NEW YORK, November 6 – The Brewer Foundation today announces the 64 teams advancing in the 2026–27 International Public Policy Forum (IPPF), marking the next stage of a record-breaking international debate competition that challenges high school students to grapple with some of the world's most consequential public policy questions.
Entering its 26th year, the IPPF launched its annual competition in October with 506 teams submitting essays from 62 countries — the largest qualifying round in the program's history — as students from across the world competed for a spot among the top 64 teams.
In the qualifying round, teams submitted written arguments arguing affirmative or negative on the resolution: “Resolved: The United Nations should prioritize protecting the rights of women and girls over respecting state sovereignty.”
A panel of judges assessed each essay to determine which 64 teams would advance to the next round. The advancing teams represent schools in 18 countries and nine U.S. states, including Belarus, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Finland, which is participating in the IPPF for the first time. The breadth of the field underscores the IPPF’s expanding international reach and its mission to bring young voices into the global conversation.
Of the 64 advancing teams, 35 are based outside the United States, making this the first year international teams make up a majority of the Top 64.
In the Round of 64, teams will compete in head-to-head written debates, exchanging arguments and rebuttals as they seek to advance to the Round of 32. The competition will continue through successive elimination rounds, culminating in the IPPF Finals at New York University School of Law, where the final eight teams will compete for the championship and a $10,000 grand prize.
“To be among the top 64 teams from a field of more than 500 is an extraordinary accomplishment,” said William A. Brewer III, Chairman of the Brewer Foundation and founder of the IPPF. “These students earned their place through careful research, persuasive advocacy, and a sophisticated understanding of issues that shape our world. The next stage will demand even more of them, and we look forward to seeing how they rise to that challenge.”
Qualifying Round Results
The following 64 teams have advanced to the Round of 64 of the 2026–27 International Public Policy Forum:
Abu Dhabi Indian School, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Students: Advay Pachpor, Nathaniel Roby, Aadya Hegde, Niju Ariga
American School Dhahran, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Students: Jayden Lee, Jiseong Chung, Noorfatima Omair, Zoha Fatima
Anglo-Chinese School (International), Singapore
Students: Jayden Christian Budiman, Vera Neo, Jacob Christopher Budiman
Ashbury College, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Students: Zhanxu (Leo) Cao, Samuel Qing, Jingyi (Eva) Liu
Atlantic Ivy, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Students: Aleesha Naeem, Yuhan Jiang, Ziyus Guzder, Annika Baberwal, Smayan Sethi, Xiao Zhang
Beaconhouse Margalla Campus 1, Islamabad, Pakistan
Students: Aroosh Fatima, Amna Bilal, Abdullah Hussain, Nawal Ansar, Hamza Mamoon, Muhammad Essam Satti
Bergen Debate Club, Fort Lee, New Jersey
Students: Audrey Ren, Shinjee Park, Mia Yuan, Chloe Sohn, Anna Peshkova
Cadet College Hasanabdal, Hasanabdal, Pakistan
Students: Muhammad Tashfeen Khan, Muhammad Ahmed Mujtaba Khan, Muhammad Awaab
Çevre College, Istanbul, Turkey
Students: Fahrettin Mert Alaca, Melis Kutluca, Dima Köksal, Nejan Dinçer
Cheongshim International Academy, Gapyeong, South Korea
Students: Hansol Lee, Mia Davis, Haelee Ohk, Mirae Kim, Seungwhan Kim, Wonjun Lee
