JRF Cup National High School Debate Competition
Why does the JRF hold a debate tournament?
Rooting the issues ｜ Bringing controversies out of the courtroom
Each year's motion is drawn from the reform work the JRF is pursuing that very year. To prepare, students must read judgments, look up draft amendments, and understand the institutional stakes — the law is no longer just a term in a textbook.
Cross-generational dialogue ｜ Feedback from a youth perspective
The challenges debaters raise on stage often fill in blind spots that practitioners have long taken for granted. For the JRF, the tournament is also a way of gathering the views of a different generation.
Local connections ｜ Linking central Taiwan's legal community and campuses
The tournament has long partnered with the bar associations of Taichung, Changhua, and Nantou and central-Taiwan high school debate clubs. The finals are always held at the Taichung Bar Association, letting students step into the spaces of the legal community.
Same format, a new motion every year: The JRF Cup uses the "new Oregon 4-4-4 format, with the opposition always closing first," unchanged over four years. What truly changes each year is the question Taiwanese society most needs to discuss.
Latest edition ｜ 2026 JRF Cup (4th)
2026 JRF Cup National High School Debate Tournament
Motion: Taiwan should legalize surrogacyWhy debate surrogacy this year? With advances in reproductive technology and the diversification of family forms, surrogacy has again become a social focal point. The issue is not merely a dispute over reproductive rights — it involves women's rights, the best interests of the child, and complex legal and ethical dilemmas. With debate over amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act running high, the discussion is all the more timely.
Expand the full 2026 tournament rules (schedule, awards, deposit, image release)
Event dates and team-captain meetings
- Tournament dates: Saturday, August 22 to Sunday, August 23, 2026
- First captains' meeting: Saturday, July 11, 2026, 19:00, held online — schedule draw, clarification of the motion, and administrative announcements.
- Second captains' meeting: Friday, August 21, 2026, 19:30, held online.
Format
New Oregon 4-4-4 format; the opposition always delivers its closing speech first.
Teams and admission
- The tournament is capped at 24 teams.
- Registration is by school, limited to 1 team per school; each team has 1 captain and up to 6 debaters, and a debater may double as captain.
- Host school Mingdao High School and last year's champion and runner-up — Tainan First Senior High School and Wenhua Senior High School — each have one reserved slot. Admission rules first protect schools in the central region (Taichung, Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, and Yunlin); remaining slots are filled in order of registration.
Registration and timeline
- No registration fee; a deposit of NT$1,500 per team is returned after the team fully participates in the event.
- Registration period: from Friday, June 5, 2026 at 22:00 to Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at 22:00.
- The registration form requires: email address, school, registering unit (e.g., debate club), captain's name, and captain's phone number.
- The organizers will announce the admitted and waitlisted schools by Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 22:00; admitted schools must complete the remittance by Wednesday, June 24, 2026 at 22:00 and email the last five digits of the remitting account number (not the transaction number) to the organizers' mailbox — registration is complete upon confirmation.
- Remittance information: CTBC Bank, Songshan Branch (822) / Account name: Chinese Debate Promotion Association / Account no.: 4955-4044-6072.
Awards
- Team awards: Champion — NT$8,000 and a trophy; runner-up — NT$5,000 and a trophy; two third-place teams — NT$3,000 and a trophy each.
- Individual award: One Best Debater — NT$2,000 and a trophy.
- Teams reaching this year's championship final receive a priority slot when registering for the next JRF Cup.
Deposit rules
- Withdrawal before the first captains' meeting on July 11, 2026 forfeits NT$500 of the deposit; withdrawal before Thursday, August 6 forfeits NT$1,000; later withdrawal forfeits the full deposit.
- All teams must send a member (listed on the roster) to both captains' meetings — no proxies. Arriving up to 10 minutes late forfeits NT$300; more than 10 minutes counts as absence and forfeits NT$500.
- All teams must send at least 3 members to the championship final and closing ceremony; the same deductions apply for lateness and absence.
