Pittsburgh District Qualifier

for the 2025 National Tournament

Chair: Beth Young

Committee Members: Jess Cerchiaro Lauren Hess Ben Edwards Alison McBee Paul Beer

Dear NSDA Colleagues:

It’s again time to begin the process of NSDA District Eliminations to determine who will attend the National Tournament in Des Moine Iowa to represent the Pittsburgh District in speech and debate. Please read this letter and the Rules and Regulations carefully. Registration will be through TABROOM.COM – and while many of us are familiar with the site, there are certain requirements for district registration that might make some parts of registration different.

Our district qualifiers for speech and debate will be at Aquinas Academy. And NSDA districts for congressional debate will be at Seton LaSalle High School, running concurrently with the freshman-sophomore tournament.

Both of the district tournaments are on Tabroom --- speech and debate on March 8, congress on March 15. Click on the tab for the events that you want and use that page for registration.

ALSO, please note that the deadlines are different for each of the weekends.
The speech and debate deadline is Wednesday March 5
The congress deadline is Wednesday March 12

Please type your information on the online form.

Remember that while you are required to enter some information about pieces, school consent, and single letters of intent online, you still need to print those items that are marked “Print.” Bring the printed material to the tournament on Saturday March 8.

Because we are using online balloting for all events, it is critical that all of your judges and students are registered with Tabroom. All rounds at districts will be live; please see speechanddebate.org to find out about the procedures that will be used at the national tournament.

The following are listed for your special attention or information:

1. In all events, we will follow the method that is described in the district manual; please check the NSDA site for the official manual.
2. Original Oratories and Informative Speeches must be submitted to the district chair when coaches submit any single letters of intent - before rounds begin!.Oratory and informative scripts must be signed by both the student and the coach under the statement, “This is the original work of the student.”This is a national rule.These speeches also need titles.
3. The judging quota is high in both speech and debate.If you cannot supply the judges, do not supply the contestants. We want your students to compete, but in order for us to have a successful tournament, we need you to provide your judges. There are no judges for hire BUT there are some schools that are not NSDA members. Seek them out to see if they can help you meet your quota. Remember, hiring judges from the bigger schools (NA and USC, I think you will agree), does not help the tournament move more smoothly.
4. Remember that students MUST HAVE PAID MEMBERSHIPS on record with the NSDAONE WEEK PRIORto the contest in order to participate.
5. Remember that you must have paid your district dues ($40.00) as well as your NSDA national dues in order to compete.
6. Honor your commitment to have students participate in districts once you register them.
7. Don’t wait until the tournament day to point out that a student’s speech may not meet NSDA rules.If you have a reason to question the selection of any student, please address these questions to the District Committee immediately.
8. An adult must accompany any team attending a district tournament.
9. The entry fee is $6 per student.($12 per team: Duo, Policy and PFD).
10. Remember that your judges are expected to stay the entire time and judge all the events that are assigned to them. THERE IS NO SWITCHING ASSIGNMENTS. When your students are eliminated, that does not mean that your judges are done. Also please ask your judges to not report to the tab room to ask if they may leave. If judges are excused, we will post this.
11. Double entry is permitted between all events, however students may only enter one partnership event District tournament weekend. Cross entry in Duo, PF, and Policy will be automatically forbidden on the same weekend. Please remember to complete and submit a Single Letter of Intent if you are double entering students. (See Tabroom for the form.)
12. If a school enters two students in each contest category, they may enter two additional students, regardless of their chapter strength, but totaling no more thanFOURentries in each category.
13. In addition to the district committee there are a few coaches that will be assisting with the running of the qualifiers. Please check the Tournament Assignments section which will be posted on Tabroom closer to the date of the competition.If you are assisting, please do not count yourself as a judge.

1. Congress legislation is due on Tabroom by Thursday March 6. Please note that you need separate legislation for the House and the Senate!! Full packets of legislation will be posted on Tabroom on Saturday March 8.
2. We are accepting nominations for District Student of the Year. . If you would like to nominate someone, please send a letter of nomination to the District Committee at pittsburghnsda@gmail.com by March 3. Additional information may be needed if your nominee wins our local award. Winners will be announced at the March 8 tournament.
3. We have not heard any information regarding World Schools Debate, but, assuming that registration will be as in the past, we are also accepting self-nominations from interested students who have participated in at least one of the district qualifiers. If things are the same, we will be sending two teams to nationals; teams are composed of students from a variety of schools. Please send all letters of nomination to pittsburghnsda@gmail.com by March 1. At that point we will be contacting the applicants for additional registration materials. We generally announce the candidates for the World Schools Debate after the Congressional debate competition, but we ask for your applications early so that we have a sense of the field of contestants who are applying.
4. Extemp topic areas to be used on March 8 are
   International Extemp (the numbering is inaccurate)
1. Americas & Caribbean
2. Africa & Southwest Asia
3. East Asia, Central Asia, & Oceania
4. Energy, Environment, & Global Health
5. Europe
6. Global Conflicts & International Organizations

United States Extemp (the numbering is irrelevant and inaccurate!)

1. Business, Economics, & Industry
2. Energy, Environment, & Natural Disasters
3. Foreign Policy & National Security
4. Healthcare, Immigration, & Social Issues
5. Politics & Democracy
6. The Supreme Court, Civil Liberties, & Legal Controversies

1. NSDA is offering a “Last Chance Qualifier” Details can be found online.

Please note that we are still checking on any recent changes that the NSDA executive board may have made, but, as of this writing, we believe that all of the information given above is accurate.

Thanks for being part of the National Speech and Debate Association

Your District Committee