Elkhorn High / Elkhorn South High School Debate Tournament

(held at Elkhorn South High School)

20303 Blue Sage Parkway, Omaha, NE 68130

(school) 402-289-0616 (coach) 402-720-9133

The Elkhorn/Elkhorn South Debate Tournament will take place on November 23rd, 2019.  We will offer competition in Policy, Lincoln Douglas, Congressional Debate and Public Forum.   

This tournament will follow all NSAA bylaws.  This is a high school only tournament.  Students must be eligible according to NSAA and may only compete for the school in which they are currently enrolled.  The NSAA bylaws can be viewed at nsaahome.org.  Additional disclaimers exist at the bottom of this invitation.

Schedule (is tentative and will adjust according to efficiency and number of entries) –

Awards (tentatively being planned) –

Policy – Five speaker awards in each division, along with team awards for semifinal and final participants.

Congress – A gavel to the presiding officer as well as medals to the top six speakers and a trophy to the champion in each house.

Lincoln-Douglas – Five speaker awards in each division along with awards for quarterfinalists and above.

Public Forum – Five speaker awards in each division along with awards for quarterfinalists and above.

Sweepstakes – Trophy will be awarded to the top team

Online Balloting & Entry –

We will be using online balloting for all events. Entries will only be accepted online via www.tabroom.com.  Deadline for entries is Wednesday, November 20, 2019.   Fees and judge requirements will be assessed at this time.  Changes or drops can be emailed after this date to dylan.sutton@gmail.com.

Fees –

Policy Team -- $25                                          Lincoln-Douglas Debate -- $25

Public Forum -- $25                                        Varsity Student Congress -- $15

Novice Student Congress $15 

Judge Coverage (judges are obligated to one round beyond their team’s elimination)

Policy -- One judge per two teams.  May be hired for $200.

Lincoln-Douglas – One judge per two debaters.  May be hired for $150

Public Forum – One judge per two teams.  May be hired for $150

Congressional Debate – One judge per six debaters or part thereof.  May be hired for $10 per debater.

Policy Debate –

We will determine the round structure based on the number of entries.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate –

We will be using the November/December topic. Novice topic will be the same as the Varsity topic. Will follow the 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 format with 4 minutes prep time.  Varsity and novice divisions will have five prelims (powered after two) breaking to quarters (or whichever makes sense based on number of entries).

Public Forum Debate –

We will use the November topic. Novice topic will be the same as the Varsity topic. Varsity and Novice divisions will have five prelims (powered after two) breaking to quarters (or whichever makes sense based on number of entries). 

Congress –  

¨     We will utilize NFL style of congress at this tournament. Each school will be assessed a judging fee for each six students.  This fee will be $60.  You can alleviate this fee by bringing a judge for each six entries.  This fee will be prorated.  So, if you bring three students you can pay $30 or bring a judge.  Your judges may only be used for ½ a day in congress, so please let me know which other event they would be willing to judge.  These judges will all be finished before awards. 

¨     Note – these judges will only point record.  There will be three point recorders in each session.  These point recorders will switch at noon.  There will be no student vote.  The point recorders will rank each student in the session.  The parliamentarian’s vote will be used as a tiebreaker. 

¨     We will use direct questioning

¨     At this tournament we will be utilizing the November-December docket selected by the Nebraska Congressional Debate Committee.

¨     The following pieces of legislation will be debated in order (This docket is set and cannot be rearranged by the debaters or the presiding officer):

1 – A Bill to Tax Labor Automation (Lincoln East, #1)

2 – A Bill to Make Influenza and Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Shots Mandatory in Public Schools (Creighton Prep, #2)

3 – A Bill to Establish the Policy of the United States Regarding the First-Use of Nuclear Weapons (LSE, #3)

4– A Bill to Amend the War Powers Act (LSW, #5)

5 – A Bill for Military Veterans "Reverse Boot Camp" (Norfolk, #6)

6  - A Bill to Decriminalize Drugs (Marian, #7)

7 - A Bill to Subsidize Renewable Energy (Hastings, #8)

8 - A Bill to Expand the Draft (Lincoln East, #11)

9 - An Executive Resolution on Ratification of CTBT (Marian, #12)

10 – A Resolution to Encourage the United Kingdom to Abandon Brexit Plans (Millard North, #13)

Concessions --

We are planning a variety of tasty treats for you and your team.   Our parent boosters will be serving meal and snack items during the day in the commons.

Contact Info --

You may reach me via cell phone at 402-720-9133.  Email –Dylan.sutton@gmail.com.

Additional Disclaimers --

For events which are designed to be team events (Policy and Public Forum debate), registration of teams intended to be maverick are NOT acceptable. This exception was originally created when one team member fell ill or otherwise could not make it the morning of competition and would enable the lone teammate who could still attend to participate at the last minute. Team debate is designed for teams - therefore, planning to attend a tournament as a single participant instead of as a team will not be allowed. This is how the NSCTA State Championship tournament is conducted and will be conducted this way at our tournament as well.

Additionally, any entries in a novice division must be a competitor (for team events, BOTH competitors on the team) who is in their first year of debate competition. This means if the student has earned ANY NSDA points prior to August of this year, they are NOT a novice. If they had 1 competition last year, but was for a different event - it does not matter - they are no longer a novice and our tournament will not accept their entry at the novice level. If you believe an exception should be made, we will consider this if you submit a request as this exception is understandable for policy debate in many situations, as in others.

Any other rulings which are made during the tournament and have not been spelled out are at the discretion of the tournament director. All rulings will attempt to be made according to commonly accepted principles and it is understood, not every rule is spelled out and may need to be a judgment call based on existing situations. Please be patient and understand we are making every attempt to be fair and maintain typical tournament standards and expectations.

Head Coach – Dylan Sutton