Lexington Winter Invitational
2022 — NSDA Campus, MA/US
Greetings Friends and Welcome to Big Lex 2022!
Given Omicron, it is 100% certain that being Online again this year was necessary, but we hope that the flexibility of the online world (single flighting in PF and LD and space for JV divisions as well as two novice policy divisions) will at least make up for a bit of the New England hospitality you will miss. Schedules for each event have been (or are about to be posted) with links on the right side of this page.
Here are the Links to the Live Docs:
For Equity Concerns -- Please send a message to...
Please ONLY use that email address for equity issues, which will be forwarded directly to our Equity Officer. Thanks! Kaz
Here are the Helplines:
Tournament: lextourneyhelp@gmail.com
LD: lexldhelp@gmail.com
PF: lexpfhelp@gmail.com
Policy: lexpolicyhelp@gmail.com
Note: Please do not email event specific helplines until the tournament begins!
Policy
Divisions -- Varsity/JV/Novice Open/Novice NDCA Packet
Rounds -- 6 prelims, 4 on Saturday Jan. 15 and 2 on Sunday Jan. 16 with the first two elims in every division also taking place on Sunday. Additional elims will take place on Monday. All 4-2s and better will clear.
Judging -- We will use a Six Category Pref system for Varsity Policy and allow a limited number of strikes in JV policy (and no strikes in either novice division).
Novice Divisions -- Our Novice Policy Packet and Open Divisions are both VERY healthy (at this writing) so both divisions will be offered.
The JV Division -- As a general rule, JV is the place for students with one or more years of Middle School Experience and for students in their second year of high school debate (especially if they did not get much experience last year). Novices looking for a challenge could also try JV, but students with three or more years of debate experience (at any level) almost certainly should be in the Varsity Division, not JV.
Link to Novice Packet: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17kV7SQPQOaHyidKhIQP9nP1UKsBN4bAp
LD
Divisions -- Varsity/JV/Novice
Rounds -- 6 prelims, 5 on Saturday Jan. 15 and 1 more on Sunday Jan. 16 before the elims begin. It is our intention to finish the Novice and JV divisions of LD on Sunday evening, and depending on the sizes of the fields, it may be necessary to run Semis and Finals in Varsity LD on Monday. All 4-2s and better will clear.
Judging -- We will use a Six Category Pref system for Varsity LD and allow a limited number of strikes in JV LD (and no strikes in the novice division). All judges should plan to judge throughout the tournament, although coaches can block certain days for certain judges, as long as there is complete coverage in those events for all of the days of the tournament.
Novice and JV -- The Novice Division is for students who have never debated before the start of the 2021-2022 school year and the JV Division is for students in their second year of high school debate (unless they want a greater challenge) and for students with one or more years of middle school experience.
PF
Divisions -- Varsity/JV/Novice
Rounds -- 6 prelims, 5 on Saturday Jan. 15 and 1 more on Sunday Jan. 16 before the elims begin. It is our intention to finish the Novice and JV divisions of PF on Sunday evening, and depending on the sizes of the fields, it may be necessary to run Semis and Finals in Varsity PF on Monday. All 4-2s and better will clear.
Judging -- Varsity and JV PFers will have strikes -- there are no strikes in the novice division. All judges should plan to judge throughout the tournament, although coaches can block certain days for certain judges, as long as there is complete coverage in those events for all of the days of the tournament.
Novice and JV -- The Novice Division is for students who have never debated before the start of the 2021-2022 school year and the JV Division is for students in their second year of high school debate (unless they want a greater challenge) and for students with one or more years of middle school experience.
Other things to think about:
1) We still have some schools who have failed to pay us for Big Lex LAST YEAR. Despite that, we are not demanding payments in advance from everyone, just from those schools who still owe us money. Remember that ALL SCHOOLS are morally obligated to pay us what they owe as of the FEES FREEZE DEADLINE.
2) We do not believe we have additional judges for hire -- we did not have many to start with because we like having extra judges. The judge entry deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, because of prefs.
3) We will be mailing out plaques and medals to everyone in the elims and an appropriate number of top speakers. Please fill out the Refund Section on Tabroom because that way will have your school address and we won't need to bother everyone with another form later. We can't send refunds, so we recommend processing and mailing your checks once the fees freeze deadline has passed.
4) We will not be using the NSDA Campus Observer feature, nor will we be requiring you to submit school or individual entry participation forms. However, we will ONLY accept registrations from OFFICIAL schools and will investigate any entries which do not look official before admitting them from the waitlists.
5) Judge placement in ALL JV and Novice Divisions will be random (other than respecting the JV strikes). In Varsity PF, judge assignments will be random in Prelims and will be adjusted in elims only for diversity purposes, which includes having panels with mixed judging experience, among other considerations. In Varsity Policy and LD the pref standard is 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 2-3, 1-2, 4-4, 3-4 in prelims and the maximizing of mutuality in elims, with a positive attempt to place diversity enhancing judges, while not over-using them.
Thanks for reading and thanks for attending the Lexington Winter Invitational!
Kaz, Janet and the Lexington Debate Family