We are thrilled to invite you to the 2025 Middle School Ethics Olympiad, an online event where 11–14-year-olds (at any point during 2025) can engage in structured, thought-provoking discussions on complex ethical issues. This competition is an excellent opportunity for students to sharpen their critical thinking, engage in meaningful dialogue, and explore diverse perspectives on challenging moral dilemmas.

We are the official qualifying event for the International Middle School Ethics Olympiad, meaning school-based teams can earn a spot in the International Final hosted in Australia!

Middle School Olympiad: Saturday, November 22, 2025
Time:
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (EST)
3:00 PM – 9:00 PM (BST – UK)
4:00 PM – 10:00 PM (CET – Europe)
11:00 PM – 5:00 AM on Nov 23 (CST – China Standard Time)

International Final: Tuesday, February 18, 2025 (hosted in Australia)
 

Eligibility

• Open to any team from anywhere in the world, whether school-based or not.

• To qualify for the International Final, teams must be school-based.

• Students must be aged 11–14 at some point during 2025.

• Teams of 3–5 students.

Event Schedule (EST)
10:00 – 10:15 AM: Introduction
10:15 – 11:20 AM: Round 1 (includes feedback)
11:20 – 11:30 AM: Break
11:30 AM – 12:35 PM: Round 2 (includes feedback)
12:35 – 1:15 PM: Lunch Break
1:15 – 2:20 PM: Round 3 (includes feedback)
2:20 – 2:30 PM: Break
2:30 – 3:35 PM: Round 4 (includes feedback)
3:35 – 4:00 PM: Closing Remarks

Ethical Topics for 2025
This year, teams will grapple with a wide range of thought-provoking ethical issues, including:
Case 1 – You Can Only Save One: Which Do You Choose?
Case 2 – Moniker Morality
Case 3 – Should Artists’ Ethics Affect Our Artistic Judgments?
Case 4 – Bullfighting
Case 5 – Relying on Civilian Intelligence in War
Case 6 – Locker Problems – Freaks and Geeks
Case 7 – Using AI in the Classroom
Case 8 – Tears of the Koroks

Registration Fees
Early Bird Fee: $180 USD per team (closes October 1st)
Regular Fee: $225 USD per team (registration closes November 1st)
Additional fees apply for PayPal/credit card payments.

Get ready to explore the ethical frontiers of technology and deepen your philosophical thinking alongside peers from around the globe.

2025 TKEthics Fall Invitational – Key Dates:

• July 1: Topics Released

• August 1 (11:59 PM EST): Early Bird Deadline Ends

• October 8 (11:59 PM EST): Final Registration Deadline

• November 8: Live Invitational – Event Day

• Registration Fees

  • Early Bird: $180 USD per team (3–5 students)

  • Regular: $225 USD per team

  Early Bird Discount Code: ETHICSFLY

Further updates will be shared as they become available — stay tuned and sign up for early bird access!

Invitation

TBD

Explore our competitive pricing tiers and take advantage of exclusive early bird discounts by registering early. Don’t miss your chance to save!

• Teams submitting 10 or more entries: $100 USD per entry

• Teams submitting fewer than 10 entries: $150 USD per entry

Early Bird Discounts 

July 1- July 31: 20% discount on all registration

August 1- August 31: 15% discount on all registration

September 1 - September 20: 10% discount on all registration

The Global AI Debates is a prestigious debate and essay competition judged by experts from MIT, UCLA, Microsoft, Perplexity, OpenAI, and UC Berkeley. For Fall 2025, we’re streamlining the structure to focus on depth and quality. There will be three divisions — High school (Senior), middle school (Junior), and primary school (Beginner). In the middle and high school categories, there will be a speech event and an essay + debate event, in the primary category there will only be a speech event. 

Essay Submission – Teams submit an initial written argument on the assigned topic.

Round 2 (Top 32 Teams) – If your team is selected among the top 32, you’ll move on to rebut an essay written by another team with the opposite position.

Live Debate Rounds – If your rebuttal is successful, your team of two advances to the live, head-to-head debate rounds.

Speech Competition: Participants who prefer to work solo may submit an individual speech. This event is for single students. The essays, however, can be written by teams of any size, but if the teams break into the finals, only two students will participate in the live debate rounds.

