You and your squad are invited to participate in the Lawrence High Invitational Debate Tournament, to be held on December 3 & 4, 2021.

 This tournament will have in-person Varsity/DCI, Open(KDC), Junior Varsity divisions  and an Open(online) division. Teams competing in the Junior Varsity division must be 1st or 2nd year debaters.. We promise a wide variety of judging styles, so come prepared to adapt to anything in the in-person divisions. Schools will be expected to provide judges for the online division. Sponsors are expected to be on standby to judge in-person debates.  We will only use them if we have no other choices.

 Each school may enter up to a combined total of four teams in the in-person divisions.  Schools may have unlimited entries in the online division. Schools may register for the tournament at . Preference for extra entries will be given to those who have provided extra entries to us, then East Kansas NSDA, then first come, first served.  Typically, I can’t offer extras to a school, unless you gave us extras.  Entry fees will be $8 per in-person team, and $3 per online team.  Cancellations after November 30th will still make you liable for the entry fees.  I will confirm extra entries no later than Wed. December 1st.  

All divisions will consist of 5 preliminary rounds.  We will be using the standard 8-3-5 time limit format, with 8 minutes of prep time.  Rounds 1 and 2 will be preset, Rounds 3 through 5 will be power matched.  Any team more than 10 minutes late through no fault of the tournament will forfeit that round on a 3-4.  We will instruct our judges to be expecting debate over this year’s topic Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its protection of water resources in the United States.

The Varsity/DCI and Open/KDC divisions will also offer elimination rounds, beginning at quarter-finals. Final places will be determined by wins, then Opp Wins, then speaker points, then Opp Speaker points. Competitors will be allowed to use the wifi, assuming our internet is working. All other KSHSAA rules will be in effect. 

Awards will be given/mailed to the top six teams in the online division. All teams with 4 wins will also be recognized in some fashion.  The sweepstakes award will be awarded to the school with the best cumulative four-team record in the preliminary rounds of the in-person tournament, composed of the best record in each division, plus one ‘at large’ record. Teams in the online division will not count towards the sweepstakes award.  

We are unlikely to have enough rooms available for each squad to have their own room. We will arrange team tables in the cafeteria and commons to allow for as much social distancing as possible. If your team requires a room for some reason, please email me and we will figure something out.

We will not be offering concessions or a lunch deal - there are a bevy of places in Lawrence who deliver. I can recommend Pizza Shuttle who offers a very reasonable deal for a small, one-topping pizza and a drink if you are buying in bulk. 785-842-1212