Liberty University Debate Tournament
2024 — Lynchburg, VA/US
Liberty University Debate Tournament
January 26-28, 2024
Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia
Format:
Topic: We will debate the 2023-2024 CEDA resolution.
Resolved: The United States should restrict its nuclear forces in one or more of the following ways:
- Adopting a nuclear no-first use policy;
- Eliminating one or more of the legs of its nuclear triad;
- Disarming its nuclear forces.
Sanctioning: The tournament will be sanctioned by the ADA and CEDA and will be run in accordance with their rules. The most recent copy of the ADA rules can be found at https://americandebateassociation.com/standing-rules/.
In-person Format: All competitors and judges must be available in-person.
Preliminary rounds: There will be six preliminary rounds. Rounds one and two will be pre-set. Rounds three through six will be power matched. Three divisions of debate will be offered: novice, junior varsity, and open.
Elimination rounds: We will clear the top ½ of each division, up to a full double-octofinal bracket.
Observation/Recording: Recording rounds, releasing videos, or videos without prior permission of the participants is prohibited. Anyone registered as a debater or judge on tabroom is allowed to watch any debate unless the participants ask them to leave. Anyone not registered as a debater or judge must get prior approval from each participant before being allowed to watch the debate. This includes parents, high school students, and coaches who have zero judging commitment.
Our goal is to run the entire tournament in DeMoss Hall. Food, the judges room, and most competition rooms will be in DeMoss Hall on the 4th floor. We will do our best to keep the entire tournament on the 3rd and 4th floors, but we will likely have to use rooms on other floors, particularly on Friday.
Entries:
Eligibility: Eligibility for participation in each division is governed by ADA and CEDA rules. In cases where eligibility rules between the ADA and CEDA differ, the more restrictive rule will be applied. Our intent is to ensure that the novice and junior varsity division are eligible to earn both ADA and CEDA sweepstakes points.
Definition of a Debate Team: For the purposes of ADA tournaments, a debate team is defined as the two-person team that begins the first round of the tournament and who debate together throughout the course of the tournament. If one of the debaters of a team cannot debate in any given round, that round will be forfeited. To debate in a round is defined as to give one constructive speech and one rebuttal. Speaker points in forfeit situations will be averaged, but the team forfeiting is ineligible to clear to elimination rounds if speaker points are the determining factor for their clearing. The debate may still occur for educational purposes. However, that team will still be eligible for speaker awards and elimination rounds. Hybrid teams are allowed at the discretion of the tournament director and are allowed to clear to elimination rounds at the discretion of the tournament director. A tournament’s policy on hybrid teams must be indicated in the tournament invitation.
Hybrids: Hybrid teams may participate in preliminary rounds and are eligible to clear.
Deadline: Please enter the tournament by January 23, 2024 using tabroom.com. After that date e-mail entry changes directly to Nick Ryan (nryan2wc at gmail).
Fees: Fees are $65 for each participant (debater, judge, observer, or coach). Please contact Michael Hall (mphall at liberty dot edu) if the fee structure is a barrier to your participation. We will happily reduce or waive fees.
Paying Fees: You can pay by check or credit card. Please make checks payable to Liberty Debate. You can drop checks off in the tabroom at any time during the tournament. A link for credit card payments will be sent to all participating schools the week of the tournament.
Tournament Registration: Please confirm your entries through tabroom when you start your travel to Lynchburg. Changes should be emailed to nryan2wc at gmail,
Judging:
Entry Requirement: Each school must provide 3 rounds of qualified judging for each team entered in the tournament.
Please use tabroom to coordinate your hired judging. The tournament will have a limited number of rounds per available for hire at $55 per round. If you need to hire judges, please enter early.
All judges will be required to judge through the quarterfinal elimination round or one round after your last team is eliminated whichever occurs later.
Judge philosophies, as a precondition of entry, must be posted to judges’ Tabroom.com accounts no later than January 22. Judges are expected to have significant prior experience with policy debate. If a judge does not have significant prior experience with policy debate, they are ineligible to judge without advanced permission from the tournament.
Judge Placement: Judges will be placed using mutual preference in all divisions in a manner consistent with ADA and CEDA rules.
Speaker Points: We will use a 30-point scale with .1 increments. No ties are allowed.
Decision Time: In preliminary rounds, judges are expected to render a decision within 2:15 of the announced start time. In elimination rounds, judges are expected to render a decision within 2:30 of the announced start time. At debate tournaments conducted online the time given to render a decision may be expanded by time allotted to resolve technical difficulties. If a judge needs to take additional time following a delay because of technical difficulties (Tech Time), the judge should promptly communicate the need to delay and the amount of time of the delay to the tournament tab room staff. If the judge is unable to make a decision within the appropriate time parameters for that round, the tab room should randomly decide a winner by coin flip.
Awards: Awards will be provided to the top sixteen teams and to the ten speakers in each division.
Food: We will provide dinner on Friday, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner on Saturday, and Breakfast and Lunch on Sunday.
34th Liberty University Debate Tournament
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
(All Times are Eastern)
Friday, January 26 (All Times are Eastern)
3:15pm - Round1& 2 Pairings
3:50pm - Round1 Report Time.
4:00pm - Round1 Start Time
6:15pm - Round1 Decision Time
6:00 pm – Dinner – DeMoss 4th Floor
6:50pm - Round2 Report Time
7:00pm - Round2 Start Time
9:15pm - Round2 Decision Time
Saturday, January 27 (All Times are Eastern)
7:00 am – Breakfast – DeMoss 4th Floor
7:15am - Round3 and 4Pairings
7:50am - Round3Report Time.
8:00am - Round3Start Time
10:15am - Round3Decision Time
10:35am - Round4Report Time
10:45am - Round4Start Time
1:00pm - Round4Decision Time
12:45 pm – Lunch – DeMoss 4th Floor
1:30pm - Round5 Pairing
2:05pm - Round5 Report Time
2:15 pm- Round 5 Start Time
4:30pm - Round5 Decision Time
5:00pm - Round6Pairing
5:35pm - Round6 Report Time
5:45pm - Round6 Start Time
8:00pm - Round6 Decision Time
8:00pm – Awards Dinner
8:30 pm – Awards and Bracket Announced
Sunday, January 28 (All Times are Eastern)
7:30 am – Breakfast – DeMoss 4th Floor
7:45am – First ElimPairing
7:50am - CoinFlip Blast
7:55am - FlipDeadline
8:20am -Report Time
8:30am -Start Time
11:00am -Decision time
12:00 pm – Lunch – DeMoss 4th Floor