- Failure to participate fully in scheduled rounds forfeits the entire deposit.
- Deposits must be collected on the day the event ends; deposits uncollected after 5 days are forfeited in full.
- Use of altered or forged materials during the tournament, once confirmed by the organizers, forfeits the entire deposit.
- For other serious violations of the rules or disruption of proceedings, the amount deducted is determined by the organizers according to the severity.
Image release
By registering, debaters and captains are deemed to consent that during the captains' meetings and official competition, the organizers and partners may photograph and film the event, with the resulting audio, video, and images used for archiving, showcasing results, and event promotion.
2026 event contacts
- Executive director: Wang Chen-yun, Director of the JRF Taichung Office
- Tournament director: Chen Pin-yu, Secretary, CDPA (0978-525-821)
- Chief adjudicators: Chen Li-ling, JRF Legal Education Specialist; Wang Min-hua, Secretary, CDPA (0983-143-488)
Organizers and partners
Organizers: JRF Taichung Office, CDPA (Chinese Debate Promotion Association), and the Mingdao High School Debate Club
Partners: Legal Affairs Bureau of the Taichung City Government, Mingdao High School, Taichung Bar Association, Changhua Bar Association, and Nantou Bar Association
※ The above is a summary of the key points of the 2026 event handbook. For any matters not covered, the organizers' final interpretation prevails. For the full text, see the official handbook PDF.
Past editions
The JRF Cup has been held annually since 2023. The editions below are listed from newest to oldest; for detailed rules of each edition, see the original tournament announcements.
2026 JRF Cup National High School Debate Tournament
Motion: Taiwan should legalize surrogacyVenuesMingdao High School (prelims, semis) / Taichung Bar Association (final four, final)
ScaleCapped at 24 teams; deposit NT$1,500 per team
OrganizersJRF Taichung Office, CDPA, Mingdao High School Debate Club
PartnersLegal Affairs Bureau of the Taichung City Government, Mingdao High School, Taichung / Changhua / Nantou Bar Associations
2025 JRF Cup National High School Debate Tournament
Motion: An online real-name system does Taiwanese society more good than harm / more harm than goodVenuesTaichung Girls' Senior High School (prelims, semis) / Taichung Bar Association (final four, final)
ScaleCapped at 24 teams; deposit NT$1,500 per team
BackgroundFocused on privacy and digital democracy in the digital age, responding to how the rapid digitization of the public and private sectors is testing the boundary between people's rights and public power
OrganizersJRF Taichung Office, CDPA, Taichung Girls' Senior High School Debate Club; advising organization: Taiwan Network Information Center
2024 JRF Cup National High School Debate Tournament
Motion: Taiwan should establish an independent criminal cases review commissionVenuesWenhua Senior High School (prelims, semis) / Taichung Bar Association (semifinal, final)
ScaleCapped at 16 teams; deposit NT$1,000 per team
BackgroundEchoing the JRF's March 2024 special exhibition "Away from the Abyss ｜ On the Road of Wrongful Conviction Rescue", focusing on the systemic difficulties that not-yet-exonerated cases face on the road to redress
OrganizersJRF Taichung Office, CDPA, Wenhua Senior High School Debate Club
2023 JRF Cup National High School Debate Tournament
Motion: In anti-fraud policy, adding criminal liability matters more than strengthening financial regulation / strengthening financial regulation matters more than adding criminal liabilityVenuesWenhua Senior High School (prelims) / Taichung Bar Association (semis, final)
ScaleCapped at 12 teams; deposit NT$1,000 per team
BackgroundContinuing the dummy account project the JRF has pursued since 2013, examining the risk of injustice created by the judicial practice of presuming that those who hand over their bank accounts have "dolus eventualis" of aiding fraud and money laundering
OrganizersJRF Taichung Office, CDPA
Debate and Forum ｜ Should Taiwan's Money Laundering Control Act add an offense of handing over dummy accounts?
