The 3rd Annual Fall Finale

Tournament Registration

Tournament Website

December 3-4, 2022

Brought to you by: Lafayette College and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

On behalf of Lafayette Forensics and the Cornhusker Speech and Debate team, you are cordially invited to the third annual Fall Finale! The experience will span Saturday and Sunday, December 3-4, 2022. The tournament will consist of six preliminary rounds and appropriate elimination rounds of NFA-LD starting on Saturday and concluding on Sunday over a relaxed two-day schedule. We will offer JV and Novice divisions of NFA-LD debate as entries warrant.

The tournament will use Tabroom.com for registration and tabulation with Zoom used for competition rounds. Every competitor and judge must have a Tabroom.com account at the time of registration that is correctly linked to their school’s account. All other relevant information will be posted on announcements through Tabroom.com and on the tournament website.

We are making a very serious effort to provide qualified hired judges to work the tournament. Several Lafayette and UNL alums and former competitors have committed to judging at the tournament. All judges will be required to have a Tabroom.com account for e-ballots AND must have a judge philosophy/paradigm on Tabroom.com.

Every effort will be made to make this an enjoyable experience for all of those involved. The tournament schedule is built so that at the very least, the tournament will run on time and hopefully run ahead of schedule. The schedule has also been constructed to balance tournament efficiency with competitor and judge wellness.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask by e-mailing the tournament directors at jkirk11@unl.edu or boyerj@lafayette.edu.

Sincerely,

Justin Kirk, UNL John Boyer, Lafayette College

Non-Discrimination Policy

Lafayette College Forensics and Cornhusker Speech and Debate do not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender identity/expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all competitors, judges, and visitors. If you witness or experience any form of discrimination, please notify the tournament directors, John Boyer and Justin Kirk, so that we can assist you.

Registration Instructions

Registration will take place online on Saturday, December 3rd at 8:30 am CST until 8:45 am in the tournament Zoom room. Teams will be required to confirm that competitors and judges are all accounted for using Tabroom.com

Divisions and Eligibility

The tournament will offer varsity, junior varsity, and rookie (novice) divisions of competition. For the purpose of this tournament:

Varsity: Any student eligible to compete in NFA-LD debate

Junior Varsity: Any student in their first two years (four semesters of college debate). Where there is no official sanction, the tournament directors ask all coaches to consider a debater’s skill level when making this designation.

Novice: Any student in their first year of debate (two semesters). If a competitor competed in NSDA-level policy, LD, or public forum debates, we ask that you place them in the Junior Varsity division.

If you have questions, please petition the tournament director for clarification or to discuss a particular student’s eligibility. Exceptions will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Tournament Rules and Notes

Debate Tabulation. Unless size of the field dictates otherwise, the first two rounds will be random, and the rest of the rounds will be paired high-low within brackets except for round 5, which will be paired high-high within brackets. Seeding within brackets will be based on SOP Pairing methodology is subject to change, but is not confidential, you may always ask the tournament directors which pairing methodology is used for a given round. The tournament will make every effort to ensure that no student is pulled up twice and that no student debates against a pull-up twice.

Elimination Rounds. Students will be seeded in the appropriate elimination round using the following criteria: (1) wins; (2) opposition wins; (3) adjusted points; (4) double adjusted points; (5) total points. Brackets will not be broken in elimination rounds.

Schedule. All rounds will be scheduled in the Central Time Zone on Tabroom. A time zone conversion chart will be provided on the website and on tabroom.

Disclosure. The results of the debates will be available on Tabroom.com immediately following the release of pairings for the subsequent round. For example, round 2 results will be available immediately after round 3 pairings are released.

Ethics. The tournament will conform to the NFA bylaws and competitors will be expected to have read and understood the NFA Code of Ethics.

Lafayette and UNL competitors will be competing in the tournament. They will be eligible for awards and elimination round participation and team sweepstakes. Tabulation decisions made regarding any placement of debaters or judges in rounds involving UNL or Lafayette will be made by tabulation staff not associated with either university. Any issues with tabulation, pairing, or awards can be raised with the tournament staff or tabulation team.

The wonderful Shanna Carlson has agreed to tabulate the tournament. Any rounds involving Illinois State debaters will be reviewed by the tournament director prior to pairings release.

Judging

We want your judges! We want to hire judges for flexibility, not to make ends meet. All teams must cover their entry. Uncovered entries will be charged a $100 fee to cover hired judging. All judges will be obligated through the first elimination debate or one round after their team is eliminated, whichever occurs later in the schedule.

All debate judges are required to have a Tabroom.com account and judge philosophy/paradigm.

Awards

We will recognize the top half of speakers in the varsity division, and the top 3 speakers in the Junior Varsity and Rookie divisions.

Recognition will be given to all participants in elimination rounds.

Team Sweepstakes awards will be awarded to the top 3 schools in attendance. The formula will be modeled after the NFA sweepstakes formula with 3 points awarded for each win in prelims, and 5 points for each elimination round win. Tiebreaks will be determined by (1) overall number of elimination participants and (2) elim depth.

Tournament Entry

All entries must be made directly online at Tabroom by Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 5pm.

ALL JUDGES MUST have a Tabroom.com account for online ballots AND DEBATE JUDGES MUST have a judge philosophy/paradigm on Tabroom.com

Accessibility: If any of your competitors and/or judges require special needs, please inform us so that we may attempt to make the necessary digital arrangements.

Fees

Payment is not needed at the time of registration to compete. We can only accept checks as payment at this time. Checks

should be made out to "University of Nebraska, Lincoln" (Federal ID Tax #: 47-0049123) and may be mailed to:

Justin Kirk

512 N 12 St

Louise Pound Hall – 305

Lincoln, NE 68588-0329

(W-9 vendor verification available upon request)

Fee Structure:

Fee per debater: $25

Fee per uncovered entry (one judge for every two debaters): $100

Total Fees: (# of debaters x $35) + (# of uncovered debaters x $75): ___________

Add/Drop deadline is Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 5:00 PM, CST.

Tournament Schedule