DUDL NAUDL Qualifiers

2025 — Wayne State University, MI/US

Dear DUDL Coaches and Assistant Coaches:

You are cordially invited to compete at DUDL #5, the DUDL League Championships and Qualifying Tournament for the Urban Debate National Championships, to be held at Emory University in Atlanta, GA on April 3-6, 2025. We will also use the results to qualify teams for the National Catholic Forensic League Grand Tournament, to be held in downtown Chicago on the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. The Championships and Qualifier will be held on February 8, 2025 at Alex Manoogian Hall on the campus of Wayne State University, corner of West Warren and the John C. Lodge Freeway. A tentative schedule can be found below and on the right side of this page.

We will offer two divisions of debate, Championship/Qualifier AND Novice. There is no novice division at either national tournament, but novices can enter the varsity Championship and Qualifier Division. We have qualified novice (first year debaters) for the urban debate nationals in the past. The decision to enter novices in either the varsity or novice divisions should be made by the coaches and their students.

The novice division will use the NDCA novice packet, as in other tournaments. We will NOT use the slightly expanded version of the novice packet used at the MIFA State Tournament. Teams may rewrite cases and arguments in the novice division, but no new evidence may be added. They may switch and substitute cards, retag arguments, add analytics (non-carded arguments) but MAY NOT create completely new cases and arguments not in the initial packet. Only the theory arguments in the original packet (conditionality good/bad, permutation theory) may be used.

In order to fill in entries, we may invite schools which are not in the DUDL/DCFL in the novice division only. Only DUDL/DCFL member schools will be permitted to compete in the varsity division.

FEES: No fees will be charged. Competition and food is free (breakfast, lunch). You may have to pay for parking in the structure just north of Manoogian Hall as parking cards are no longer available from Wayne State. The DUDL and NAUDL will cover transportation, lodging and most food for two teams to attend the UDNC in Atlanta. We are working on covering as much of the cost of NCFL Nationals in Chicago as possible. Four teams will qualify for NCFLs.

JUDGES: Each school must supply a minimum of one judge in either of the two divisions. We will make an effort to hire as many independent, qualified judges as possible for the varsity division as this competition is for a league championship and national qualification. Judges affiliated with a DUDL or DCFL school may judge in the novice division and only if necessary in the varsity division.

AWARDS: We will order some really nice team and speaker awards for this event (think “old school” DUDL events), as well as gavels for individual national qualifiers (again, think “old school” DUDL events). In order to have the awards in time for the tournament on Feb. 8, please register as soon as possible on Tabroom.com or at least email an estimate of your entry size (without names is OK) so we can order expeditiously. You’re only officially entered when you do so on Tabroom.com. This will also help us obtain judges.

SCHEDULE:

Registration and Breakfast: 8-8:30 am

Rd. 1 and 2 Pairings Released: 8:30 am

Rd. 1: 9 am

Rd. 1 Decision Time: 11 am

Rd. 2: 11:30 am

Rd. 2: Decision Time: 1:30 pm

LUNCH: 1:30-2:15 pm

Rd. 3 Pairings Released: 2:15 pm

Rd. 3: 2:45 pm

Rd. 3 Decision Time: 4:45 pm

Rd. 4 Pairings Released: 5 PM

Rd. 4: 5:30 PM

Rd. 4 Decision Time: 7:30 PM

Awards and Announcements: 7:45 PM

Please address any questions or concerns to John Lawson at jlawson@birmingham.k12.mi.us or 248-310-5909 (call or text).

Best,

John Lawson

John Lawson

Executive Director, DUDL