Topics for Speech and Debate Categories:

• Primary (ages 7 — 10): AI-enabled toys are good for kids (Only speech category: 5 minute speeches)

• Junior (ages 11 — 13): Governments should deploy AI instructors as a free public educational resource. (1,200 words, or 7 minute speech)

• Senior (ages 14 — 18): Frontier AI models should be open source. (2,000 words, or 7 minute speech)

*Note on word count: any citations/bibliography don’t count toward the word count total, essays exceeding the word count will not be considered!

Key Details

• Debate Rounds: Octofinals, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals

• Scheduling: Please refer to the tournament invitation below.

• Judges: Experts from leading universities and AI research institutions

• Certificates: Provided by: Berkeley University Debate Society, DebateUS!, MPI, and TKE.

   

Team Formation

• Age Guidelines: Younger students are allowed to compete in the older category if they choose, but older students may not compete in the younger division.

• If your original Olympiad team had an odd number of members (e.g., 3 or 5), you may form complete teams of two. If needed, extra members can bring in a new partner to compete

• Debate Teams: 2 members per team

• Writing Track: Minimum 2 members per team

• Solo Speech Track: 1 member per team

   

Essay + Debate Schedule (See Event Invitation)

Registration Opens July 1, 2025 You can start working on your essays now. (See topics above.)

Student names are not due until your entry is submitted, so you can pay for your teams from July 1st, and submit the details later. Registrations will be accepted until the day submissions of essays/speeches are due.

Essay + Debate Schedule

Round I
October 7, 2025 — Initial Essays Due
October 21, 2025 — Break Announced
32 entries advance: the top 16 Pro & 16 Con essays from each division

Round II
Breaking teams write one rebuttal essay
October 28, 2025 — Rebuttals Due
November 5, 2025 — Break Announced
16 entries advance: the top 8 Pro & 8 Con essays from each division

Round III Finals — December 7, 2025 (Zoom)
8:00 AM ET — Octofinals
9:30 AM ET — Quarterfinals
11:00 AM ET — Semifinals
12:30 PM ET — Finals

Explore our competitive pricing tiers and take advantage of exclusive early bird discounts by registering early. Don’t miss your chance to save!

• Teams submitting 10 or more entries: $100 USD per entry

• Teams submitting fewer than 10 entries: $150 USD per entry

Early Bird Discounts 

July 1- July 31: 20% discount on all registration

August 1- August 31: 15% discount on all registration

September 1 - September 20: 10% discount on all registration

The Global AI Debates is a prestigious debate and essay competition judged by experts from MIT, UCLA, Microsoft, Perplexity, OpenAI, and UC Berkeley. For Fall 2025, we’re streamlining the structure to focus on depth and quality. There will be three divisions — High school (Senior), middle school (Junior), and primary school (Beginner). In the middle and high school categories, there will be a speech event and an essay + debate event, in the primary category there will only be a speech event. 

Essay Submission – Teams submit an initial written argument on the assigned topic.

Round 2 (Top 32 Teams) – If your team is selected among the top 32, you’ll move on to rebut an essay written by another team with the opposite position.

Live Debate Rounds – If your rebuttal is successful, your team of two advances to the live, head-to-head debate rounds.

Speech Competition: Participants who prefer to work solo may submit an individual speech. This event is for single students. The essays, however, can be written by teams of any size, but if the teams break into the finals, only two students will participate in the live debate rounds.

Topics for Speech and Debate Categories:

• Primary (ages 7 — 10): AI-enabled toys are good for kids (Only speech category: 5 minute speeches)

• Junior (ages 11 — 13): Governments should deploy AI instructors as a free public educational resource. (1,200 words, or 7 minute speech)

• Senior (ages 14 — 18): Frontier AI models should be open source. (2,000 words, or 7 minute speech)

*Note on word count: any citations/bibliography don’t count toward the word count total, essays exceeding the word count will not be considered!

Key Details

• Debate Rounds: Octofinals, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals

• Scheduling: Please refer to the tournament invitation below.

• Judges: Experts from leading universities and AI research institutions

• Certificates: Provided by: Berkeley University Debate Society, DebateUS!, MPI, and TKE.

   

Team Formation

• Age Guidelines: Younger students are allowed to compete in the older category if they choose, but older students may not compete in the younger division.

• If your original Olympiad team had an odd number of members (e.g., 3 or 5), you may form complete teams of two. If needed, extra members can bring in a new partner to compete

• Debate Teams: 2 members per team

• Writing Track: Minimum 2 members per team

• Solo Speech Track: 1 member per team

   

Essay + Debate Schedule (See Event Invitation)

Registration Opens July 1, 2025 You can start working on your essays now. (See topics above.)

