Entries, Events, and Awards

STUDENT CONGRESS & DEBATE

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2020

POLICY DEBATE

Varsity and Novice divisions will follow the two-person, 8-3-5 format and will debate the current high school national resolution.  Prep time will be 8 minutes per team per round.  Each division will feature four rounds, powered after Round 2.  Both divisions will break to Semifinals if numbers allow.

Although it is unfortunate, in past years we have experienced some property damage in classrooms used for CX debate. Damage to rooms will result in disqualification from the tournament.  Please ensure that students are aware of this policy.

LD & PUBLIC FORUM

All divisions will follow their customary time formats using the January PF topic and the January-February LD topic. Each division will feature five rounds, powered after round two, and will break to Quarterfinals or Octofinals (if time and entries allow). 

Public Forum will use the NSDA pilot rules for prep time and summary speech length.

CONGRESS

We will have at least 2 varsity house and will break the top entries to a finals session if we have enough entries. We will use the Nebraska state docket with the order to be posted by mid-December. If you are from an out-of-state school that is planning to attend and would like your legislation included in out docket, please email your selection to jholen@lps.org no later than January 7. We will use direct questioning in all sessions.

Please note, we will be trying two things this year:

1. We will use the NSDA pilot rules for length of debate. This dictates that no legislation may be debater for more the 1/3 of the total session time.

2. We will use committees for amendments. Each school will send one representative to the committee prior to session 1. During this time, votes will be taken on whether to hear amendments. Amendments that do not pass this process will not be heard.

ON-LINE ENTRY

Entries are due on tabroom.com by January 15, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. Changes after that time can be emailed to jholen@lps.org.

Internet Policy

 We will be using the NSDA's new internet rule meaning open internet is allowed during round.

A Note on Novice Entries 

Any entries in a novice division must be a competitor (for team events, BOTH competitors on the team) who are in their first year of debate competition. This means if the student has earned ANY NSDA points prior to August of this year, they are NOT a novice. If you believe an exception should be made, please contact the tournament director and we will consider them on a case-by-case basis. Students who violate this rule without permission will be removed from the competition.    

FEES

CX and PF    $25.00/team

LD                   $25.00/entry

Congress     $15.00/entry

JUDGES

You must provide one judge for every two LD, PF, or CX entry (or part thereof). The cost of hired judges will be $150.00 per policy judge, $100.00 for LD and PF judges, and $10/uncovered Congress slots.  We would rather have your judges than your money!

AWARDS

Sweepstakes trophies will be presented to the top two schools in total points. We will also be continuing our tradition of awarding a small-entry sweeps trophy for the top team with 8 or fewer entries. Trophies will be awarded to all debaters advancing to elimination rounds, with speaker awards given to the top 6 in each division. In Congress, trophies will be presented to the top speakers in the varsity finals house and the top novice representatives, with medals awarded to the remainder of the nominees.  Outstanding Presiding Officers will receive gavels.