Dear Colleagues,

The Niles North Debate Program would like to invite you and your students to the Niles North Viking Rumble on Saturday, October 22nd. We sincerely hope you and your teams will be able to attend. The schedule may be found by separately clicking on the "Schedule" page.

Date: Saturday, October 22nd

Location: Niles North High School (9800 Lawler Avenue, Skokie, IL 60077)

Topic: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its economic and/or diplomatic engagement with the People's Republic of China.

Format: This is a switch-side, four round tournament. Rounds one and two will be preset, with both pairings released at the same time. Rounds three and four will be power-matched. Because this is the first switch-side tournament of the year for novices, only students in their first year of debate may compete in the Novice division, and only students in their second year of debate may compete in the Junior Varsity division.

Entries: Entries will initially be capped at seven Novice and five Junior Varsity teams per school. We will begin releasing teams off of the waitlist on September 26. We will release one team per division, per school in the order in which they registered and will continue cycling through the waitlist. We are hosting the ACT this weekend, but I am optimistic schools will be able to get all or most their teams off the waitlist.

Judging: Each school is required to provide one full judge per two teams. No hired judging will be available, so you must cover your commitments in full! Only debaters in their 3rd or 4th year of policy debate may judge in the Novice division. Only students in their 4th year of policy debate or high school graduates may judge in the Junior Varsity division. Additionally, we will only be using Online Balloting, and you will be required to link your judges to their tabroom account upon registration. Because we want this to be an enjoyable and educational experience for our competitors, all judges will be required to type out full ballots. We will make these ballots and comments available at the conclusion of the tournament.

Fees: Cost is $25 per team, regardless of division. Please make checks payable to Niles North High School. 

Disclosure: If your Novice debaters are reading a new plan or advantages that differ from the two GBS scrimmages (9/24 and 10/4), you must disclose by Monday, Oct. 11th. Novice debaters will not be argumentatively limited on the Negative, and may read Topicality, Disadvantages (including politics), Counterplans and Kritiks. I will send a consolidated list to all head coaches by Tuesday, Oct. 12th with any new Affirmative disclosure.

Meals: We will also have light concessions and lunch for sale throughout the tournament. Because of the low entry fees, we would really appreciate it if all students and student judges purchase meals through the tournament! 

Hospitality: We will be offering concessions and lunch free of charge to adult judges and coaches.

Awards: We will present awards for the top teams and top speakers in both divisions. Additionally, we will present awards for the best three ballots in Novice.

Thank you in advance for your support of our tournament. Please feel free to contact me directly at katie.g.weston@gmail.com or 248-921-1025 if you have any questions.