This was only the second virtual tournament organized in the region (the first being organized last December by NNU) with international adjudicators virtually judging each round, and marked the continual efforts of An Najah to expand its virtual exchange capacity with the aim of becoming the leading higher education institution in the Middle East region in virtual exchange education.

The tournament was unique in that it ‎incorporated virtual exchange technology in order to include high level, ‎international adjudicators for each round of the tournament. The virtual ‎adjudicators were U.S. based and included five members of the ‎University of La Verne Debate Team in California and two members of ‎the Cornell Speech and Debate Society in New York.‎

The tournament was organized in collaboration with the University of La Verne Debate Team and as part of a Fulbright Specialist grant awarded to Dr Rob Ruiz with the aim of supporting the development of An Najah University Debate Society (NNUDS) as well as the University's curricula development of debate rhetoric studies.

This structure of debate ‎involves four teams competing against one ‎another with two teams per side and two members per team. ‎Each team ‎aims to create the most persuasive case after only 15 minutes of ‎preparation. The tournament included three debate rounds ranging in ‎topics including whether or not women should be more involved in the ‎Palestinian political resistance, whether developing nations are morally ‎justified in implementing protectionist policies and a topic about ‎marginalized people and international funding.  Following the first three ‎rounds, the four teams who's combined rankings were highest moved on ‎to the Grand Final.  These debaters were tasked with debating whether to ‎prefer a world without government.‎

 The first place team was Iman Saraj and Sanaa Aslan both debate members of NNUDS for the past three years. The best speaker awards were given to both Iman Saraj and Layan Malhis of NNUDS. All of the finalist were from NNUDS including Shehab Ali AlKhader, Omar Yousef, Suhayb Sakran, Radi Barq, Layan Malhees, and Nura Qasrawi.

The Chief Adjudicators who are responsible for creating the debate ‎motions for the tournament included Dr Rob Ruiz, Fares Abdullah, and Adam Pepper of the University of La Verne, and Nawal Jayyousi, alumnus of NNDUS.

The An-Najah University Debate Society (NNUDS) was established in ‎‎2017 and has trained over 200 ‎students and recent graduates in debate ‎and argumentation.  NNUDS has held four international ‎tournaments and ‎numerous smaller competitions and community training workshops.  To ‎get involved with ‎NNUDS and apply to join their team in English or Arabic, contact ‎‎[email protected] or visit their site ‎at https://www.facebook.com/NNUDSPALESTINE