As of 12/24, our tournament is fully online. More updates to follow!

Schedule of Events:

Round by Round schedules will be available on the sidebar.

debateLA Challenge: Thursday 1/13 & Friday 1/14 (Online)
See full schedule on the debateLA Challenge tab

Varsity Lincoln-Douglas: Saturday 1/15, Sunday 1/16 & Monday 1/17 (Online)
Saturday: 4 Rounds (Double-Flighted)
Sunday: 2 Prelims (Double-Flighted) + Doubles, Octas
Monday: Quarters, Semis, Finals

World Schools: Saturday 1/15, Sunday 1/16, & Monday 1/17 (Online)
Saturday: 3 Rounds
Sunday: 3 Rounds
Monday: Elims

Novice Lincoln-Douglas: Sunday 1/16 & Monday 1/17 (Online)
Sunday: 2 Single-Flighted rounds after Varsity Prelims
Monday: 4 Single-Flighted rounds

Middle School Public Debate Program (Monday 1/17 (Online)
Monday: 4 Rounds

Judges:

Judges must be experienced and qualified to judge the debate event for which they covering an obligation. Please see the sidebar for what we constitute as qualified in each event. 

Event Details

These are broad details by event. Specific details, rules, and procedures can be found by clicking links on the right sidebar.

debateLA Challenge

Online Only
Online Platform: Zoom
By Invitation Only
Entry Fee: $150/entry
Judge Requirement: 1 judge per entry (must have a judge available every round)
Hired Judge Fee: $350

Varsity Lincoln-Douglas

Hybrid
Online Platform: NSDA Campus
School Limit: 5 online (when registering make sure to choose the proper date)
Entry Fee: $100 online
Judge Requirement: 2 rounds per entry, max 6 rounds per judge
Hired Judge Fee: $75 per missing round (note: the penalty for missing a round during the tournament will be double)

World Schools Debate

Online
Online Platform: Zoom
School Limit: 4 teams
Entry Fee: $50
Judge Requirement: 1 judge per 2 teams
Hired Judge Fee: $175 per uncovered entry
Prepared World Schools Motions will be released on or by FRIDAY 12/10 at 9:00am.

Novice Lincoln-Douglas

Online
School Limit: 5 entries
Entry Fee: $50
Judge Requirement: 1 judge per 2 entries
Hired Judge Fee: $150 per uncovered entry

MSPDP

Registration and info on separate page

Independent Entries

We do not accept "Independent Entries." Everyone must debate using their school's name. A school employee or an adult specifically approved by the school must be available for the entire tournament. This individual must be on the HWUS campus while they have in-person debaters competing. Please email coaches@hwdebate.org if you have questions about your eligibility. Anyone found competing in violation of this rule will be immediately disqualified without any chance of refund. 

Debaters attending the tournament without a school employee coaching/available during the tournament must have a principal copy/paste the following language into a email sent from a school email address to coaches@hwdebate.org. We must receive this email by December 30th: 

Our school is the degree granting institution for every student attending the 2022 Harvard-Westlake Debates. Each student represents the school. Our school is responsible for every student, coach, and judge attending the 2022 Harvard-Westlake Debates under our school’s name and gives the students permission to compete and the judges permission to judge. Whenever a student is competing online, there will be at least one school-approved chaperone that can be reached. 

We agree that if at any time the tournament discovers a student or school does not meet the aforementioned criteria, the student(s) and/or school will be immediately disqualified from the tournament and forfeit any fees given to the tournament and to pay any incurred at the tournament.

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A note to people who register for the tournament (usually Independents) but do not enter judges, never respond to calls and emails confirming that you're actually competing: YOU MAKE IT HARDER FOR EVERY DEBATER WHO IS TRYING TO DO THE RIGHT THING. 95% of all problems that arise at tournaments comes from the 2% of debaters who try to circumvent rules and/or ghost tournament directors and/or never pay their fees. 

Do not make it harder on debaters who are trying to do everything right. 

Important Dates & Deadlines

Everyone will go on a waitlist until we have received payment. (see below for payment info)

All hired-judge requests are due on THURSDAY 12/30 at 9:00am. After this point any missing judges will be fined at the "missing judge" rate. 

Fees are frozen on FRIDAY 12/31 at 9:00am. Your invoice at this point is the least amount of money you will possibly owe, even if you drop. 

Payments

Please send payments to:
Harvard-Westlake School
c/o Mike Bietz - Debate
700 N Faring Road
Los Angeles, CA 90077

A note on payments: Please send a single-check per school. We will not accept anyone off the waiting list until the entire school is paid.