** Results/Standings **

Note for judges applying to be hired: WISDAA is only able to contract with individuals with a United States Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number (EIN). This includes U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or non-citizens with correct immigration status to work in the United States.

We are excited to invite middle + high schools (in Wisconsin or beyond) to participate in our WORD debate festival format.

What makes it a festival?

• No elimination rounds; contests emphasize participatory, learning mindsets
• Schools register debaters by round (see schedule) for maximum flexibility (including mixing/matching debate categories).

Debate Categories & Entry Fees

• Congressional Debate (1 student = an entry); $1/entry
• World Schools Debate (3-5 students* = an entry); $3/entry
  * in a Worlds round, 3 students may speak

Entry fees are waived for WISDAA member schools; Wisconsin schools pay fees shown above; non-Wisconsin schools will be assessed a separate one-time $40 administrative fee per school year.

All schools are expected to provide adjudicators; please see Adjudicators section below regarding fees for uncovered adjudicators.

In Worlds, we do allow "hybrid" entries, consisting of students from multiple schools.

Topics

Congressional legislation (one bill per round) is posted to the right. The Worlds topics for this contest are (the same as the earlier March contest):

• Impromptu topic area: international adoptions
• Prepared motion: This house, as the U.S. Congress, would adopt the metric system.

Rules for Evidence

Impromptu Round

• During the prep period, students on each team (3-5 students) will collaborate to handwrite speeches based on their prior research but are NOT allowed to utilize ANY resources (neither paper nor digital) besides an encyclopedia and/or dictionary and should be relying on reading and research they have done previously.
• During the Debate: teams may not use any outside resources (no printed nor digital resources) besides a dictionary and encyclopedia; they may bring and utilize their own hand prepared notes created in the one-hour prep period.

Prepared Motion Round

• Teams are ONLY allowed to use their hand-written and printed notes along with a dictionary and encyclopedia; they may NOT use the internet to research DURING the round; they are NOT allowed to read speeches off the computer (if they can, this opens the door to AI).
• Computers should ONLY be used to access the video conference platform and NOT be used to research or utilized to show a script for a speech.

Judges' Roles with Evidence

How would a judge on Zoom be able to tell if students are using a computer to research during the round or if they are reading their speech off of a computer? We advise that students should be primarily reference their own notes and occasionally look at the camera, but should not be reading from their computer screen (nor any other device). Obviously, this is difficult to enforce on Zoom, but is good practice for the State Festival at UW-Madison, approaching in April.

Adjudicators & Uncovered Adjudicator Fees

Each school should provide adjudicators (judges) equivalent to the number of entries (or fraction thereof) participating during a given time slot. Those requirements are:

• Congressional: 1 adjudicator per 6 entries or fraction thereof
• Worlds: 1 adjudicator per 2 entries or fraction thereof

Uncovered adjudicator slots will be assessed a $35 fee per adjudicator per round not provided.

Schedule

** Each team must have a representative present at check-in. For schools participating in the later round, please have a representative text 920-355-1895 to confirm all entries will still participate.