Henry Clay Warm Up For Nationals SR JR Speech Debate Tournament

2021 — NSDA Campus, KY/US

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• Pairings
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Policy Debate

Event Description:

If you have any questions during the competition, please do not hesitate to contact tournament director (Ryan Ray) at ryan.ray@fayette.kyschools.us

Thank you!

POLICY DEBATE

Debaters work in pairs (teams) to address the school year's topic, either from the affirmative side (to propose a plan to

solve a problem with the topic), or the negative side (to prove how the affirmative’s plan is flawed). Argumentation

includes a constructive case, cross‐examination, and refutation. Skills learned include research, policy analysis, case

building, refutation, questioning, organization and communication.

1. Resolution: The resolution will be one requiring a policy judgment. It is determined annually by theNational

Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), and is published in Rostrum and at

www.speechanddebate.org.

2. Order of Speeches: Each debater must give one and only one constructive speech, one period of questioning, one

period of answering, and one rebuttal speech, in the following order:

Affirmative Constructive Speech 8 minutes

Negative Cross Examines Affirmative 3 minutes

Negative Constructive Speech 8 minutes

Affirmative Cross Examines Negative 3 minutes

Affirmative Constructive Speech 8 minutes

Negative Cross Examines Affirmative 3 minutes

Negative Constructive Speech 8 minutes

Affirmative Cross Examines Negative 3 minutes

Negative Rebuttal 5 minutes

Affirmative Rebuttal 5 minutes

Negative Rebuttal 5 minutes

Affirmative Rebuttal 5 minutes

Prep time 5 minutes per team

3. Prompting Philosophy: Oral prompting, except time signals, either by the speaker's colleague or by any other

person while the debater has the floor, is discouraged though not prohibited and may be penalized by some

judges. Debaters may, however, refer to their notes and materials and may consult with their teammate while they

do not have the floor.

4. Reading case and/or plan: A team may decide, when asked by the opponent team for a copy of their case and/or

plan, whether or not to provide it; if the team refuses, they will not be penalized in any way.

5. Timing: Timekeepers are an option but not required. If no timekeeper is used, debaters may time for their partners

or the judge may keep time. Prep time for each team is five minutes.

6. Oral Critiques: No debate ballot may be returned without a reason for decision. Oral commentary is not

considered a substitute for the written ballot. The NSDA strongly discourages judges from disclosing decisions in

the preliminary round of NSDA competition. Comments made by a judge (orally or written) should be

constructive and professional.

Lightly adapted from the NSDA’s rules.