Policy Debate Logistics

Policy Debate

Policy debate will be offered, on its own two-day track with a separate schedule, judge pool, and fee schedule. Debaters in policy are not allowed to enter in any other event, speech or debate.

Overview:

There will be one Open division of policy debate. There is no novice division.

All rounds that include a novice team must adhere to the NDCA Novice Packet's plantexts and evidence: https://www.debatecoaches.org/resources/novice. Judges are instructed to vote against any team that uses external evidence against a novice team.

Coaches can indicate that a team is a novice team in their competitor roster.A team is eligible for novice designation if both members are in their first year of high-school policy debate competition.

The top 2 novice teams are also eligible for a novice-breakout finals.

Fees:

• $75 entry fee per team
• $150 uncovered judging fee per team

We have a robust pool of neutral UC Davis judges with policy experience, so we are totally fine with entries without covered judging (assuming you pay us!). That said, all teams are required to have an adult representative available on campus for the duration of the tournament.

Policy Debate Schedule

--Saturday, October 18--

8:00 AM — Pairings posted for Round 1 AND Round 2.
8:30 AM — Round 1 start (Decision Time 10:30 AM).

11:00 AM — Round 2 start (Decision Time 1:00 PM).

12:45–1:30 PM — Lunch.

1:15 PM — Round 3 pairings posted.
1:40 PM — Round 3 start (Decision Time 3:40 PM).

--Sunday, October 19--

8:00 AM — Round 4 pairings posted.
8:30 AM — Round 4 start (Decision Time 10:30 AM)

10:45 AM — Round 5 pairings posted.
11:00 AM — Round 5 start (Decision Time 1:00 PM)

1:00–1:30 PM — Lunch

1:30 PM — Novice and Varsity Finals Posted

2:00 PM — Novice and Varsity Finals start (Decision Time 4:00 PM)

[Policy Champion/Runner-Up trophies will be distributed by the judges of the final round. Top speakers will be announced at the speech awards, though there are no physical speaker awards.]