Important Tournament Announcements will be posted at https://www.facebook.com/ParliDebateAtBerkeley.

Please check frequently.

11/11: ACTION ITEMS AND TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

11/4: SCHEDULE CHANGED TO DOUBLE-FLIGHTED AND ELIMINATION OF ENTRY CAPS

After significant continued interest in the tournament, we have decided to remove both the team and tournament-wide entry caps. In order to accomodate the increased attendance, we will be altering the schedule to make the tournament double-flighted, as well as reducing the number of prelims from 6 to 5. Because of this, we will no longer be able to guarantee breaking all teams with a winning record, and reserve the right to break to full double-octafinals (elim 5) if necessary. Please note that registration has been moved from 9 AM to 8 AM on Saturday. We will also be hosting an optional, but highly-recommended equity forum during lunch on Saturday. The corrected schedule is below: 

NEW SCHEDULE: 

Saturday, November 12

8:00 AM—9:00 AM                Registration

9:00 AM                                  Topic Announcement, Round 1, Flight 1

9:55 AM                                  Topic Announcement, Round 1, Flight 2

11:30 AM                                Topic Announcement, Round 2, Flight 1

12:25 PM                                Topic Announcement, Round 2, Flight 2

1:30 PM—3:15 PM                Equity Forum/Lunch

3:15 PM                                  Topic Announcement, Round 3, Flight 1

4:10 PM                                  Topic Announcement, Round 3, Flight 2

6:00 PM                                  Topic Announcement, Round 4, Flight 1

6:55 PM                                  Topic Announcement, Round 4, Flight 2

Sunday, November 13

8:30 AM                                  Topic Announcement, Round 5, Flight 1

9:25 AM                                  Topic Announcement, Round 5, Flight 2

11:15 AM                                Topic Announcement, Elim 1

12:45 PM—2:00 PM               Lunch

2:00 PM                                   Topic Announcement, Elim 2

4:00 PM                                   Awards

4:30 PM                                   Topic Announcement, Elim 3

6:00 PM                                   Topic Announcement, Elim 4

7:30 PM                                   Topic Announcement, Elim 5

11/2: FIELD AND TEAM ENTRY CAPS

Due to ongoing construction at UC Berkeley this year, we are facing a shortage of rooms that will prevent us from accommodating the particularly large competitive field this year in its entirety. We are working with the university to find alternate spaces for the tournament; however, as we cannot yet confirm whether these spaces will be made available, we have been forced to implement the following entry caps: 

Tournament-wide entry cap: 90 entries

Entry cap per team: 4 entries per division

For teams with entries above this amount, please email us with additional entries you'd like to have compete in the order that you'd like them entered, and we will do our best to accommodate additional entries closer to the tournament date. We apologize for this year's inconvenience, and look forward to welcoming back the full pool next year once the on-campus construction has completed. 

10/28: TOPIC AREA AND COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENT

The topic area for this year's National Parliamentary Debate Invitational at Berkeley, which will be used in 2 of the 6 preliminary rounds, will be:

US military maritime policy

NPDI's topics and topic area are developed by a group primarily consisting of UC Berkeley students and alumni. This year's committee, headed by Parli at Berkeley Junior Director Charlene Jin, included Nadia Cochinwala, Jake Glendenning, Kevin Yanofsky, Tom Kadie, Brian Yang and Nick Palmer. 

The National Parliamentary Debate Invitational at Berkeley

November 12 - 13, 2016

Hosted at the University of California, Berkeley, CA

Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley cordially invitea you to participate in the fall semester’s premier parliamentary debate tournament: The National Parliamentary Debate Invitational at Berkeley on November 12 and 13, at the University of California, Berkeley.

The tournament will feature an open division and a junior varsity division with each division guaranteed six single-flighted preliminary rounds. All rounds will be adjudicated by individuals holding a background in high school and/or college parliamentary debate. Following the conclusion of each round will be a constructive oral RFD of no more than 20 minutes in length and disclosure of the victor. This tournament places a premium on providing a unique educational experience for all participants.

There will be one topic area, released on or around October 28, that will be used for two of the preliminary rounds. We will also be disclosing topic committee membership at this point. Both announcements will be released here, as well as on the Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley Facebook page listed above.

Casual attire is permitted for students, although formal attire is equally welcome.

The tournament reserves the right to collapse the open and junior varsity divisions if required by tournament logistics.

The tournament will break all teams with winning records to elimination rounds. We will break brackets based on school affiliation.

Junior Varsity Eligibility: Debaters are considered eligible to compete in the junior varsity division if they have no more than two years of debate experience. 

Judge Requirements: Each school will be required to provide 1 qualified judge for every two entries or fraction thereof. A single judge can cover both an open and a JV entry.

Open:

A qualified judge is at least a high school graduate or equivalent AND a coach or former open debater. Experience in debate events outside of parliamentary debate is accepted. Any questions about what characterizes a qualified judge should be directed to calparli@gmail.com. 

JV:

Anyone who satisfies above Open requirements, in addition to those who are at least a high school graduate or equivalent.

ALL judges will be required to provide a paradigm by November 9 and are highly encouraged to give an oral Reason For Decision after the round. Schools who have difficulty meeting these requirements should contact us at calparli@gmail.com. Fee breaks and exceptions will be made on a per-case basis.

Judge Fee: Schools may choose to pay a hired judge fee of $200 per uncovered entry.

Judge Penalty: If a team's judge misses a round, the team will be charged $50 for each missed round. This does not apply to teams that have hired judges.

Tournament Fees: The cost of competing in the 2016 NPDI will be $95 per entry. 

Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley is firmly committed to expanding accessibility of debate. If this fee is financially prohibitive, please contact us at calparli@gmail.com. We cannot help you if you do not contact us first. We expect that any team receiving a fee break will cover their entries with qualified judges.

Any drops after 11/5 will be assessed the full entry fees. 

Location: All rounds will take place on the UC Berkeley campus. Specific campus locations will be provided when available.

Parking: Parking is available in several structures near campus for a fee. Please see http://pt.berkeley.edu/parking/visitor for details. On Sunday, street meters are not enforced; so street parking is free and highly recommended.

Food: Food is available for purchase at multiple locations both on and off the UC Berkeley campus. Breakfast and lunch will be provided for coaches and judges.

Lodging: There are several hotel options in Berkeley, including:

·        Hotel Durant (walking distance) 2600 Durant Avenue Berkeley, California 510-845-8981