Student names are not due until your entry is submitted, so you can pay for your teams from July 1st, and submit the details later. Registrations will be accepted until the day submissions of essays/speeches are due.

Essay + Debate Schedule

Round I
October 7, 2025 – Initial Essays Due
October 21, 2025 – Break Announced
32 entries advance: the top 16 Pro & 16 Con essays from each division

Round II
Breaking teams write one rebuttal essay
October 28, 2025 – Rebuttals Due
November 5, 2025 – Break Announced
16 entries advance: the top 8 Pro & 8 Con essays from each division

Round III Finals – December 7, 2025 (Zoom)
8:00 AM ET – Octofinals
9:30 AM ET – Quarterfinals
11:00 AM ET – Semifinals
12:30 PM ET – Finals

Explore our competitive pricing tiers and take advantage of exclusive early bird discounts by registering early. Don’t miss your chance to save!

• Teams submitting 10 or more entries: $100 USD per entry

• Teams submitting fewer than 10 entries: $150 USD per entry

Early Bird Discounts 

July 1- July 31: 20% discount on all registration

August 1- August 31: 15% discount on all registration

September 1 - September 20: 10% discount on all registration

The Global AI Debates is a prestigious debate and essay competition judged by experts from MIT, UCLA, Microsoft, Perplexity, OpenAI, and UC Berkeley. For Fall 2025, we’re streamlining the structure to focus on depth and quality. There will be three divisions — High school (Senior), middle school (Junior), and primary school (Beginner). In the middle and high school categories, there will be a speech event and an essay + debate event, in the primary category there will only be a speech event. 

Topics for Speech and Debate Categories:

• Primary (ages 7 — 10): AI-enabled toys are good for kids (Only speech category: 5 minute speeches)

Key Details

• Team formation: Solo Speech Track, 1 member per team

• Scheduling: Please refer to the timeline below.

• Judges: Experts from leading universities and AI research institutions

• Certificates: Provided by: Berkeley University Debate Society, DebateUS!, MPI, and TKE.

Speech Competition:

Round I
November 1st, 2025 — Videos of Speeches Due
November 14th, 2025 — Break Announced
Top 20% of submissions in each category advance

Round II
November 21, 2025: Submit the same speech, or a new speech
November 28, 2025 — Break Announced
Top 5 submissions in each category advance

Round III Finals — December 7, 2025 (Live on Zoom)
8 a.m. Eastern time — Live speeches in front of a panel

Explore our competitive pricing tiers and take advantage of exclusive early bird discounts by registering early. Don’t miss your chance to save!

• Teams submitting 10 or more entries: $100 USD per entry

• Teams submitting fewer than 10 entries: $150 USD per entry

Early Bird Discounts 

July 1- July 31: 20% discount on all registration

August 1- August 31: 15% discount on all registration

September 1 - September 20: 10% discount on all registration

The Global AI Debates is a prestigious debate and essay competition judged by experts from MIT, UCLA, Microsoft, Perplexity, OpenAI, and UC Berkeley. For Fall 2025, we’re streamlining the structure to focus on depth and quality. There will be three divisions — High school (Senior), middle school (Junior), and primary school (Beginner). In the middle and high school categories, there will be a speech event and an essay + debate event, in the primary category there will only be a speech event. 

Essay Submission – Teams submit an initial written argument on the assigned topic.

Round 2 (Top 32 Teams) – If your team is selected among the top 32, you’ll move on to rebut an essay written by another team with the opposite position.

Live Debate Rounds – If your rebuttal is successful, your team of two advances to the live, head-to-head debate rounds.

Speech Competition: Participants who prefer to work solo may submit an individual speech. This event is for single students. The essays, however, can be written by teams of any size, but if the teams break into the finals, only two students will participate in the live debate rounds.

Topics for Speech and Debate Categories:

• Primary (ages 7 — 10): AI-enabled toys are good for kids (Only speech category: 5 minute speeches)

• Junior (ages 11 — 13): Governments should deploy AI instructors as a free public educational resource. (1,200 words, or 7 minute speech)

• Senior (ages 14 — 18): Frontier AI models should be open source. (2,000 words, or 7 minute speech)

*Note on word count: any citations/bibliography don’t count toward the word count total, essays exceeding the word count will not be considered!

Key Details

• Debate Rounds: Octofinals, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals

• Scheduling: Please refer to the tournament invitation below.

