Florida Manatee District Qualifier

for the 2021 National Tournament

Tentative CONGRESS/BIG QUESTIONS SCHEDULE

Full District Tournament Invitation 

Congress/BQ TOURNAMENT ZOOM (enter here for tournament check-in and all competition rounds)

Event-Specific Competition Dates:

- Speech & Debate (PF, LD, Policy) Qualifier: Sat & Sun, Feb 20 & 21

- Congress Qualifier: Thursday afternoon & all day Friday, March 11 & 12

- Big Questions Debate: Friday, March 12 (held simultaneously with Congress)

- World Schools Debate Qualifier: Saturday, April 10

- NSDA National Tournament: June 13-18

 Schools who are chartered and affiliated with the Florida Manatee of the NSDA are cordially invited to enter and participate in the Florida Manatee District Tournament on the dates listed above. Qualifiers to the National Tournament will be based on actual entries competing in each event. However, our District may earn bonus entries based on our total number of Member Degrees (currently, our District has three qualifiers per event (4 in some), provided we meet the minimum number of entries). Please enter all your school’s NSDA points in a timely fashion to avoid a mad scramble as we prepare to send our students to the 2021 National Tournament held virtually June 13-18.

Changes to 2021 National Tournament Qualification

District Entry Requirements

We understand that your district’s team recruitment, online tournament scheduling, and participation numbers have been impacted this year. To help alleviate concerns over entry numbers and ensure your students can be represented at the National Tournament, the entry requirements for earning qualifiers to the online 2021 National Tournament have changed. Districts will stay at their current level for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year.

For 2020-2021 district tournaments ONLY, the Florida Manatee District (a Level 3 district) qualifies the following number of competitors in Speech & Debate Events (excluding Congress, World Schools, & Big Questions):

4 entries = 2 qualifiers

10 entries and up = 4 qualifiers

Expanded Access to National Tournament Supplemental Events

For the 2021 National Tournament only, the NSDA Board of Directors has decided to expand competition opportunities to more member students and schools by implementing the following change to supplemental events. Every member school that participates in the district tournament series will have the opportunity to enter up to two non-qualifying students in supplemental events at the online 2021 National Tournament. These students must have attended the district tournament but not earned qualification in any event. This applies to every school that participated in the district tournament, regardless of whether they qualified other students to the National Tournament, and it only applies to the 2021 National Tournament.

Procedures and Deadlines for Entry:

Schools must complete all entries online on Tabroom.com

Student Entry: Tabroom.com (floridamanatee.tabroom.com), which will be active January 10, 2021. If you have not previously used this entry site, click on the “Create a New Account” link and register your school. Next, click on the link to “Tournaments” and then find the Florida Manatee District Tournament. You are responsible for meeting all entry limitations and requirements. Students must be members of the NSDA with an active online account and must have at least 25 points to compete at the district tournaments. All fees must be paid to the NSDA for membership prior to competition. See the "Linking & Synching NSDA & Tabroom Student Rosters" document (attached).

 A school may enter no more than the maximum number listed on the Chapter Entries Formula from the Tournament Manual. If qualified, a school may enter up to two bonus entries.

Each school may, within their maximum number, enter no more than four debate teams, four Public Forum teams, four Lincoln Douglas competitors, four Big Question debaters, four Duo teams and four competitors in each Individual Event.

School Consent Form must be downloaded and printed from Tabroom.com, signed, and then uploaded on your Entry Registration page on Tabroom.com. All forms are due Friday, February 19. 

Single Entry Letters of Intent must be completed for each student at the tournament. Forms must be downloaded, printed and signed. All letters must be completed, signed, and uploaded to Tabroom.com before competition begins. Letters can be downloaded from Tabroom.com.

Help with Tabroom? Please visit: http://docs.tabroom.com/FAQ.

Tournament Dates: All District qualifiers will be held virtually on NSDA Campus

February 20-21, 2021 Speech, Debate Events                 

Events: Policy Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, Original Oratory, International Extemporaneous Speaking, United States Extemporaneous Speaking, Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Program Oral Interpretation, and Informative Speaking. Double Entry is only allowed in Speech Events. All students may enter in Congress.

