Rules

Format

The tournament offers public forum debate in both varsity (high school) and middle school divisions. There will be four (4) preliminary rounds of competition, the third and fourth round being power-matched. Each debater will be required to both affirm and negate the resolution.

We will be using the November topics for the tournament.

Varsity Resolution:

Middle School Resolution: In the United States, students should be guaranteed two years of free tuition to a community or technical college

Rules

·       Elimination breaks shall be determined by win-loss record and then by team speaker points minus their highest and lowest values. Tie’s will then follow by total speaker points, opponents wins, and then a random number generator.

·       Any team that does not make their round after 10 minutes of when it should have started will automatically forfeit that round. The team’s speaker points for that round shall be an average of their other rounds.

·       Each team shall get 2 minutes of prep time for each round

·       Any evidence read within the round should be procured and presented immediately to the other team if requested by the other team. The evidence should be properly cited.

·       Teams from the same school cannot debate each other in preliminary, but can in elimination rounds. If this occurs, it will be at the coach’s discretion to advance the higher seed or let the teams debate.