Scholars of Speech John Lewellen Memorial IPDA

2024 — NSDA Campus, CA/US

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Junior IPDA

Event Description:

The $10 is a recommended donation. If you cannot afford the entry fee, you can still participate. All donations should be directed here: https://www.scholarsofspeech.org/donate.

This category is open to any participant who has not yet graduated from high school.

In competitive public debating, each round of debate has a different topic announced just before the
debate begins. The amount of preparation time is typically thirty minutes between the announcement of the
topic and the beginning of debate.

Contestants meet in an extemporaneous preparation room before the scheduled start of the debate to
select a topic. The preparation time before each round is 30 minutes. When the contestants meet to select a
resolution to debate they will be offered five (5) topic alternatives. Ideally, these resolutions will vary
considerably in tone and style. One might be a serious policy topic, one a humorous value topic, another a
semi-serious factual topic.

Once the set of resolutions is announced, each pair of opponents will independently select the topic
they wish to debate. Starting with the Negative speaker, each contestant will alternatively strike one of the five
alternatives until only one remains. That will be the debate resolution for the round. In the event one of the
debaters is late for the topic draw, the debater who shows up on time (or if both are late, the first one there)
will have the choice of topic.

During preparation time, the participants analyze the proposition and outline their major arguments.
They ask themselves: What does this proposition mean? What important issues are raised by it? How may it
be affirmed or denied? What examples and events are relevant to its discussion? The answers to these and
other questions will serve as the foundation for the Affirmative case and prepare the Negative for its refutation.

The use of dictionaries and reference materials are permitted during preparation time.

The first thing the affirmative must do in preparation time is to organize the main issues of the case into a
logically complete and persuasive form to convey the best possible impression of their case. The affirmative
speaker therefore uses preparation time to arrange the essential elements of the case into a brief outline. The
argument outline should clearly bring the major elements of the case into relation with each other and
constitute a complete case on behalf of the resolution.

Format: A Public Debate includes five speeches and two periods of cross examination, structured via the
following format (speech times may vary from tournament to tournament, however these are the most
commonly used times; the speech order will not change.):

Affirmative Constructive: 5 minutes

Negative Cross-Examination: 2 minutes

Negative Constructive: 6 minutes

Affirmative Cross-Examination: 2 minutes

First Affirmative Rebuttal: 3 minutes

Second Negative Rebuttal: 5 minutes

Second Affirmative Rebuttal: 3 minutes