedicated space for self-quarantine purposes if necessary.
- Provide hand sanitizer to every student and faculty member as well as make it available in common spaces.
- Limit large group gatherings in confined spaces; utilize smaller classroom-size gatherings as much as possible.
- Work to minimize physical contact like shaking hands.
Regularly sanitize all shared spaces.

This is not an exhaustive list, and we will continue to develop additional protocols over the coming weeks.

It is difficult to predict what may happen in the upcoming weeks and months, but we are committed to providing an safe, healthy, educational and enjoyable camp experience. You can expect to receive further information about the possible contingencies and how we plan to adapt over the next few weeks. In the meantime, we recommend that you stay up-to-date with recommendations from your local health agencies and from the U.S. government at coronavirus.gov.

In the meantime, we also recommend checking out our website for more information about our programs, including our excellent faculty: https://debate.georgetown.edu/georgetown-debate-seminar/

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. We look forward to working with you this summer!

Information about Georgetown Debate's summer debate workshops

09/06/2019

Georgetown Debate and the Dartmouth Debate Institute are excited to announce a new partnership and summer program beginning in 2020!

We believe that there is a pressing need for an elite seven-week program that not only teaches debate skills, but effectively hones the high-quality, in-depth research skills, deep grasp of debate strategy, and individual and team habits that produce sustainable, championship-winning squads.

The Georgetown-Dartmouth Debate Institute (GDDI) Fellows program will occur in two phases:
First, three weeks at Georgetown: a phase of intensive, personalized skills development. Students will use a high-quality starting evidence set designed to facilitate advanced speeches and debates on a near-daily basis, interspersed with lab instruction and exposure to guest experts from D.C.’s unbeatable field of public policy professionals. In addition to fostering extensive personal improvement, this phase will instill a deep, first-hand understanding of what constitutes good research and good strategy, why they matter, and how to do them effectively.
Second, four weeks at Dartmouth: this phase adopts a “team” model with a rigorous research curriculum. Each lab produces a distinct evidence set, and progressively strategizes and innovates against the other labs’ arguments, culminating in a full-length tournament at the end of the summer. Students will, with extensive guidance and feedback from lab leaders and dedicated research staff, produce all evidence used during this stage. This model will teach students not only how to debate and research at an advanced level, but how to establish, contribute to, and lead a sustainable and successful squad, regardless of size.
This program also offers the opportunity to experience two elite college campuses, and all the resources they have to offer. Students will love both the nation’s bustling capital and the beautiful scenery of New Hampshire in the summer, and the contrast between the two!

Our faculty have track records of success at the highest levels of both high school and college debate. We have more exciting names to come, but confirmed faculty includes:
Shree Awsare, Director of Forensics at North Broward Preparatory School and assistant coach at Emory University
Alyssa Jean Fiebrantz, Director of Forensics at NSU University School
Lincoln Garrett, Head Coach at the University of Kentucky and assistant coach at Montgomery Bell Academy
Miles Gray, senior debater at the University of California-Berkeley and assistant coach at the Harker School
Brandon Kelley, Associate Director of Debate at Georgetown University
Mikaela Malsin, Director of Debate at Georgetown University
John Turner, Director of Debate at Dartmouth College
Anthony Trufanov, 2019 National Debate Tournament champion and assistant coach at Glenbrook North

For more information and to apply, please visit our https://debate.georgetown.edu/georgetown-debate-seminar/georgetown-dartmouth-debate-institute-fellows/.