National Speech and Debate Association

National Speech and Debate Association

Company type	Nonprofit organization
Founded	1925
Headquarters	West Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
Key people	Pam Cady Wycoff Board President Scott Wunn Executive Director
Website	speechanddebate.org

The National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) is the largest interscholastic speech and debate organization serving middle school and high school students in the United States.^[1] It is also the national authority on public speaking and debate.

NSDA was founded by Bruno Ernst Jacob, a Ripon College professor, in 1925 as the National Forensic League. As a college student, Jacob created a pocket handbook, Suggestions for the Debater, which led to the founding of the organization. The name was changed in 2014 to the National Speech and Debate Association.^[2]

NSDA provides competitive speech and debate activities, resources, comprehensive training, scholarship opportunities, and advanced recognition to more than 140,000 students and coaches each year.