Final Registration: Friday February 19, 2021 (4-6 p.m.)   Zoom Link to be Shared

March 11-12, 2021            House, Senate (Congress Events), Big Questions (March 12)             

April 10, 2021                   World Schools Debate                      

Deadlines: Online Entry deadline is Friday, February 5, 2021 at 11:59 pm for the IE/Debate tournament, Friday, February 26, 2021 at 11:59 pm for the Congress/Big Questions tournament, and Thursday, April 1, 2021 at 11:59 pm for World Schools Debate.

Student Entry Fees: $30 per student, per tournament (except Worlds Debate, which is free of charge, but students must have competed at any other of the two district tournaments).

Make Checks Payable To: NSDA Florida Manatee District

Broward Public Schools funding is all done through Broward Debate Initiative and the team at Civic Engagement. Megan West and/or Justin Weaver will contact all Broward public schools about funding students for the district tournament. The NSDA Florida Manatee District is separate from the Broward Public Schools and cannot handle these requests.

Tournament Structure: This is new to the district. Please read carefully. In all debate events, we will run a 6 round regular tournament (first two rounds randomly paired, remaining rounds paired high/low within brackets). Then we will break to single elimination with winning records. This operates as a standard debate tournament until we reach semifinals. The preliminary rounds will feature one judge per round and the elimination rounds will offer a panel of 3 judges per round. In all speech events, we will run 4 preliminary rounds with 2 judges per round. The top 12 entries (more if needed for ties) will advance to the semifinal round, then the top 6 will advance to the final round (both semis and finals will feature 3 judges). The speech functions as a non-cumulative tournament. LD and PFD will be in separate patterns and the speech events will be patterned as well. In Congress events, we will feature 2 preliminary sessions in both the House and Senate. The House will break to semifinals and finals. The Senate will break directly to finals. In the House, we will be taking SIX from each preliminary chamber into Semis and SEVEN from each Semis chamber into Finals. EIGHT will qualify. In the Senate, we will be taking SEVEN from each preliminary chamber into Finals. TWO will qualify. 

Judge Requirements: Every effort will be made to recruit qualified judges from area college programs and other similar pools. Each school must provide one qualified adult judge for every five (5) IE entries and one qualified adult judge for every two (2) debate entries. On the Congress weekend, each school must provide one qualified adult judge for every five (5) Congress entries. Your judges MUST be available to judge THROUGHOUT the tournament. You must meet your judging commitment on Saturday as well as all day Sunday. Please make every effort to bring qualified judges. If your team does not have the required number of judges, your entry will be reduced. Schools entering in debate must bring qualified debate judges. Judges should be trained in events that they can possibly judge. Keep in mind, that all Public Forum Debate judges will also judge Lincoln Douglas Debate and vice versa. 

Volunteer Judges: We are going to ask community members (educators, etc.) to volunteer and judge at the tournament. If you know anyone willing to help in this capacity, please email committee member Jacob Abraham (jacob.abraham@browardschools.com). Jacob will send out a form to anyone interested.

Schedule and Registration: Final tournament registration (where the committee will collect all forms, handle issues and payment) will take place on Friday February 19, 2021 online from 4:00-6:00 p.m.

On Saturday morning, judge training will begin at 7:30 a.m. All rounds will begin at 8:30 a.m.  In Debate we will run 5 preliminary rounds on Saturday and the final preliminary round on Sunday followed by the elimination rounds. In Speech, we will run 3 preliminary rounds on Saturday, and on Sunday we will run the final preliminary round followed by semifinals and finals. 

At the Congress tournament, coach check-in will be virtual. Preliminary sessions will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday and 8:30 a.m. on Friday. REMINDER: All Congressional paperwork is due at the initial registration. 

Online Ballots & Judge Training: Judges should have an active Tabroom.com account as we are using online ballots for the tournament. Additionally, judges should review judge training materials provided through the NSDA: https://www.speechanddebate.org/judge-training/

Tournament Rules:

Tournament manuals for the IE/Debate tournament and the Student Congress tournament are available to all NSDA members on the speechanddebate.org website in the “District” section find the link to “Tournament Manual.”

