Mockingbird District Qualifier

for the 2018 National Tournament

The Deep South District
of the 
National Speech & Debate Association

Deep South District Tournament Information

     This is your official invitation to have your school and yourself as the coach to participate in the District Tournament for the Deep South District of the National Speech & Debate Association which will be held March 2nd - 3rd on the campus of Mountain Brook High School in Mountain Brook, Alabama. For those of you who might be unclear, the District Tournament serves as the qualifying tournament for the NSDA National Tournament, which this year will be held in Fort Lauderdale, FL. 

*scroll to the bottom for information on Congress

PLEASE TAKE NOTE - This is the MOST important tournament of the year - the number of students at districts determines how many students move on to nationals - PLEASE ENTER THIS TOURNAMENT AND FILL YOUR SLOTS!!!!!!!

The rules for this tournament are outlined on the NSDA website. They are lengthy and involved and I will highlight a few of them below, but if you want every detail you can go to speechanddebate.org - then go to "Quick Links" at the bottom and click on  “Forms and Manuals” and you can print out the entire manual. WE MUST FOLLOW THESE RULES. Here are a few highlights that you need to know:

1) The school must be an affiliate or chapter school within the National Speech & Debate Association  - meaning your school must be a member in good standing, meaning have paid your membership dues.

2) Any student entered must be a member of the National Speech & Debate Association - if you go to the NSDA website and go to membership reports and district, you can click on your school to find this out - if the student is not listed OR IF THERE IS NO YELLOW/GOLD STAR BY THEIR NAME then they can’t participate unless they are a member on record at least (7) days prior to the tournament.

3) A student must attend the high school they represent at the district and national tournament.

4) Prep time for Policy is 5 minutes; Lincoln Douglas is 4 minutes; Public Forum is 2 minutes.

5) Topics - the Policy topic is the one for the 2017 - 2018 school year; the LD topic is the one for March/April; the Public Forum topic is the one for March, which will be released on February 1st. We will also be using the NEW Evidence Rules as outlined in the Tournament Manual for all debate events.

6) Any student competing in Oratory & Informative must submit a copy of the speech signed by the coach and student at registration the day of the tournament. You must also enter the title of the speech on the tabroom website when you register for the tournament on the website.

7) For the Interp Events - title, author, and publishing information must accompany the entry sheets and be entered on the joyoftournaments website. There is an obscure rule that prevents students with the same interp piece from hitting in prelim rounds - we must know the titles in order to prevent this from happening. 

8) Any student that double-enters, must pre-declare which event they will do if they double-qualify to Nationals. This form can be found at the same "Forms and Manuals" link. That sheet must be turned in when you come for registration the day of the start of the tournament.

9) Students may double-enter except with the following combinations:
A) No doubling in team events - Policy, Duo, Public Forum - example, a student may not enter duo and public forum.
B) A student may not do both US and International Extemp

C) no double entry between 2 debate events.

10) The number of entries a school has is based on the number of members and degrees on record with the NFL. There is a chart in the manual that shows you how many entries your school may have AND this information is on the Membership District List that I referenced earlier.

11) ALL COACHES ARE REQUIRED TO STAY UNTIL THE CONCLUSION OF THE ENTIRE DISTRICT TOURNAMENT - WE WANT TO HAVE AT LEAST 1 COACH ON EVERY FINAL ROUND PANEL.

12) Entry fees - $15.00 for IE entries and $25.00 for Debate entries.  School fee - $20.00 Team events are 1 entry so Duo is $15, Policy is $25.

13) The use of electronic devices has been approved for ALL EVENTS, but you are not allowed to do live research once the round has started.

14) Deadline for Entry in the Deep South District Tournament  - *February 25*. You must be registered at the joyoftournaments website by this date. Also, by this date, you must have all points on record for your students with the National Speech & Debate Assocation.

Deep South Districts Congress

Congress will take place at  Mountain Brook High School on Sunday, February 4th, as discussed and set at the Alabama Coaches meeting this past summer.

1) All schools participating must be National Speech & Debate Association member schools.

2) All students competing must be National Speech & Debate Assocation members and must have registered with the NSDA - there should be a yellow star by their name on your membership roster.

3) All National Speech & Debate Association rules will apply to this competition.

4) We will begin at 12:30 pm and will conclude at 6:00 pm, so please plan on having lunch prior to Congress.

5) Legislation must be submitted to Liz Wood-Weas by Thursday, January 25th and legislation must be submitted by email to : woodwease@mtnbrook.k12.al.us in a pdf format. Legislation will be emailed to all participating schools by Monday, January 29th. Please make copies for your students as extra copies will not be distributed at the tournament.

6) Reminder that any student wishing to run for P.O. must do so in writing by January 25th as well.

7) Please Participate In Your District Tournament.

8) Deadline for your entry is Sunday, January 28th at 5:00 pm. Changes can be made until Wednesday, January 31th.

9) ALL PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS MUST PROVIDE AN UNAFFLIATED JUDGE PER NSDA DEFINITION OF AN UNAFFILIATED JUDGE. IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THIS, PLEASE ASK.

10) Tentative Schedule - Sunday, February 4th

12:00 pm - Registration - Mtn Brook High School

12:30 pm - Congress Session Begins

3:00 pm  - 15 minute break

3:15 pm - Congress Session Continues

5:45 pm - Congress Concludes

6:00 pm - Awards Presented