Colleagues,

We are once again delighted to welcome you in-person to the United States Naval Academy for the Crowe-Warken Debates. The tournament is ADA sanctioned and thus all the predictable elements of an ADA tournament (clearing half of eligible teams, jv/novice eligibility definitions, etc) will apply. We are grateful to once again have the incomparable Gary Larson running the tab room.

Stand by for detachment! ????

Danielle O’Gorman LT Justin Chock 2/C Sanjana Basu Mallick

Director of Debate Officer Representative Team Captain

Entries/Format/Topic:

Entries will be accepted in novice, junior varsity, and varsity policy debate.

Hybrid entries are welcome and eligible to clear.

In each division, there will be eight preliminary rounds of debate competition. Half of the teams (as determined per ADA rules) in each division will advance to elimination rounds.

Speech times will follow the 9/3/6 format with 10 minutes of prep time per side; preliminary rounds will have a 2:15 decision deadline and elims will have a 2:30 decision deadline, per ADA Rules.

The topic for debates will be the 23-24 CEDA/NDT/ADA Resolution.

The entry deadline is January 10 at 5 pm. Teams dropping after that time will be assessed entry fees.

Fees

$75 per participant (coach, judge, debater, observer). Fees will be locked in on January 10 at 5 pm.

We can accept cash or checks (made out to Midshipmen Welfare Fund, with Debate in the subject line if possible). We are working on setting up a system for credit card payments and hope to have that available again this year.

· Please do NOT make checks out to Navy Debate.

· If you need paperwork for invoicing purposes, please contact Danielle O’Gorman (danielle.verney@gmail.com) by January 4.

· Entry fees are expected to be paid in a timely fashion, prior to the first round of the tournament.

Please be sure to indicate on Tabroom.com any specific dietary needs/vegetarians/vegans in your contingent, as well as the total head count of your contingent.

Judging Requirements

· Judge philosophies, as a precondition of entry, must be posted to judges’ Tabroom.com accounts no later than January 10.

· Each judge should be entered for a minimum obligation of 2 preliminary rounds. In the case of extenuating circumstances (health, childcare, etc) please contact Danielle.

· Each school must provide 4 rounds of prelim judging per team.

· If a judge cannot be placed above the strike line for the number of debates for which they are committed, the tab room reserves the discretion to increase the commitment(s) of other judges from that school.

· Each judge is obligated throughthe first two elimination rounds.

· Judges are expected to judge debates assigned to them by the tournament tab room.

· Judges must vote for one and only one team in each debate.

Airports/Other Transport

BWI is an easy 25-minute trip from Annapolis. There is also an AMTRAK station near BWI.

We anticipate a similar access procedure to last year—upside: you can drive your own vehicles on in the morning; downside: a chilly 2-3 minute wait as the K9s sniff your car (bring a coat!) and a bit of a backlog at the gate. Please don’t take any photographs while the search is ongoing.

Tournament Hotel

Tournament accommodations are available at the Springhill Suites by Marriott, 189 Admiral Cochrane Drive, Annapolis, MD 21401. Their telephone number is 443-321-2500. Please request the USNA Debate 2024 Block, or reserve online at the following link: https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1695826340673&key=GRP&app=resvlink

Please reserve as soon as possible–the block rate will expire prior to the New Year. We strongly encourage folks to use the block–while it has not been a problem this year, in many years lodging in Annapolis is difficult to find on this weekend. If we stop using a block, there may be future years where we cannot host due to unavailability of housing.

Hospitality

Coffee, snacks, and lunch Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Conduct

The tournament abides by the rules and norms of the American Forensics Association and the American Debate Association. An additional gentle reminder: the Naval Academy is federal/military property.

Please do not touch or remove any materials from any rooms, especially technology. Please be particularly careful not to write on smartboards (they look like whiteboards!).

The Naval Academy is VERY serious about its smoking areas—please ONLY smoke in designated smoking locations, which will be marked. Please dispose of all smoking refuse in designated receptacles. (Please do not light anything on fire, accidentally or on purpose.) Vaping must also only be done in designated smoking locations.

Debate rounds are open to registered tournament participants. Debates may be recorded for private educational use by tournament participants (registered coaches, debaters, and tournament staff). In such instances, participants should request consent. Public distribution of such recordings is expressly prohibited unless prior written consent of all individuals on the recording is obtained and unless prior written consent of the United States Naval Academy is obtained. Private sharing for educational use is permitted but should not include publication or posting online.

Coaches and program directors are encouraged to discuss these policies with their participants prior to the tournament and are expected to take any reasonable and necessary actions to ensure compliance by participants who are affiliated with their respective schools.

Schedule:

Saturday:

0645 Gate 6 opens

0800 Pairing for Rounds 1 and 2

0830 Round 1 Start time

1045 Round 1 Decision time

1115 Round 2 Start time

1330 Round 2 decision time

(Lunch available beginning at 1300)

1400 Round 3 Pairing

1430 Round 3 Start time

1645 Round 3 Decision time

1700 Round 4 Pairing

1730 Round 4 Start time

1945 Round 4 Decision time

Sunday:

0645 Gate 6 opens

0800 Round 5 pairing

0830 Round 5 start time

1045 Round 5 decision time

1100 Round 6 pairing

1130 Round 6 start time

1345 Round 6 decision time

(Lunch available beginning at 1300)

1400 Round 7 pairing

1430 Round 7 start time

1645 Round 7 decision time

1700 Round 8 pairing

1730 Round 8 start time

1945 Round 8 decision time

Monday:

0645 Gate 6 opens

0800 Elim 1 pairing (15 minute flip rule in effect)

0830 Elim 1 start time

1100 Elim 1 decision time

1115 Awards ceremony in Mahan Lobby

1130 Elim 2 pairing

1200 Elim 2 start time

(Lunch available beginning at 1300)

1430 Elim 2 decision time

1445 Elim 3 pairing

1515 Elim 3 start time

1745 Elim 3 decision time

1800 Elim 4 pairing

1830 Elim 4 start time

2100 Elim 4 decision time

2115 Elim 5 pairing (if needed)

2145 Elim 5 start time