Motion: Should Taiwan's Money Laundering Control Act add an offense of handing over dummy accountsFormatAdult exhibition debate + post-match forum (held online); the starting point of the JRF Cup series
OriginOn December 28, 2021, the Ministry of Justice released a draft amendment to the Money Laundering Control Act proposing a new Article 15-1 offense of handing over dummy accounts, advancing the issue from "how to determine dolus eventualis" to the level of policy debate
PanelistsProfessor Lu Ying-chieh, Assistant Professor Hsieh Kuo-hsin (Department of Law, National Chung Cheng University), Kuo Fu-chi (Tainan First Senior High School); moderator: attorney Lin Chih-chung (JRF board member)
OrganizersJRF Taichung Office, CDPA (Chinese Debate Promotion Association)
Motions over the years
| Year | Motion | Corresponding judicial reform issue |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Taiwan should legalize surrogacy | Gender and judicial reform; amendment of the Assisted Reproduction Act |
| 2025 | An online real-name system does Taiwanese society more good than harm / more harm than good | Digital rule of law; digital privacy |
| 2024 | Taiwan should establish an independent criminal cases review commission | Wrongful conviction rescue |
| 2023 | In anti-fraud policy, adding criminal liability matters more than strengthening financial regulation / strengthening financial regulation matters more than adding criminal liability | Dummy account project; determination of fraudulent intent |
| 2022 (predecessor) |
Should Taiwan's Money Laundering Control Act add an offense of handing over dummy accounts | Dummy account project; amendment of the Money Laundering Control Act |
Common tournament information
The rules below have remained largely consistent across editions of the JRF Cup. Details of each edition are governed by that year's announcement and handbook; for the full rules of the latest edition, see the expandable section above.
| Eligibility | Students in years 1–3 of any senior high school, vocational school, or five-year junior college nationwide. |
|---|---|
| Teams | Registration is by school, limited to 1 team per school; each team has 1 captain and up to 6 debaters, and a debater may double as captain. |
| Format | New Oregon 4-4-4 format; the opposition always delivers its closing speech first. |
| Admission | The host school and last year's champion and runner-up have reserved slots; next, schools in the central region (Taichung, Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, and Yunlin) are prioritized, with remaining slots filled in order of registration. |
| Fees | No registration fee. A deposit is collected (NT$1,000 per team in 2023–2024; NT$1,500 from 2025) and returned after full participation. |
| Captains' meetings | Two online captains' meetings are held each edition: the first covers the schedule draw, clarification of the motion, and administrative announcements; the second takes place the day before the tournament. Attendance is required at both — no proxies. |
| Awards | Team awards: champion NT$8,000, runner-up NT$5,000 (two third-place awards of NT$3,000 each added from 2024); individual award: one Best Debater, with prize money of NT$2,000–3,000 depending on the edition — all including a trophy. |
| Image release | Registration is deemed consent for the organizers and partners to photograph and film during captains' meetings and the tournament, with audio, video, and images used for archiving, showcasing results, and event promotion. |
Long-term partners
Co-organizers: The CDPA (Chinese Debate Promotion Association), a long-time promoter of public-issue deliberation, together with a rotating high school debate club each year — Wenhua Senior High School Debate Club (2023, 2024), Taichung Girls' Senior High School Debate Club (2025), and Mingdao High School Debate Club (2026).
Partners: The Taichung, Changhua, and Nantou Bar Associations have supported the tournament since its first edition, with the finals always held at the Taichung Bar Association. The Legal Affairs Bureau of the Taichung City Government joined in 2026; the Taiwan Network Information Center served as advising organization in 2025.
Want to bring your students to the next JRF Cup?
Registration information for the JRF Cup is announced around the first half of each year. Follow the Taichung office's events page, or call us about partnership and participation.
Latest tournament announcement Taichung office events Tel: 04-2329-2372 ／ Match videos: JRF YouTube channelLast edited: July 28, 2026