• Judges: Experts from leading universities and AI research institutions

• Certificates: Provided by: Berkeley University Debate Society, DebateUS!, MPI, and TKE.

   

Team Formation

• Age Guidelines: Younger students are allowed to compete in the older category if they choose, but older students may not compete in the younger division.

• If your original Olympiad team had an odd number of members (e.g., 3 or 5), you may form complete teams of two. If needed, extra members can bring in a new partner to compete

• Debate Teams: 2 members per team

• Writing Track: Minimum 2 members per team

• Solo Speech Track: 1 member per team

   

Essay + Debate Schedule (See Event Invitation)

Registration Opens July 1, 2025 You can start working on your essays now. (See topics above.)

Student names are not due until your entry is submitted, so you can pay for your teams from July 1st, and submit the details later. Registrations will be accepted until the day submissions of essays/speeches are due.

Speech Competition:

Round I:
November 1st, 2025 — Videos of Speeches Due
November 14th, 2025 — Break Announced
Top 20% of submissions in each category advance:

Round II:
November 21, 2025: Submit the same speech, or a new speech
November 28, 2025 — Break Announced
Top 5 submissions in each category advance:

Round III: Finals — December 7, 2025 (Live on Zoom)
8 a.m. Eastern time — Live speeches in front of a panel

Explore our competitive pricing tiers and take advantage of exclusive early bird discounts by registering early. Don’t miss your chance to save!

• Teams submitting 10 or more entries: $100 USD per entry

• Teams submitting fewer than 10 entries: $150 USD per entry

Early Bird Discounts 

July 1- July 31: 20% discount on all registration

August 1- August 31: 15% discount on all registration

September 1 - September 20: 10% discount on all registration

The Global AI Debates is a prestigious debate and essay competition judged by experts from MIT, UCLA, Microsoft, Perplexity, OpenAI, and UC Berkeley. For Fall 2025, we’re streamlining the structure to focus on depth and quality. There will be three divisions — High school (Senior), middle school (Junior), and primary school (Beginner). In the middle and high school categories, there will be a speech event and an essay + debate event, in the primary category there will only be a speech event. 

Essay Submission – Teams submit an initial written argument on the assigned topic.

Round 2 (Top 32 Teams) – If your team is selected among the top 32, you’ll move on to rebut an essay written by another team with the opposite position.

Live Debate Rounds – If your rebuttal is successful, your team of two advances to the live, head-to-head debate rounds.

Speech Competition: Participants who prefer to work solo may submit an individual speech. This event is for single students. The essays, however, can be written by teams of any size, but if the teams break into the finals, only two students will participate in the live debate rounds.

Topics for Speech and Debate Categories:

• Primary (ages 7 — 10): AI-enabled toys are good for kids (Only speech category: 5 minute speeches)

• Junior (ages 11 — 13): Governments should deploy AI instructors as a free public educational resource. (1,200 words, or 7 minute speech)

• Senior (ages 14 — 18): Frontier AI models should be open source. (2,000 words, or 7 minute speech)

*Note on word count: any citations/bibliography don’t count toward the word count total, essays exceeding the word count will not be considered!

Key Details

• Debate Rounds: Octofinals, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals

• Scheduling: Please refer to the tournament invitation below.

• Judges: Experts from leading universities and AI research institutions

• Certificates: Provided by: Berkeley University Debate Society, DebateUS!, MPI, and TKE.

   

Team Formation

• Age Guidelines: Younger students are allowed to compete in the older category if they choose, but older students may not compete in the younger division.

• If your original Olympiad team had an odd number of members (e.g., 3 or 5), you may form complete teams of two. If needed, extra members can bring in a new partner to compete

• Debate Teams: 2 members per team

• Writing Track: Minimum 2 members per team

• Solo Speech Track: 1 member per team

   

Essay + Debate Schedule (See Event Invitation)

Registration Opens July 1, 2025 You can start working on your essays now. (See topics above.)

Student names are not due until your entry is submitted, so you can pay for your teams from July 1st, and submit the details later. Registrations will be accepted until the day submissions of essays/speeches are due.

Speech Competition Schedule

Round I
November 1, 2025 – Videos of Speeches Due
November 14, 2025 – Break Announced
Top 20% of submissions in each category advance

Round II
November 21, 2025 – Submit the same speech, or a new speech
November 28, 2025 – Break Announced
Top 5 submissions in each category advance

Round III Finals – December 7, 2025 (Live on Zoom)
8:00 AM ET – Live speeches in front of a panel