CHIREC International School, Hyderabad, India
Students: Vivaan Bhushan, Saanvi Patra, Shaurya Sultania
CHIREC International School 2, Hyderabad, India
Students: Arya Madhusudhanan, Dhruv Joshi, Shaurya Jethwani
Cypress Ranch High School, Cypress, Texas
Students: Nikhil Gokhale, Ahir Valluri, Uriel Smith, Simran Verma, Tarannum Taha, Ishana Vutukuru
Czech Debate Association 1, Prague, Czech Republic
Students: Jakub Varga, David Čeleda, Monika Chamradová, Amálie Mlčochová
EduAll, West Jakarta, Indonesia
Students: Nasya Mansury, Solenn Sulisto, Mandy Siregar, Chloe Maydeline Hidayat, Theodore Simanungkalit, Felix Lee
Fleetwood Park Secondary School, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Students: Krystal Mao, Lap Phan, Ishita Sharma, Amber Yang
Frazer School, Gainesville, Florida
Students: Leo Dudas, Jaganesh Ramkrishnan, Aarnav Kandhiraju
George Emil Palade Highschool of UMFST, Târgu Mureș, Romania
Students: Cozma Ruxandra, Cerghizan Adrian, Stoica Dalia
Greenwood High International, Bengaluru, India
Students: Sasha Roshan, Ayaan Vishwanathan, Avani Bansal
H.Edu, San Mateo, California
Students: Kayla Jun, Trevor Park, Tiffany Lee, Brandon Lee
Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu, Helsinki, Finland
Students: Aishwarya Trehan, Abhigita Kalaiyarasan, Anushree Joshi, Aura Kouri
Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore
Students: Kuah Rui Yi Ke Ruiyi, Lee Zhi He, Deng Zhuoyan, Tham Harkman, Li Ruizhe, Wong BoHui
Indira National School, Pune, India
Students: Kanad Kanase, Jiah Kumar, Vaanya Sharma, Siddhant Bhagwat, Rushabh Kanase
Irvine High School, Irvine, California
Students: Caroline Chen, Shouryan Mohammed, Benjamin Jung, Fidan Aliyeva, Anaisha Bajpai, Khushi Adval
Jayshree Periwal International School 2, Jaipur, India
Students: Swastik Dash, Neil Mathur, Frayashti Arora, Rohan Khandelwal, Dhruv Jain
Jericho Student Debate Coalition, Jericho, New York
Students: Lori Li, Dyuthi Dhawan, Aarav Goenka
Jesuit High School, Portland, Oregon
Students: Olivia Sun, Anirudh Thodupunuri, Isha Marla, Mihir Giani, Sachit Charan, Anika Malyavanatham
Lauder Javne School, Budapest, Hungary
Students: Lilla Kóka, Conor Liam Dunne, Dániel Oláh-Grosz, Janina Krisztina Rigó
Laurel Heights Secondary School, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Students: Amogh Bandekar, Oskar Deneau, Sammy Hawari
Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Students: Dana Yergaliyeva, Malena Dipla, Dora Wang
Merced High School, Merced, California
Students: Roberto Morgante, Rishabh Saha, Emelyn Pena-Verduzco, Cecilia Ortiz
Mountain View High School, Mountain View, California
Students: Amyra Kedia, Andrea Wong, Christopher Shin, Ojas Desai, Oliver Wong
NAVI Team A, Closter, New Jersey
Students: Alisa Kabatas, Chloe Lee, Christine An, Gloria Chang, Kate Kim
NAVI Team B, Closter, New Jersey
Students: Jiyoun Jang, Serine Kim, Stephanie Suh, Tina Kim
Needham High School 2, Needham, Massachusetts
Students: Eli Borgos, Daniel Choi, Itay Kedem, Karan Krishnan, Zirui Wang
Neerja Modi School 1, Jaipur, India
Students: Vinamra Dhoot, Kyros Goyal, Taashvi Suri
Neerja Modi School 4, Jaipur, India
Students: Yashwant Singh Shekhawat, Mudit Sharma, Mohit Meharchandani, Shivank Parashar, Garvit Khullar
North Creek High School, Bothell, Washington
Students: Ronit Agarwal, Shaurya Sahdev, Vyom Joshi
Northport High School, Northport, New York
Students: Joshua Fields, Isaac Aibel, JohnMichael Kavrakis, Reid Albrecht, William Mahnken, Nora Magas
Oakridge International School Bangalore, Bengaluru, India
Students: Aditya Agarwal, Ashlyn Ajeesh, Riyaz Shaik, Chandana Jelli
Panther Creek High School 3, Frisco, Texas
Students: Aarav Agarwal, Rohan Ammana, Bhuvan Keertipati
