Our tournament email address is

valleymidamericacup@gmail.com

Welcome to the website for the 2024 West Des Moines Valley Mid America Cup. We host varsity/open divisions in Lincoln-Douglas, Policy, Public Forum, and congressional debate. We are also offering, once again, the Sophomore Throw-Down LD round robin, open to excellent competitors in their second year (sophomore year) of high school. We are also offering a Public Forum Round Robin.

As ever, the Mid America Cup will take place at Valley High School in West Des Moines, Iowa. Valley is located at 3650 Woodland Avenue in sunny WDM (zip code 50266). Depending on entries, we may also host one or more events at our sister building, Valley Southwoods Freshman High School, located about a mile from Valley and easily accessible by car, bicycle, scooter, or, depending on weather, dog sled.

The MAC offers TOC bids at the octofinals level in Lincoln-Douglas and at the semifinals level in Policy and Public Forum. Our tournament will use the relevant NSDA topics in all divisions and except where noted will enforce NSDA rules.

The Sophomore Throw-Down will take place on Friday, September 27. The tournament proper will take place Saturday-Monday, September 28-30, with quarterfinals - finals taking place on Monday.

Fees

Congress: $18/entry

Policy debate: $90/policy pair

Public Forum: $65/PF pair

Lincoln-Douglas: $95/debater

PF Round Robin: $150/entry

Sophomore Throw-Down: $120/entry

We require paymentbefore any entries are accepted. All entries will be waitlisted until payment is received.

We will host four divisions: Varsity LD, Varsity Policy, Varsity Public Forum, and Varsity Student Congress.

• Varsity LD and Student Congress will be in-person only.

• Varsity Policy and Public Forum will be hybrid. We welcome teams to join us in West Des Moines, or, if it works better for your budget and logistics, we welcome CX and PF teams to compete online. The hybrid division will be fully integrated, meaning that there will be rounds that are fully in-person, half in-person, and fully online, as well as rounds with in-person and online judges.

The Sophomore Throw-Down and Public Forum Round Robin

You are invited to nominate your top sophomore debater and/or Public Forum team to compete in our Round Robins. We will accept up to 12 entries in each division. The Throw-Down has historically brought together some of the nation's best rising varsity debaters for competitive and collegial rounds including great food and lovely awards.

The Round Robins are in-person only.

Hired Judge Fees

A limited number of hired judges are available. Judges can only be hired once your team has gotten off the waitlist, so please pay your fees in a timely manner. The cost for hiring a policy or PF judge is $140 per round of coverage. The cost for hiring an LD judge is $110 per round of coverage.

Round Robin Judging

Round robin entries are expected to provide one experienced judge to cover each entry.

Judging Notes

In Policy and Public Forum, teams owe four rounds of judging for the first entry and two rounds of judging for the second entry; one "full" judge covers two entries, but the minimum commitment is four rounds. The same applies to third and fourth entries, fifth and sixth entries, and so on. Public Forum debate will not be flighted.

In Lincoln-Douglas, which will be double-flighted, the round requirements per entry are:

1 entry ..... 3 rounds

2 entries ..... 4 rounds

3 entries ..... 6 rounds

4 entries ..... 9 rounds

5 entries ..... 10 rounds

6 entries ..... 12 rounds

... and so forth.