Central Minnesota District Qualifier

for the 2024 National Tournament

Congressional Debate Information

2023 Central MN NSDA Congressional Debate Tournament
Friday November 17 (University of Minnesota - Twin Cities)
Saturday, November 18 (Robbinsdale Cooper High School)

1. The 2023 Central MN NSDA District Congress will take place at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (West Bank Campus) and Robbinsdale Cooper High School (8230 47th Avenue N, New Hope MN.) All House and Senate preliminary rounds will take place on Friday at the U of M; House semifinals/finals and Senate preliminary rounds will continue on Saturday at Robbinsdale Cooper High School in conjunction with the Robbinsdale Birds of Prey Tournament.
2. The District Congress will be held in conjunction with the Southern Minnesota NSDA District.  Schools must provide one judge for every five Congressional debaters.  Judges must be two full years out of high school (college junior or equivalent).
3. All registration will take place on tabroom.com. Entries must be registered by 3:00 p.m. CST on Friday, November 10th. Earlier is preferred, so that we can make plans regarding number of chambers and qualifiers. The site will allow you to group your students together. You can choose which students will be together in a House from your school, but the distribution of those groupings into chambers will be randomized.
4. Each school that attends the District Congress may submit up to 5 (five) pieces of legislation for debate at the NSDA Congress Qualifier. Legislation is due here by 3:00 p.m. CST on Thursday, November 2nd. Schools can identify one piece of legislation as "finals", one as "semifinals", and the remaining three as "preliminary". Finals legislation will be reserved for the final sessions of competition; Semifinals legislation will be reserved for House semifinals (but may be debated in House Finals if there is no semifinal round). If there is no final round in the Senate, all legislation may be debated in the preliminary sessions. The order of the docket within sessions will be established within each chamber by the contestants.
5. Students must be members on record with the NSDA Main Office no later than Friday, November 10th in order to compete at the tournament. You may only enter the number of students allowed by your level of members and degrees on record with the NSDA on or before November 11th. The more members and degrees you have, the more slots you are apportioned for the District Congress. The apportionment chart can be found below.
6. Entry fees are $10 per student. Local yearly dues of $50 are due from all schools as this is the first qualifier in the District Tournament Series.
7. Entry fees should be payable to Minnesota Debate Teachers Association (c/o Zach Prax, 6200 140th Street W, Apple Valley MN 55124). In addition, if you have outstanding membership dues, you should bring a check payable to NSDA (6600 Westown Parkway, Suite 270, West Des Moines IA 50266). 
8. Placards will be provided by the tournament to all students participating in the District Congress.
9. Preset, randomized recency (provided by the district committee) will be used in the District Congress; order of speakers will utilize the preset, randomized list, and order of questioners will follow the reverse order of the list. All districts (including Central Minnesota) are required to follow this rule this year. We will also use direct questioning of speakers.

Zach Prax
District Chair, Central Minnesota NSDA
zachary.prax@district196.org

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Central Minnesota NSDA
2023 District Congress
Friday and Saturday, November 17-18, 2023

Schedule

The House will feature two preliminary sessions of competition with a break to a final session. If there are 16 or more entries in the Senate, there will be two preliminary sessions of competition with a break to a final session. If there are 15 or fewer entries, there will be three preliminary rounds of competition, with qualifiers chosen from cumulative ranks from all sessions. Each chamber (both preliminary and elimination rounds) will have 8-15 competitors in accordance with NSDA rules. We will attempt to maximize the number of participants advancing to elimination rounds in all events. Each preliminary and semifinal session will have two scorers and a parliamentarian (who will also rank contestants). Finals of both the House and the Senate (if applicable) will have four scorers and a parliamentarian (who will also rank contestants).

Friday, November 17, 2023
9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Registration
10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Preliminary Session I
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Lunch Break
1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Preliminary Session II

Saturday, November 18, 2023
9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Preliminary Session III (Senate) / Finals Session I (House)
12:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Finals Session II (House)
Awards will be conducted at the conclusion of the event.

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The rules found on this page are not exhaustive. All students and coaches should consult the NSDA Competition Events Guide to ensure they are meeting NSDA requirements. This page merely highlights important guidelines. If you need clarification on any rule, please email zachary.prax@district196.org PRIOR to the day of competition.

Entries. Each student competing in any portion of the Congressional Debate Qualifier counts as one entry. The number of entries from a school shall be based upon the number of active members and degrees on record in the National Office for that chapter by 4 p.m. (CST) seven (7) days before the tournament begins. The District Committee shall not allow any excess entries. If a school enters excess entries it shall forfeit all coaching credit points.

NUMBER OF ENTRIES ALLOWED, BASED ON A CHAPTER’S MEMBERS & DEGREES ON RECORD
Members/Degrees Senate House Members/Degrees
1-20 2 Senators 2 House Members
21-35 2 Senators 3 House Members
36-55 2 Senators 4 House Members
56-75 2 Senators 5 House Members
76-100 2 Senators 6 House Members
101-150 2 Senators 7 House Members
151-200 2 Senators 8 House Members
201-250 2 Senators 9 House Members
251-300 2 Senators 10 House Members
301-350 2 Senators 11 House Members
351-400 2 Senators 12 House Members
401+ 2 Senators 13 House Members

PLEASE NOTE: A school’s allotment in the Senate may not be moved to increase a school’s allotment in the House. Only NSDA members may be seated in the District Congress. An affiliate school may seat up to four members in the Congress. Students who double enter in the District Speech/Debate Tournament Series are still eligible to participate in the District Student Congress.