NYPDL March In Person Invitational
2025 — Brooklyn Tech, NY/US
NYPDL March In-Person Parliamentary Debate Invitational
March 22nd – 23rd at Brooklyn Tech
Dear Parliamentary Debate Leader,
On behalf of the New York Parliamentary Debate League, we invite you and your debate team to the New York Parliamentary Debate League March In-Person Invitational on 3/22–3/23 at Brooklyn Technical High School. The tournament will run through Tabroom, so all debaters and judges must first set up a free Tabroom account at this link.
The New York Parliamentary Debate League was founded in 2016 as a student-run organization dedicated to fostering open and respectful discourse concerning modern day issues in the Parliamentary Debate style. For more information, please visit our website.
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Rules
This tournament will be held in the format established by the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA). We will release three resolutions 15 minutes prior to the start of each round. The resolution and side will be determined by coin toss. For more information about Parli rules please visit our Resources page, where you can find informational YouTube videos, the Vassar style guide, our Rules FAQs document, and more. If you would like to have a Zoom meeting with a member of the NYPDL board for more in-depth training or an overview of the league and our debate format, please email us at nyparli@gmail.com.
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Registration
Registration will be done through Tabroom. Registration is due Saturday, March 15th, at 11:59pm ET. Judge registration is due Wednesday, March 19th at 11:59pm ET.
Please also note that we will be enforcing a cap of 120 teams total. ______________________________________________________________________________
In-Person
We’re excited to see everyone in-person for this tournament! Below you can find a few pieces of in-person tournament specific information…
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The tournament will be hosted at Brooklyn Technical High School in New York City.
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Lunch (pizza) will be provided.
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If the registration fees (intended to cover solely trophies and lunch) are for any reason financially infeasible for your school or for your team, reach out to us! The NYPDL will provide financial support.
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Outrounds will be fully online on Sunday.
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Schedule
Saturday
7:30 - 8:00 Check-in
8:00 - 8:55 Judge Training/Judge Equity/Debater Equity
8:55 - 9:00: General assembly (required)
9:00 - 10:45: Round 1
10:45 - 12:30: Round 2
12:30 - 1:15: Lunch
1:15 - 3:00: Round 3
3:00 - 4:45: Round 4
4:45 - 6:30: Round 5
6:45 - 7:00: Award Ceremony
Sunday (ALL ONLINE)
10:15 - 10:30: Check-In and GA
10:30 - 12:15: Varsity Quarterfinals / Novice Semifinals
12:30 - 2:15: Varsity Semifinals / Novice Finals
2:15 - 4:00: Varsity Finals
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Break and Divisions
This tournament will feature one open division. Varsity and Novice teams will debate each other in prelim rounds. Power pairing will start after Round 1. We will break separately to Varsity Quarterfinals and Novice Finals. Depending on registration size and time, we may adjust breaks.
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Novice Definition
To be a novice, an individual must satisfy all three of these conditions:
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Be a freshman or a sophomore
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Be in their first year of high school debate
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Not be ranked in the top 40 debaters of the NYPDL
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Team Composition
We encourage teams to consist of two debaters from the same school. However, we allow debaters to compete alone or compete with a debater from another school. If you sign up with a partner, both must be present for at least one preliminary round, and are required to be present for all out-rounds; teams will be dropped if both partners are not present in out-rounds.
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Judging Obligations
Each team is required to bring one judge for every two teams, rounded unfavorably — if you are bringing three teams, you must bring two judges. Schools may split up judging requirements between multiple people. Judges must be present for all preliminary rounds and the round after their last team has been eliminated from the break. While experienced judges are preferred, judge training is required. If you are unable to meet the judge requirement, we reserve the right to break up an entry into two judges.
A judge must be either a) a high school sophomore or older, or b) a high school freshman who has attended at least two high school debate tournaments.
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Fees and Dropped Entries
This tournament will charge $20 per entry. We reserve the right to cap the entries of schools who drop entries two days before the tournament. If this cost is at all a barrier to your attending, please email us at nyparli@gmail.com and we will gladly grant you a fee waiver!
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NYPDL Points
This tournament will count for NYPDL and NPDL (National Parliamentary Debate League) points. Please visit our website for more information about NYPDL points, the NPDL Tournament of Champions, and the NYPDL championship.
We look forward to seeing you all there!
If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to email us atnyparli@gmail.com.