California High School Speech Association

Our full awards photos just dropped! Link in our profile or visit Tinyurl.com/CHSSA26Awards

California, it’s our pleasure to introduce your 2026 State Champions (and their coaches!) 🏆

📸: (a Logan alum!)

STATE 2026 MERCH 🏆

Available this weekend at Logan Saturday and Sunday. While supplies last.

Congratulations to CHSSA's very own Dave Matley! Dave is the President of the Golden Gate Speech Association (the league hosting us next week for State 2026!) and is our CHSSA Congress Chair! We love you, Dave! 🏆

We are thrilled to announce our new inductees into the National Speech & Debate Association Hall of Fame! 🎉

Congratulations to these incredible coaches! We can't wait to celebrate you at the 2026 National Tournament.

🏆 Introducing the 2026 CHSSA State Championship Shirt

This year’s design celebrates California, community, and the power of student voices.

Buy at State at James Logan, or if you’re not attending, donate $40+ and we’ll ship your shirt right to you:
https://tinyurl.com/2026CHSSAShirt

All proceeds from donations support CHSSA’s Food Insecurity Program, helping make sure students have money for meals during the tournament.

Because at CHSSA, we believe every champion deserves a chance.

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Why a donation?

At the State Championship, we welcome nearly 2,000 students from across California. For some, a weekend away at a tournament also means worrying about how they’ll afford meals.

Our Food Insecurity Program helps ensure students can focus on competing, connecting, and being part of this community.

Your support means no student has to choose between participating and having something to eat. Donations are tax-deductible, and every shirt purchased this way directly supports students.

We’re proud of this design and even more proud of what it supports. Thank you for helping us take care of our students and our community.

The CHSSA State Championship is just a month away and we know coaches have questions. Whether this is your first time heading to State or you’ve been many times before, Coaches’ Corner this month is a great chance to connect and get the inside scoop.

Join CHSSA State Tournament Director Angelique Ronald for a live Q&A about the CHSSA State Tournament. We’ll talk about what to expect, best practices for preparing your team, and anything else on your mind as we get closer to State at James Logan High.

Bring your questions and come hang out with fellow coaches across the state.

And… there may also be a little sneak peek of the 2026 CHSSA State shirt design 👀

Thursday, March 19
6:00 PM PT

Register here: CHSSA.org/CoachesCorner

We hope to see you there!

Know an incredible senior?

CHSSA Student of the Year nominations are now open!

This award celebrates students who use speech & debate to lead, serve and make a difference beyond competition.

Coaches: we need your nominations!

🏆 Finalists honored at State
💰 Winner receives $1,000

Nominate here:
tinyurl.com/26CHSSASOTY

Deadline: March 27

From California to Minnesota, speech and debate connects us across distance and difference. Ours is a community grounded in voice, in advocacy, and in showing up for one another. When federal enforcement in the Twin Cities is directly impacting schools, heightening fear in communities, and disrupting students’ sense of safety and belonging, speech and debate stands for more than argument: it stands for compassion and care.

The Minnesota Urban Debate League is inviting messages of support for their students who are navigating this fear and uncertainty right now. Their initiative is an opportunity for our California speech and debate family to show up with encouragement and solidarity. Please join us in sending a message through this link: http://tinyurl.com/chssa2mn

We believe that all students deserve to feel safe in their schools and in their speech and debate spaces. We believe classrooms should be places of courage, not fear. We believe young voices deserve to grow in environments rooted in dignity, care, and belonging.

Today, we send Minnesota’s students and coaches our love, our support, and the reminder that they are not alone.

During this difficult time for our students, we hope you will share a message of support: https://bit.ly/UpliftMNUDL

All students have been impacted by federal immigration actions across the Twin Cities metro, with our most vulnerable kids hurting the most.

Schools have been temporarily closed, students have been afraid to attend school, and families are stressed.

Your brief message of support and encouragement means a lot. We want to show our students that there is a community of past and present debaters wishing them well.

If you are a Spanish speaker, and want to share your message in Spanish, we will share with our Spanish debate students.

All messages of support are welcome.

To our debaters:

YOUR VOICE MATTERS.
Even from home.
Especially from home.
We see you. We're proud of you.