2020-2021 NSDA High School Unified Manual (see pages 70-72 for Online Requirements)

Pilot Rules for Qualifying Tournaments (will be official 2021-2022 rules)

Debate = Method 3; Speech & Congress = Pilot

 ***START HERE - FIND RESOLUTIONS/TOPICS***

Interpretation Events: Current NSDA manuscript rules will be followed. Therefore, with all speech entries you must submit and maintain a copy of the original script materials and cuttings at the tournament.  Coaches are responsible for ensuring all scripts follow NSDA rules. Interpretation Publication Rules » To further align with our core value of equity, the NSDA will pilot new rules surrounding what original sources may be used in Interpretation events, including removal of the requirement that digital sources must be found on the Approved Websites List.

Interpretation Adaptation Rules » The NSDA has clarified the rules regarding the ways in which students may adapt original source material to their performance. 

All Interpretation competitors must have available at the tournament the original published source of their cutting or the web address for the original published source. All interpretation piece information must be noted on Tabroom.com for all entries. 

Big Questions: We will feature Big Questions Debate at this year’s qualifying tournament. However, all entries must be single student only and each school is limited to only four (4) entries. The topic is: Resolved: Objective morality exists.

Congress Legislation: Congress legislation will be available no later than February 12, 2020 on Tabroom.com. Please email all Congress legislation to committee member, Aly Fiebrantz (afiebran@nova.edu). Legislation is due February 13, 2020. Semi and final legislation will be written and compiled by a third party. 

Debate Topics: In Lincoln Douglas Debate, the January/February topic will be used: Resolved: States ought to ban lethal autonomous weapons. In Public Forum Debate, the February topic will be used: Resolved: On balance, the benefits of urbanization in West Africa outweigh the harms. In Policy Debate, the 2020-2021 topic will be used: Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing.

Extemporaneous Speaking: Topic areas will be released online on Tabroom.com prior to the tournament. No notes may be used in Extemporaneous Speaking, a student may not leave the prep room without permission of the Extemporaneous Speaking Proctor, a student may not consult any other individual during preparation time, students may only consult approved published materials. Violation of the above rules may result in disqualification. Final round of Extemporaneous Speaking WILL include cross-examination of 3 minutes.

2021 Extemporaneous Speaking Topic Areas

Student of the Year, Alumni of the Year and Administrator of the Year nominations should be completed and email to committee member Stephen Jones (stephen.p.jones@browardschools.com). Stephen will send out links to the applications to everyone prior to the tournament. Links to nomination forms may also be found on the tournament website (see Tournament Files on the side of the main page).

Help Sessions: A member of the district committee will be available at the following tournaments to help with any issues regarding NSDA, tournament registration and other logistical issues. Any committee member is more than happy to help you in any way necessary.

NSDA Harassment & Discrimination Policy: The National Speech & Debate Association is committed to providing its participants, judges, coaches, and staff the opportunity to pursue excellence in their endeavors. This opportunity can exist only when each member of our community is assured an atmosphere of mutual respect. The NSDA prohibits all forms of harassment and discrimination. Accordingly, all forms of harassment and discrimination, whether written or oral, based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, citizenship, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by any applicable federal, state, or local law are prohibited, whether committed by participants, judges, coaches, or observers. Individuals who are found to have violated this policy will be subject to the full range of sanctions, up to and including removal from the tournament premises.

 After all information is read carefully, if you have any questions please let us know.

The NSDA Florida Manatee Committee

Ryan Levesque, Aly Fiebrantz, Renea Moss, Stephen Jones, & Jacob Abraham

District Committee Contact Information

Ryan Levesque, District Chair: Ryan.Levesque@ahschool.com 

Alyssa Fiebrantz: afiebran@nova.edu 

Renea Moss: rmoss@fortloacademy.com 

Stephen Jones: stephen.p.jones@browardschools.com 

Jacob Abraham: jacob.abraham@browardschools.com