Lincoln North Star Gator Debate Open

5801 N. 33rd St. 

Lincoln, NE 68504

School Phone: 402-436-1305, Coach Phone: 402-440-3024

The Lincoln North Star Gator Debate Open will take place on January 30, 2016.  We will offer competition in Policy, Lincoln Douglas, Congressional Debate and Public Forum.   

This tournament will follow all NSAA bylaws.  This is a high school only tournament.  Students must be eligible according to NSAA and may only compete for the school in which they are currently enrolled.  The NSAA bylaws can be viewed at nsaahome.org.  Additional disclaimers exist at the bottom of this invitation.

Schedule (is tentative and will adjust according to efficiency and number of entries) –

Awards (tentatively being planned) –

¨     Policy – Six speaker awards in each division, along with team awards for semifinal and final participants.

¨     Congress – A gavel to the presiding officer as well as medals to the top six speakers and a trophy to the champion in each house.

¨     Lincoln-Douglas – Six speaker awards in each division along with awards for octafinalists and above.

¨     Public Forum – Six speaker awards in each division along with awards for octafinalists and above.

¨     Sweepstakes – Trophy will be awarded to the top two teams.

Online Entry –

Entries will only be accepted online via www.tabroom.com.  Deadline for entries is Wednesday, January 27, 2016.   Fees and judge requirements will be assessed at this time.  Changes or drops can be emailed after this date to awill@lps.org.

Fees –

Policy Team -- $30                                        Lincoln-Douglas Debate -- $20

Public Forum -- $25                                      Student Congress -- $15

Judge Coverage (judges are obligated to one round beyond their team’s elimination)

n  Policy -- One judge per two teams.  May be hired for $125.  (We really need your judges.)

n  Lincoln-Douglas – One judge per two debaters.  May be hired for $150

n  Public Forum – One judge per two teams.  May be hired for $150

n  Congressional Debate – One judge per six debaters or part thereof.  May be hired for $20 per debater.

Policy Debate –

Divisions will have four prelims (powered after two) breaking to semis (or whichever makes sense based on number of entries).

Lincoln-Douglas Debate –

We will be using the January/February topic. Will follow the 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 format with 4 minutes prep time.  Divisions will have five prelims (powered after two) breaking to quarters or octas (or whichever makes sense based on number of entries).

Public Forum Debate –

We will use the January topic. Divisions will have five prelims (powered after two) breaking to quarters or octas (or whichever makes sense based on number of entries). 

Congress –

Bills can be found on Google Docs after Jan. 1. 

¨     We will utilize NFL style of congress at this tournament. Each school will be assessed a judging fee for each six students.  This fee will be $60.  You can alleviate this fee by bringing a judge for each six entries.  This fee will be prorated.  So, if you bring three students you can pay $30 or bring a judge.  Your judges may only be used for ½ a day in congress, so please let me know which other event they would be willing to judge.  These judges will all be finished before awards. 

¨     Note – these judges will only point record--unless you have a judge that you specifially know is a quality parlimentarian, then please, mark that on their judge registration.  There will be two point recorders in each session.  These point recorders will switch at noon.  There will be no student vote.  The point recorders will rank each student in the session.  The parliamentarian’s vote will be used as a tiebreaker. 

Concessions --

We are planning a variety of tasty treats for you and your team.   Our concessions will be serving breakfast, lunch and snack items during the day in the Bayou.

Contact Info --

You may reach me via cell phone at 402-440-3024.  Email – awill@lps.org.

Additional Disclaimers --

For events which are designed to be team events (Policy and Public Forum debate), registration of teams intended to be maverick are NOT acceptable. This exception was originally created when one team member fell ill or otherwise could not make it the morning of competition and would enable the lone teammate who could still attend to participate at the last minute. Team debate is designed for teams - therefore, planning to attend a tournament as a single participant instead of as a team will not be allowed. This is how the NSCTA State Championship tournament is conducted and will be conducted this way at our tournament as well. Also, maverick teams in Policy and Public Forum will not break to out rounds.

Additionally, any entries in a novice division must be a competitor (for team events, BOTH competitors on the team) who is in their first year of debate competition. This means if the student has earned ANY NSDA points prior to August of this year, they are NOT a novice. If they had 1 competition last year, but was for a different event - it does not matter - they are no longer a novice and our tournament will not accept their entry at the novice level.

Any other rulings which are made during the tournament and have not been spelled out are at the discretion of the tournament director. All rulings will attempt to be made according to commonly accepted principles and it is understood, not every rule is spelled out and may need to be a judgment call based on existing situations. Please be patient and understand we are making every attempt to be fair and maintain typical tournament standards and expectations.

Head Coach – Alicia Williamson

Asst Coaches – Holly Gonsor and Jackson Slechta