Bishop Kelley Comet Challenge
2026 — Tulsa, OK/US
Novice Policy Debate
Event Description:
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Cross-examination Debate
1. Debate teams must qualify together as a team and two debaters must participate in every round by giving a constructive speech, a rebuttal speech, and asking and answering questions during cross-examination. When a three-person team qualifies, any two of those team members will be considered qualified for regionals. In case of an emergency, a school will be allowed to substitute one (1) team member if the substitution is approved by the Association. No partner substitutions will be allowed after the debate competition begins. In team debate, no debater may qualify for regionals more than three separate times. Any subsequent qualification will be invalid for that debater and his/her partner(s).
2. The following order and times shall be observed and the timekeeper shall say stop at the end of regulation time for each speech:
a) First Affirmative Constructive 8 minutes
b) Cross-examination 3 minutes
c) First Negative Constructive 8 minutes
d) Cross-examination 3 minutes
e) Second Affirmative Constructive 8 minutes
f) Cross-examination 3 minutes
g) Second Negative Constructive 8 minutes
h) Cross-examination 3 minutes
i) First Negative Rebuttal 5 minutes
j) First Affirmative Rebuttal 5 minutes
k) Second Negative Rebuttal 5 minutes
l) Second Affirmative Rebuttal 5 minutes
m) Preparation time will not exceed eight (8) minutes per team. When a debater/team has requested evidence, their prep time to review the evidence will only start after it has been produced by the opposing debater.
3. Each judge will award the decision to the affirmative or negative team; will rank each debater 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th (no ties); and will award speaker points on a 1-6 point scale.
4. All debaters shall have available during each round complete citations for each piece of evidence introduced to include the name of the author, qualifications, complete source title, complete date and page number. Lack of a full citation shall void any effect of that piece of evidence in the round. Should two or more quotations be used from the same source, the complete citation need be given only for the first piece of evidence used from that source. Either no internal ellipsis (Ellipses occur after the first word of the quotation and before the final word) may be used in evidence cited on a card, or ellipses may be shown on cards, if the original source or a copy is present. The evidence may be read in ellipse form, but the entirety of the evidence must be available in one of the two ways cited. Personal letters or telegrams shall not be admissible as evidence.
5. Judges may read evidence after the round for a period of time not to exceed five (5) minutes.
*6. Plagiarism or falsification of evidence in oratory, extemp, or debate shall result in suspension in that event for that competition.
*7. The use of profanity and vulgarities is forbidden and may result in a speaker rating of 0 or disqualification and a protest being filed with the tournament director.
8. Verbal prompting other than calling time is considered a violation of ethics and will result in a speaker rating of 0.
9. The debate question will be chosen by the NFHS Wording Committee and made available through the office of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.
10. The semi-final losers shall debate for third place if necessary to determine qualification.
*11. A debate team may consist of two (2) or three (3) members. Each team member must debate at that contest. Only two (2) members of the team may participate in any way during the round. On a three (3) member team, team members will be designated by the coach for each round at the time of entry.
12. Forfeiting a round to gain an advantage for the school will be a violation except in elimination rounds.
13. After teams have debated preliminary rounds (including round robin), qualifying for the placement on the bracket will be based on the following criteria: (1) win-loss record; (2) (only used to break a two-way tie) head-to-head meeting; (4) total speaker points; (3) total speaker ranks; (5) opponents’ win-loss records; (6) opponents’ speaker ranks; and (7) opponents’ speaker points. In all divisions of debate, when only 3 rounds occur, all winning records must advance.
a) Placing teams on a 16 point bracket will be in this manner: See bracket on page SPE26.
b) Placing teams on an eight-point bracket from preliminary rounds will be in the following manner: SPE29.
14. In qualifying tournaments the round-robin or bracket system is optional and will be determined by the tournament director. At least three (3) preliminary rounds must occur to result in regional qualification. If sixteen (16) or more compete, eight (8) must be advanced to elimination rounds. If thirty-two (32) or more compete, at least sixteen (16) must be advanced to elimination rounds. If sixty-four (64) or more compete, at least thirty-two (32) must be advanced to elimination rounds. At the discretion of the Tournament Director, to avoid the elimination from competition of debaters with exact win-loss records, partial-elimination brackets will be allowed, giving sufficient byes to the higher seeded contestants to fill the bracket. Partial-brackets will not be broken.
15. In 3A/4A regional tournaments that use double elimination, when nine (9) teams are entered, the four (4) teams with the best records from the preliminary rounds will qualify for bracketing. When ten (10) or more teams are entered, eight (8) teams will qualify for bracketing.
16. Speaker points for byes will be awarded on average of speaker points of other rounds debated. A team who forfeits receives 0 speaker ratings and speaker ranks of 3 and 4. A team who is forfeited receives an average of their speaker ratings and ranks of 1 and 2.
17. Teams from the same school should not be paired against each other in the first elimination round. The minimum amount of bracket movement must be used. No brackets shall be broken after the first elimination round has occurred. When moving teams to break the bracket, move the lower seeded team. Partial elimination rounds are not considered the first elimination round for the purpose of breaking brackets.
18. At all double elimination tournaments, brackets will not be broken to prevent two teams from the same school from meeting.
19. When mixed classes debate in qualifying divisions, wins will be recorded as wins; losses will be recorded as losses, and elimination rounds must be separated by class.
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In all debate events, all students unable to return to scheduled competition on Saturday must notify the tournament director before registration. Changes made after registration will be counted as a “Drop at Registration”: and fees will be assessed by the tournament director. Students marked as “not returning” will not be reinstated after round 1 has begun.
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Internet access is allowed in all forms of debate.
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Computers or other electronic devices may not be used to receive information from any sources not competing in the debate
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* Sanction: Contestants found to have violated the provision above shall be disqualified from the tournament and shall forfeit all rounds. Contest directors shall be empowered with the final decision concerning disqualification.
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Availability of evidence: Contestants electing to use computers shall have the responsibility to promptly/immediately provide access to any evidence read in a speech for inspection by the judge or opponent. Printers may be used. Evidence may be printed in the round but must be provided in a format readable by the opposing team and the judge. Failure to provide evidence on request shall result in a loss for that round. Judges shall not penalize students; penalty will be checked and administered in the tab room.
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Contestants electing to use computers are responsible for providing their own computers, batteries, extension cords, and all other accessories. Tournament hosts shall not be responsible for providing internet access, computers, printers, software, paper, or extension cords for contestants.
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Sanction: Contestants found to have violated provisions a-c above shall forfeit the round of competition and receive zero points. Contestants found to have violated provision d above shall be disqualified from the tournament and shall forfeit all rounds. Contest directors shall be empowered with the final decision concerning disqualification.