National Invitational: April 25-26, 2025

The We the People National Invitational allows high school and middle school teams to engage in simulated congressional hearings. The following policies are designed to guide schools preparing to participate in the National Invitational during the 2024–2025 academic year.

Team Eligibility

• Rostered Classes:
  
  • All rostered classes, regardless of size, are encouraged to participate in the We the People National Invitational.
• After-School Clubs:
  
  • Clubs are eligible to participate, provided their respective state has not sent a team to the We the People National Invitational since 2019. 
• Previous Participation:
  
  • The National Invitational is open to any high school or middle school class who previously competed at a school-wide, regional, district, or state level competition.

Individual Student Eligibility

• Students who participated in elementary or middle school hearings can compete in the high school competition.

Team Composition

• No minimum or maximum team size is required. The team competition fee is the same regardless of team size.
• Each participating team must answer all six unit questions.
• Teams must be divided into six groups, each responsible for testifying on their assigned unit.
• We recommend that each group should have at least three members, with the group sizes as equal as possible.
• Students can participate in more than one unit.

Team Selection Process

• State Invitations:  
  
  • Each state is encouraged to invite one high school and one middle school to participate in the National Invitational. 
    The state coordinator, who is responsible for overseeing the We the People program in their state, will invite teams based on their previous performance and potential to represent the state effectively at the national level. 
• Multiple Teams from a State: 
  
  • If a state is invited to send more than one high school or middle school team to the National Invitational, each team must come from a different school. This rule ensures that a broader range of schools have the opportunity to participate and showcase their talents at the national level.

Rosters

• Teachers/coaches must provide a team roster, including unit assignments, after securing their spot in the National Finals by winning their state-level competition or through a wild-card invitation.
• The team roster should specify the unit to which each student is assigned.
• Team rosters are due no later than March 31, 2025.
• Teachers have the flexibility to change student unit assignments at each competition level (regional, state, national), providing an opportunity for growth and development.

• The We the People National Invitational takes place virtually over Zoom. Participating teams will be assigned a Zoom meeting room. Judges will be admitted to the room at regular intervals to conduct the simulated congressional hearing. 
• Awards will be provided to the first-, second-, and third-place teams at both the high school and middle school levels. Teams not scoring in the top three of their division will be eligible for awards recognizing the best scores in individual units.

Team Fee

• Each team participating in the National Invitational must pay a participation fee of $2,000, regardless of team size. 
• The participation fee covers all event-related materials, awards, and other technological logistics for the competition.

Travel

• Teams may choose to participate in the National Invitational from any location. 
• In instances where students are staying in a hotel, we suggest that a conference room be reserved for the students’ hearings. 
• Teachers may elect to use any travel vendor they wish.