Greater Cincinnati Regional High School Ethics Bowl

Saturday and Sunday, January 24 and 25, 2026 – Carl H. Lindner College of Business

All teams are guaranteed four preliminary matches on Saturday. Those team scores will determine the top eight schools advancing to Sunday’s finals rounds. The prestigious Carl H. Lindner College of Business will host the event for a fourth consecutive year.

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to showcase your ethical reasoning and make lasting connections. Watch the video to learn more!

Important Team Information

Team Registration
2024-2025 Regional Cases
2023-2024 Rules Manual
Coaches Grant Application
Coaches Resources

Thanks to our incredible growth, the Greater Cincinnati Regional was one of just three out of 39 to earn two berths in the 2024-2025 Divisional Playoffs.

Ethics Bowl Season Calendar

Important dates to know
(some exact dates are based on information released by the National HQ)

TBDEthics Bowl 101 – New Coaches Workshop 6-8pm (virtual via Zoom)
Discover how to launch and coach an Ethics Bowl team at your school or community organization.
Registration Required 
September 2025Ethics Bowl Cases released by NHSEB HQ, Greater Cincinnati Regional registration opens, and NHSEB HQ registration opens (teams must register with both).
TBDK-12 Ethics for Teachers Workshop – Earn 6 Professional Development Hours.
This workshop helps you incorporate ethics education into your existing curriculum and is suitable for educators of all subjects. 
Registration Required
December 12, 2025Greater Cincinnati Regional Registration Closes.
January 24, 20263rd Annual Greater Cincinnati Regional High School Ethics Bowl Prelims.
All teams will compete in 4 rounds with top 8 scoring schools advancing to Sunday’s elimination round.
January 25, 20263rd Annual Greater Cincinnati Regional High School Ethics Bowl Finals.
Top 8 scoring schools from prelims compete in the Great 8, Final 4, and Final.
All teams advancing to the Final 4 are required to stay to participate in the awards ceremony. Trophies awarded to top four teams.
February, 2026Northeastern Division competition (virtual)only winner from regional participates.
April 2026NHSEB National Championship, UNC Chapel Hill
if regional winner, wins divisional – CEC helps underwrite travel
Top Four Teams
Mariemont High School
2025 Champions
Walnut Hills High School
2nd Place
Dublin Jerome High School-Dublin, OH
3rd Place
St. Ursula Academy
4th Place

The Greater Cincinnati Regional High School Ethics Bowl cannot be held without a strong showing of volunteer support. Volunteers can come from many walks of life: community members, local current or retired professionals or, alumni, faculty, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students from UC.

In addition to general volunteers that can help with event logistics, three key roles that must be filled for each match are:
Judges (3)
Moderators (1), and
Room Staffer (1)

Judges

A panel of three judges is used to score each match of the competition. A judges role is to gauge a team’s breadth and depth of thought as applied to a specific case and score it on and official scoresheet based on scoring criteria provided by NHSEB. A judge cannot not have any obvious conflicts of interest, i.e. be a coach or parent of a participating team, teachers from the school of a participating team, etc. A judge does not need to have a background in philosophy or ethics education nor come from the field of academia. They should be familiar with the case set in advance of the competition, listen earnestly and take notes during the team’s presentation, so they are prepared to ask thought provoking questions based on the case and the presentation of the presenting team during the Q&A portion of the round. These questions are geared to force the teams to think on their feet, since that can’t prepare in advance for the questions. They also give judges more insight into the breadth and depth of the team’s analysis of their case.

Moderators

Moderators, one per match, are the time keepers of the match; helping the event stay on schedule and ensuring that all teams have equal opportunities to express their arguments. Moderators are provided with a script they are strongly advised to adhere to and minimize the impulse to improvise. This year the NHSEB has also added a Composite Scoring Report form to the moderator duties. It will be the moderator’s duty to fill in the judges score from that round, signing the form to verify its accuracy, and giving opportunity to coaches to photograph or take note of it before turning it in. The ability to read and manipulate a stopwatch are the are the skill sets needed to be an effective moderator. Also teams may be nervous, so a calming, at ease, demeanor is beneficial.

Room Staffer

Room staffers are assigned to each competition room to make sure judges and moderators have all the tools (cases, pens, pads, water, etc) needed for the round. They make sure the teams, judges, and moderator are in the right room at the right time. They work to solve minor issues that may arise and if they can’t solve them they quickly seek out a primary event organizer. They are the first person people see when entering a room and thus set the tone by bestowing smiles, pleasantries as people enter the room. A room staffer should be prepared to step in as a Judge or Moderator if the need warranted.

Registration/Hall Monitor

People in this category will help check-in teams and volunteers and/or be assigned to specific areas of the building to direct teams to their correct competition rooms. Directional assistance is vitally important at the start of the competition as teams may not know the lay of the building and its important they find their rooms quickly in order to not delay the start of the round. This role will involve a lot of standing.

Frequently Asked Questions

2025 Participating Schools

Displaying 1 - 19 of 19

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Saint Ursula Academy

Head Coach

Joanne Elsbrock

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Walnut Hills High School

Head Coach

Allen Frecker

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Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students

Head Coach

Akshayaa Venkatakrishnan

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Clark Montessori High School

Head Coach

Adam Moeller

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Roger Bacon High School

Head Coach

Paul Zlatic

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Shroder High School

Head Coach

Karen Traynum

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James N. Gamble Montessori High School

Head Coach

Stephen Uhlhorn

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Purcell Marian High School

Head Coach

Bob Herring

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DePaul Cristo Rey High School

Head Coach

Julian Ohizu

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St. Xavier High School

Head Coach

John Getgey

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Western Hills University High School

Head Coach

Paul Dalsky

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Mariemont High School

Head Coach

Liz Reilly

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Simon Kenton High School

Head Coach

Effie Fugate

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duPont Manual High School

Head Coach

Becky Slagle

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ButlerTech

Head Coach

Tyler Barrett

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Summit Country Day

Head Coach

Kurtis Smith

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Mt. Healthy High School

Head Coach

Jonathan Moore

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Dublin Jerome High School

Head Coach

Jennifer Thompson

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Gilbert A. Dater High School

Head Coach

Nick Kroger

To learn more about High School Ethics Bowl or to schedule support for your team contact:

Venus Kent
Program Manager of Events
venus.kent@uc.edu
(513) 556-7443

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