**Post-Tournament updates:

Congratulations to all of our champions in various events!  In order to provide what we believed was the best educational opportunity for debaters, the tournament decided to break Public Forum to three separate elimination brackets.  Congratulations to our winners of each bracket:

- Gold Bracket: Early Scholars JJ (Jacques & Jacques)

- Silver Bracket: Early Scholars TL (Tung & Li)

- Bronze Bracket: University BS (Burnett & Schaffzin)

*A final round between the Gold Bracket Champion & the Bronze Bracket Champion was won by University BS on 2-1 decision.

Top 3 Speakers in Public Forum Debate:

1) Caroline Xiong (Early Scholars TX)

2) Kaileigh Dorcely (Early Scholars LD)

3) Sadie Wolf (Early Scholars WM)

Congratulations to our tournament champions in Policy Debate, Inspired Teaching PS!

In all DC finals, Inspired Teaching PS (Perkins & Sipos) on the Neg defeated Capital City BV (Balk & Villaflor) by a 2-1 decision.

Top 3 Speakers in Policy Debate:

1) Noah Liu (Josiah Quincy Upper LO)

2) Bennett Addink (DEBATE-Kansas City SA

3) Yasmin Deblas (Hurley K-8/McCormack DJ)

**April 10 updates:

1) The policy cap will be bumped up to 8 teams per league. 2) The PF cap will be bumped up to 10 teams per league. 3) The registration and disclosure deadline for policy will be extended to April 17, but it is really important that leagues do their absolute best to get their cases posted by then, so that we have enough time to prepare our students (even this timeline is not ideal, but I want to make sure everyone gets registered). 4) We will do our best to finalize the PF topic by the end of day today, and will have the registration deadline also extended to April 17.

**Update as of March 27: We have moved the event online this year.  The invitation has been changed accordingly below, all information is now up-to-date for the online tournament.**

Dear UDL Debate Coaches and Admin,

We would like to take this opportunity to extend to you and your team an invitation to The Second Annual UDL Middle School National Debate Tournament this spring!  

This event is being run by a subgroup of UDLs as a continued pilot, and we have made a number of improvements from the initial pilot in 2019.  We hope to provide middle school students with a unique, high-quality competitive experience that will help move all of our programs and offer to our younger debaters the same competitive atmosphere as our high school debaters.

NAUDL has contributed to this tournament as a thought-partner, though its focus remains the high school tournament at this time, so we ask that all communication with regards to this tournament be directed to the tournament staff and highlighted contacts below.

Important Info

Dates: Saturday, May 2 - Sunday, May 3, 2020

Tournament Events: Policy Debate and Public Forum Debate

Tournament Location: Online / Virtual Platform, links to be sent out in advance of tournament

Online Resources: Courtesy of the TOC:

• DEBATING WITH A REMOTE PARTNER

• Online TOC - Best Practices & Procedures

League Considerations for Planning

We are glad to discuss any of the following considerations as you plan to attend this tournament:

• Please be sure to check-in with your respective insurance brokers to discuss travel plans for your league, particularly if you do not currently travel with this age group.  Please be sure your policy reflects any change(s) in practice.

• What are your league’s priorities for money and staff time?

• Does this serve the mission of your league?

• Does this provide a high-quality educational experience for the participants?

• Is this opportunity the best for your students as compared to other opportunities available?

Policy Tournament Schedule

Public Forum Tournament Schedule

Registration

Tournament Entry Fee - $50/team

How we calculated the registration fee: 

• The fee covers all costs to running the tournament virtually, detailed here:

• $50/room for weekend (20 rooms assumed)

• $250 set-up fee

• $750 for full day instant tech support (cost for Saturday; Sunday is being donated)

• Total cost = $2000 / estimated 40 teams = $50 per team.

• The cost applies to both PF and Policy.

Judging Requirement

Leagues are expected to provide 1 judge for every 2 teams in attendance.  This applies to both Policy and PF divisions. Individual leagues may determine who is qualified to judge.  Participating leagues are encouraged to “bring” extra volunteer judges if possible. If a league cannot meet this judge burden, please reach out to the tournament directors to discuss options.

Registration & Disclosure Deadline - April 17, 2020

• Website will be posted as soon as the tournament is created online.  

• Registration will open April 1.

Tournament Directors

If you have any questions, please contact:

Roger Nix - Boston Debate League (rnix@bostondebate.org) 

David Trigaux - Washington Urban Debate League (david.trigaux@urbandebate.org)

Ross Faith - Tulsa Debate League (ross.faith@tulsadebate.org)

Entry Limits

Leagues are restricted in the following ways (all restrictions apply to the entire tournament, not on a “per event” basis)

• At least 66% (two-thirds) of a league’s entries must be from High Needs schools (High Needs = % of Middle Schools Served with >50% Free or Reduced Lunch)

• No more than 8 teams from a league may compete in policy debate, no more than 10 teams from any league in PF.

• Students currently in grades 5 through 8 are eligible

Use of Electronic Devices

• Debaters must comply with the “NSDA Guidelines for Laptop Use in Debate Events.”

• As per the above, internet use is only permitted for the following purposes during rounds:

• Accessing the tournament website and virtual debate rooms

• Partner-partner communication

• Making evidence available to the opponent and/or judge if requested

• A full list of rules for virtual debate conduct will be distributed in advance of the tournament

Policy Debate Tournament Rules

Competition Rules

• All debaters will compete in one division - Policy Debate

• Middle school debaters will compete using standard High School times:

• 8 minute constructives

• 5 minute rebuttals

• 3 minute CX

• 10 minutes Prep - (Prep Time for this tournament includes both time to prepare and time to work with technological issues, which is why it has been extended to beyond the standard amount of Prep Time offered for in-person debate tournaments).

• Students will debate the 2019-2020 Policy Debate Resolution - Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce Direct Commercial Sales and/or Foreign Military Sales of arms from the United States.

Evidence Restrictions / Disclosure

Open research is allowed and will follow the NSDA Evidence Guidelines.  Debaters will be restricted to arguing Affirmatives on the Submitted Case List.  All Affirmatives are allowed, as long as they are submitted by the disclosure deadline.  Submitted Affirmatives must include plan/advocacy text and advantages, and may include link to text of case.  

Disclosure can be found and updated here for the 2020 Tournament.

2019 Tournament Disclosure (to be viewed for examples)

Disclosure Deadline: April 17, 2020

Public Forum Debate Tournament Rules

PF Topic: Resolved: The United States should replace means-tested welfare programs with a universal basic income. (February 2020 NSDA Topic)

Competition Rules

• All debaters will compete in one division - Public Forum Debate

• Middle school debaters will compete using standard High School times:

• First Pro Speaker - 4 minutes

• First Con Speaker - 4 minutes

• Crossfire 3 minutes

• Second Pro Speaker - 4 minutes

• Second Con Speaker - 4 minutes

• Crossfire 3 minutes

• Summary - First Pro Speaker - 3 minutes

• Summary - First Con Speaker - 3 minutes

• Grand Crossfire 3 minutes

• Final Focus - Second Pro Speaker - 2 minutes

• Final Focus - Second Con Speaker - 2 minutes

• Prep Time 4 minutes per team (Prep Time for this tournament includes both time to prepare and time to work with technological issues, which is why it has been extended to beyond the standard amount of Prep Time offered for in-person debate tournaments).