National Parliamentary Debate Invitational 

The National Parliamentary Debate Invitational at Berkeley

November 14 & November 15, 2020

Hosted by the University of California, Berkeley

Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley cordially invites you to participate in the fall semester’s premier parliamentary debate tournament, the National Parliamentary Debate Invitational, on November 14 & 15, 2020, hosted at the University of California, Berkeley. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be hosting the tournament on a virtual medium, NSDA Campus.

Important Links:

Utility Room: https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/91916881465 

Live Schedule: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rJCuYwgMyB92AxuRdhd1Lg5-qzPgfit5ODJo7pIfHzo/edit?usp=sharing 

Topic Announce Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sk_-14GNY7-41ZGLXvXeJRk8b6ghz8RuG5FpV6JQz1c/edit?usp=sharing 

Topic Areas: 

Africa Politics (Varsity) 

Energy Policy (JV)  

Tournament Schedule (click here for the link to the live schedule document, which will be updated as the tournament progresses)

November 14, 2020

7:30 AM—8:00 AM Registration

8:00 AM Topic Announcement, Round 1

9:55 AM Topic Announcement, Round 2

11:30 PM—1:00 PM Equity Forum/Lunch

1:10 PM Topic Announcement, Round 3

3:10 PM Topic Announcement, Round 4

5:10 PM Topic Announcement, Round 5

November 15, 2020

8:00 AM Topic Announcement, Elim 1

10:00 AM Topic Announcement, Elim 2

12:00 PM—12:30 PM Lunch

12:30PM--1:00PM Awards Ceremony

1:10 PM Topic Announcement, Elim 3

3:10 PM Topic Announcement, Elim 4

5:10 PM Topic Announcement, Elim 5

The tournament will feature an Open division and a Junior Varsity division, with each division guaranteed five preliminary rounds. All Open division rounds will be adjudicated by individuals holding a background in high school and/or college parliamentary debate. Following the conclusion of each round, judges will disclose the victor of the round and provide a constructive oral RFD of no more than fifteen (15) minutes in length. This tournament places a premium on providing a unique educational experience for all participants.

There will be one topic area, released on or around Wednesday, October 28, 2020, that will be used for two of the preliminary rounds. We will also be disclosing topic committee membership at this point. Both announcements will be released on Tabroom, as well as on the Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley Facebook page listed above. 

The tournament reserves the right to collapse the Open and Junior Varsity divisions if required by tournament logistics.

The tournament will break to a full or partial double-octafinals elimination round. We will break brackets based on school affiliation. The tournament reserves the right to adapt the amount or structure of elimination rounds if required by tournament logistics.

We will also be hosting a mandatory equity forum during lunch on Saturday, discussing issues of bias, microaggressions, and harassment in the debate community.

We do allow hybrid and independent entries, just ensure that all the necessary medical forms listed below are completed and notify tournament administration in advance of the entry deadline.

Judge Requirements: Each school will be required to provide 1 qualified judge for every two entries or fraction thereof. A single open-qualified judge can cover both an Open and a JV entry.

Junior Varsity Eligibility: Debaters are considered eligible to compete in the Junior Varsity division if they have no more than two years of debate experience.

Open: A qualified judge is at least a high school graduate or equivalent AND a coach or former open debater. Experience in debate events outside of parliamentary debate is accepted. Any questions about what characterizes a qualified judge should be directed to calparli@gmail.com. 

Junior Varsity: Anyone who satisfies above Open requirements, in addition to those who are at least a high school graduate or equivalent. Those who qualify as Open division judges are also inherently qualified as JV judges.

ALL judges will be required to provide a paradigm by November  7, 2020  , and judges are highly encouraged to give an oral Reason For Decision after the round.

Additionally, due to delays caused by ballot distribution in the past, we require that ALL JUDGES have individual Tabroom accounts set up prior to the tournament. The tournament will be using online ballots only.

Schools will be charged $25 for every judge without an individual (non-teamwide) Tabroom account linked to their judge entry at the start of the tournament. This does not apply to teams that have hired judges from the tournament. Please email calparli@gmail.com for any questions about this.

Tournament Fees: The cost of competing in the 2020 NPDI will be $50.00 per entry, as well as $50.00 School fee.

Judge Fee: Schools may choose to pay a hired judge fee of $175.00 per uncovered entry. Not a typo. 

Judge Penalty: If a team's judge misses a round, the team will be charged $20.00 for each missed round. This does not apply to teams that have hired judges from the tournament.

Fee Breaks: Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley is firmly committed to expanding accessibility of debate. If this fee is financially prohibitive, please contact us at calparli@gmail.com. 

We tend to be very generous, but we cannot help you if you do not contact us first. We expect that any team receiving a fee break will cover their entries with qualified judges.

 Payment: There are several opportunities

There are several options available to pay entry fees: 

• Can send a check over mail

• Make checks payable to:

• ASUC/Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley 

• Sending Address:

• ASUC/Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley

• University of California 

• 2465 Bancroft Way 

• Berkeley, CA 94720

• Mailing Code: 2430 

• Make the payment through paypal:

• Send payment to the calparli@gmail.com email address

*If making the payment online write in the notes:

• [ School - NPDI Entry/Fees Payment ] 

If you are planning to pay via check through the mail, please send it before the day of the tournament and tell us on the first day of the tournament during registration that you have sent a check. If you pay via one of the online formats you can pay up to the day of the tournaments. (It is preferable to send via one of the online formats since we can confirm it sooner and there is no risk of it getting lost through the mail.) 

Everyone will be sent invoices detailing the amount of entries and fees each team has on the first day of the tournament. If you need an invoice sooner to make the payment just email us at calparli@gmail.com and we can send one. Please contact us no later than November 7, 2020 with the date you need the invoice sent to you. Please ensure that all entries and judges are finalized before requesting an invoice.

Any drops after November 11, 2020 will be assessed the full entry fees. The entry limit per school is 6 entries per division; if for whatever reason you feel like an exception should be made, please email calparli@gmail.com.

Required Forms for Minors:

If you are under the age of 18, a waiver form is needed to be signed for them to be able to participate. The form can be downloaded off the main page on our taproom website. The form can be emailed to us at calparli@gmail.com

Rules:

1. Almost anything goes regarding prep materials. Printed materials, laptops, phones, and internet access are all allowed. Due to the online format, we no longer require only handwritten notes during the debate round. Debaters may not utilize notes in round that were prepared prior to the round’s topic announcement. However, debaters may utilize any notes prepared during the round’s twenty five (25) minutes of prep time. Any use of notes in round, that were composed prior to the topic’s announcement, may lead to the forfeiture of the round. Exceptions to these requirements can be made for the purposes of accessibility accommodations; email calparli@gmail.com to notify us of any specific accommodations we should account for.

2. Debaters may prep with both their partners and coaches.

3. Speech times for all rounds will be 7-8-8-8-4-5.

4. There is no protected time in any speech.

5. No new arguments may be made in the rebuttal speeches.

6. POOs are allowed in rebuttals. POOs will stop time.

Tournament announcements document:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sk_-14GNY7-41ZGLXvXeJRk8b6ghz8RuG5FpV6JQz1c/edit?usp=sharing 

Important Tournament Announcements will be posted at https://www.facebook.com/ParliDebateAtBerkeley.

Please check frequently.