Peitho Academy, Guangzhou, China
Students: Annika Subramanian, Anton Zheng, Bella Zhu, Julia Qi, Tony Li, Una Hornick
Pine View School, Osprey, Florida
Students: Audrey Hwang, Gabriella Pina, Jack Lu
Pomperaug Regional High School, Southbury, Connecticut
Students: Luke Bevilacqua, Brody Fellin, Jad Rizk, Matthew Nespoli, Peter White, Braydon Zalewski
Princeton High School 2, Princeton, New Jersey
Students: Michael Adasofunjo, Mateo Brody, Eitan Daw-Niv, Ian Lee, Andrey Sarkisov, Aidan Sutphin
Princeton High School 4, Princeton, New Jersey
Students: Srijay Kora, Nirvaan Geedipalli, Maximilian Joseffer
Saint Joseph's Institution International, Singapore
Students: Vedant Rastogi, Avinash Krispathy, Abdullah Jawai
Secondary School No. 228 of Minsk, Minsk, Belarus
Students: Timofei Buben, Vladislav Zakrevskiy, Konstantin Sergeev, Daniil Hvozdz
Shanghai American School, Shanghai, China
Students: Yiming Chen, Eric Xu, Koki Kishida, Ethan Chen, King Him Chung, Christian Wong
Slovak Debate Association 1, Bratislava, Slovakia
Students: Ján Beblavý, Ester Molitorisová, Sofia Maťašovská, Adrian Bednár
Southlake Carroll 1, Southlake, Texas
Students: Minha Shah, Maiya Abraham, Rhea Padala, Zayaan Makhdumi
Southlake Carroll 4, Southlake, Texas
Students: Mannat Aggarwal, Avery Yuan, Reyansh Gupta, Jai Sharma
Southlake Carroll 9, Southlake, Texas
Students: Jayitri Ingu, Yumu Jiang, Aashni Shah, Bella Zhu
Speech Debate India 3, Mumbai, India
Students: Risha Kedia, Navyaa Seksaria, Sanaaya Sureka, Shreyans Sarang
Strake Jesuit College Preparatory 1, Houston, Texas
Students: Vivaan Sadare, Thomas Jiang, Tristan Gadin, Aarav Saini, Jason Li, Emmanuel Wang
Strake Jesuit College Preparatory 3, Houston, Texas
Students: Cameron Alfred, Kayden Gao, Miles Dunn, Joshua Wang
Stuyvesant High School, New York, New York
Students: Shanil Ashraf, Manya Gautam, Yuanxin Li, Nicholas Li, Kevin Weng
Taipei American School, Taipei, Taiwan
Students: Alexander Chen, Athena Lin, Austin Bate-Agborsangaya, Lila Tau, Serena Shih
The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Students: Afra Miao, Darshan Chidambaram, Zamin Rizvi, Noah Strauss, Parth Gupta, Christopher Yang
Tomball Star Academy, Tomball, Texas
Students: Megan Esguerra, Sophia Suazo, Ngoc Minh An Tran
West Windsor Independent, Princeton Junction, New Jersey
Students: Riyanshika Mehrotra, Tisha Ajas, Rishita Khemka
Westwood High School 1, Austin, Texas
Students: Jadyn Kennedy, Max Lim, Aarya Patel, Atharv Sondhi, Aashriya Vasamsetti
Yongsan International School of Seoul 1, Seoul, South Korea
Students: Kunwoo Kim, Michelle Chung, Nayoon Lee, Ryan Cha
Yongsan International School of Seoul 2, Seoul, South Korea
Students: Aiden Yoon, Annie Kwak, Hannah Kwon, Juha Kim, Timothy Suk
View the updated bracket below.
About The Brewer Foundation
The Brewer Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors. The Foundation empowers students through education equity, mentorship, and global debate. It breaks barriers, amplifies voices, and champions the art of advocacy for lasting change. A 501(c)(3) private foundation, the Brewer Foundation supports a range of community initiatives, with a special emphasis on developing, overseeing, and funding education programs, including the Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (FLP) and the Brewer Foundation/New York University International Public Policy Forum (IPPF).
Founded in 2001 by the Brewer Foundation and jointly administered with New York University, the IPPF is the world’s only international high school debate competition combining written and oral advocacy on issues of public policy.
Media Contact:
Jasmine McClure
jmcclure@brewerattorneys.com
212-527-2583