Dear Forensic Coaches, Judges and Participants:

On behalf of the Borah High Debate Team, it is our pleasure to invite you to the 9^th Annual Borah Novice Debate Tournament at Borah High School on Friday, October 20^th, 2023. The tournament will consist of competition in a variety of events.

In debate events, we will offer Congressional Debate, Policy Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Public Forum Debate. In LD and PF, we will be offering four rounds of debate. In Congressional Debate, we will hold three preliminary sessions. Events with low registration numbers may be cancelled.

This is a novice only tournament. As such only novice debaters may compete. For this tournament a “novice” is defined as a first-year debate student who has never competed in a forensics tournament (speech or debate) and has not attended any debate instructional camps. If you have questions about eligibility, please email Donald.drobny@boiseschools.org

This tournament utilized experienced varsity debaters as judges. We believe this gives varsity debaters the ability to see rounds from the judge’s perspective as well as fostering compassion for the role of judges. Varsity students are expected to give valuable, encouraging feedback to the students they judge.

Teams should bring at least the following number of qualified judges:

Policy Debate: 1 Judge for every 2 teams

Public Forum: 1 Judge for every 4 teams

Lincoln-Douglas: 1 Judge for every 4 entries

Congressional Debate: 1 Judge covers 5 entries

If you need any additional information, please email us at Donald.drobny@boiseschools.org .

Best,

Donnie Drobny

Tournament Director

2023 Borah Novice Tournament

Borah High School • Friday October 20

Important Numbers

Tournament Director Donnie Drobny (208) 869-03320

Registration - Opens on October 1, 2023 and Closes on October 18, 2023 at 5:00PM.

All registration will take place on Tabroom at www.bnov.tabroom.com. We cannot accept email or phone registration, but we are happy to help you navigate the registration website. If you have questions concerning registration, please email us at Donald.drobny@boiseschools.org.

Eligibility

Team Eligibility

Only teams representing degree-issuing high schools are eligible to register. We will not accept independent entries, camp entries, or for-profit club entries. Additionally, due to liability reasons, no teams will be accepted into the tournament without a responsible adult chaperone available for the duration of the tournament. An adult, for these purposes, is defined as someone twenty-one years of age or older, who is presumably an employee of the team’s school or a parent. The contact information for this adult must be given to the Tab Room at registration.

Student Eligibility

This is a novice only tournament. As such only novice debaters may compete. For this tournament a “novice” is defined as a first year debate student who has never competed in a forensics tournament (speech or debate) and has not attended any debate instructional camps. If you have questions about eligibility please email us at Donald.drobny@boiseschools.org

Fees

LD - $8

Congress- $8

Public Forum- $15

Policy- $15

Please make all checks payable to: Borah High Debate. Checks for payment may be mailed before the tournament date.

Judge Requirements

This tournament utilized experienced varsity debaters as judges. We believe this gives varsity debaters the ability to see rounds from the judges perspective as well as fostering compassion for the role of judges. Varsity students are expected to give valuable, encouraging feedback to the students they judge.

Teams should bring at least the following number of qualified judges:

Policy Debate: 1 Judge for every 2 teams

Public Forum: 1 Judge for every 4 teams

Lincoln-Douglas: 1 Judge for every 4 entries

Congressional Debate: 1 Judge covers 5 entries

By registering a judge, a team is noting that the judge is qualified. Please keep in mind that a qualified judge understands that activity and is either experienced in sitting in the back of the room with a ballot and/or flow pad, or has been carefully trained by the team they are accompanying. A qualified judge knows how to assign ranks or wins/losses, speaker points, and knows how to fill out a ballot.

Fines

Unreported drops day of the tournament: $10 per drop

Judge misses an assigned round: $10 per round

Event Rules

Lincoln Douglas Debate – Lincoln-Douglas will follow the 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 format with 4 minutes of prep time. Students who end with a 4-0 Record will be recognized at the end of the tournament. LD will use the September/October topic from the NSDA. This event will follow NSDA rules.

Public Forum Debate – Public Forum will follow the 4-4-3-4-4-3-3-3-3-2-2 format with 3 minutes of prep time. Students who end with a 4-0 Record will be recognized at the end of the tournament. LD will use the September/October topic from the NSDA. This event will follow NSDA rules.

Congressional Debate – There will be a single, novice division of Congressional Debate. Competition will feature three sessions that are 2.5 hours long. In the first session the parliamentarian will act as PO. In subsequent sessions students should conduct PO elections. No legislation will be accepted from participating schools; instead, the tournament will use the D3 Fall Semester legislation packet. Legislation will be posted on tabroom.com Chambers will be responsible for setting their own agenda. There will not be a final round so no legislation will be reserved. Students who end in the top 3 of their chamber will be recognized at the end of the tournament. This event will follow NSDA rules.