JW Patterson High School Invitational 

Helpline Email (for all events):. jwpipolicyhelp@gmail.com

*In the subject line of the email, please include what event and room number.  Example (varsity debate 112), this will identify what room the help issue is related to and make it easier for tabroom staff to find you. 

*If the issue is something not related to a specific round just indicate the issue in the subject line. Example (Emergency Drop)

You are invited to attend the JW Patterson Invitational high school debate tournament held by Heritage Hall School and co-hosted by Casady School.  While the tournament is traditionally held at both school campuses in Oklahoma City, it will be held on-line this year using classrooms.cloud.  The tournament is a semifinals qualifier to the Tournament of Champions in the varsity policy division. The tournament is a finals qualifier to the Tournament of Champions in the varsity LD division. Please read the information below and the custom tabs on the right.   

Some things that have changed for this year:

Online Info: Again, this is an online tournament using classrooms.cloud.  This is the same service the TOC and NSDA nationals have used.  So we do hope it’s familiar to most of you.  You may also attend a few tournaments using this platform earlier in the season.  Video Release Info: Heritage Hall School will host the event virtually through the classrooms.cloud online event platform. All sessions of the Event may be audio-visually recorded. By registering for the event you are granting permission for Heritage Hall School and classrooms.cloud to audio-visually record and/or videotape competitors and judges that your school enters into the event. 

Events offered:  We will be offering varsity policy, junior varsity policy, varsity Lincoln-Douglas, and junior varsity Lincoln-Douglas.  We will not be offering a novice LD division or a public forum division this year.  We hope to bring those back next year. 

Tiebreakers for clearing to elimination debates:  While we hope to keep with tradition at the JWPI and clear all 4-2’s to elimination debates, however, with the number of entries we are allowing and the schedule it may not be possible.  I am moving “opponent win percentage” as the 1st tiebreaker in seeding with teams who share the same prelim record, at many tournaments, this is traditionally speaker points.  The number of teams we clear will be dependent on the number of entries in each event.  We are planning doubles in policy and octafinals in LD, but that may change in LD if the numbers are higher than anticipated.  

The tiebreaker formula for clearing to elimination debates will be: 

1. Win/loss from prelim rounds  

2. Opp seed from prelim rounds  

3. Speaker points from prelim rounds, dropping the high and the low 

4. Speaker points from prelim rounds, dropping the 2 best and 2 worst. 

5. Total speaker points from prelim rounds. 

6. Coinflip from prelim rounds

Judging: I have enabled the judge exchange in the policy division so people who are familiar with that system may use it.  Just a reminder that those agreements are between the judge who offers extra rounds for sale and the school that hires them; if you sell extra rounds in the judge exchange you are not being paid by the tournament.  Hired Judges: Some (but limited) hired judging is available, but you should contact me as soon as possible about buying out any judging obligations.  If you are registered as a varsity judge in LD or Policy you may also end up on the JV pairing for those events from time to time so be aware. 

Days of Competition: We are moving to a Friday-Sunday schedule this year, in the past the tournament was Sat-Mon. 

Trophies: We will be mailing out trophies after the event, and I’m hoping to arrange something special.  Awards will be mailed out to debaters who finish at the semifinals level and above in the JV divisions and debaters who finish at the quarterfinals level and above in the varsity divisions. 

Hybrid Entries: Hybrid entries in policy are not allowed. Both debaters must be from the same school.