Tournament Overview

We will offer Varsity, JV, and Novice divisions in Policy Debate, Public Forum, and Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and an open division of Congressional Debate.  Junior Varsity entries should be in their second year of debate. YOU ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO REGISTER YOUR SECOND YEAR DEBATERS IN THE JUNIOR VARSITY DIVISION INSTEAD OF VARSITY. While this decision is ultimately up to each school, a major goal of this tournament is to solidify the foundation for a true JV division that will allow debaters to grow into fully developed varsity competitors.

Policy will feature three rounds of competition in JV and Varsity.  Novice Policy will have an observation round to start.

Varsity and JV Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum will feature five rounds of competition. Novice LD/PF Novice will first watch a "showcased" Varsity round in their event during round 1, to be followed by a post-round discussion facilitated by Minnesota coaches during round 2.  After that, there will be a novice division that features three rounds of competition.  If novice students wish to take part in the exhibition round and discussion without competing, that is fine, but there will be no structured novice activities afterward unless they compete in the novice division.

Congressional Debate will feature a 30 minute "Introduction to Congress" lecture, followed by a two-hour sessions.  There will be a second 30 minute "Question/Answer" session follow by another two-hour session.

Congressional debate at the MDTA Jamboree is meant to be an educational event.  We anticipate there will be many students who are new to congress, and possibly new to school as well.  We are sharing the cards/research compiled by the students who competed at nationals.  We are also sharing links to the final rounds of congress at nationals....it is meant to be informational to help new schools and students.


Judge Training Clinics will also be offered for new judges in the debate community. You are invited to bring as many adults as you chose to learn about any form of debate; we will conduct separate trainings for the various events if there is a demand for it. Judges will then have the opportunity to judge a round of debate, and then use the last parts of the day to discuss the round and their ballot with experiences coaches and judges. There will be more details on this as we get closer to the tournament.

Resolutions

Policy Debate will use the 2017-2018 topic:  The United States federal government should substantially increase its funding and/or regulation of elementary and/or secondary education in the United States.

Varsity and JV Lincoln-Douglas Debate: In the United States, national service ought to be compulsory.

Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Civil disobedience in a democracy is morally justified.

Public Forum Debate: Deployment of anti-missile systems is in South Korea’s best interest.

Congressional Debate will use legislation that will be pulled from the 2017 NFL National Tournament; schools will receive legislation no less than two weeks in advance of the tournament.  We will be using legislation debated in the SEMIFINAL round of competition.

 

Schedule

7:30 am School opens to competitors

7:45 am - 8:45 am Registration (in student commons)

9:00 am Round 1 CX; LD/PF (V/JV); LD/PF Observation (N)

9:00 am Intro Session Congressional Debate

9:30 to 11:30 am Session I Congressional Debate

10:00 am Round 2 LD/PF (V/JV); LD/PF Round Analysis (N)

11:00 am Round 2 Policy

11:00 am Round 3 LD/PF (V/JV); Round 1 LD/PF (N)

11:30 am Q/A Session Congressional Debate

12:00 pm LUNCH ALL EVENTS

1:00 to 3:15 pm Session II Congressional Debate

1:00 pm Round 4 LD/PF (V/JV); Round 2 LD/PF (N)

1:30 pm Round 3 Policy

2:30 pm Round 5 LD/PF (V/JV); Round 3 LD/PF (N)

4:15 pm Awards in Auditorium (All Events)

 

Registration

Registration is due by Wednesday, September 20th at 5:00 pm.  All fees are locked on Friday, September 22nd at 5:00 PM. Please continue to send changes through Friday. On the day of the tournament, please phone any changes to Zach Prax: 952-201-0201.

 
Fees and Judges

To encourage participation, we only have entry fees in varsity and JV divisions; this is set at $12.50 per entry in any event (so, one LD entry is $12.50, and one policy entry is $12.50).  Each Congress entry is $5.00.  This means that your novice entries and judge trainees are free.

All rounds will be single flighted. That means that in all divisions, you must provide one judge per every two entries or fraction thereof. In Congressional Debate, you must provide one judge per every five Congressional Debate entries.  Judges may not cross divisions; if you have one LD entry and one PF entry, you must bring one judge in each of those events. There will be a VERY LIMITED supply of hired judges available for hire at a rate of $95 per judge. There is no guarantee of receiving a hired judge, but we will accommodate every possible request in the order of receipt.

 
Concessions

A concessions stand will be available for students will many different lunch options as well as a large assortment of snacks and drinks.  We will also have a hospitality room available for coaches and judges at the tournament.  The Wayzata Speech Team will be hosting concessions and the hospitality room for the tournament.