Rules & Procedures

Entry Limits

Our small campus cannot accommodate more than 152 debaters (and that’s using every nook, cranny, and closet available). In order to maximize the number of schools able to attend, we will impose an initial entry limit of six debaters per school in Open, and four debaters per school in Novice. We will let in additional debaters after the December 4 entry deadline as space allows.

We will close entry once we are full. Enter early to ensure space. Do not buy plane tickets until we confirm your entry.

Divisions

The Novice division is limited to debaters in their first year of competition. Debaters who debated during the 2013/14 school year must compete in the Varsity division unless they have competed in  five or fewer  debate competitions over the length of their debate career (this includes ALL forms of debate, including Policy, LD, Parliamentary, and Public Forum).  This five tournament limit for Novice eligibility includes tournaments held in the 2014/15 school year. In other words, if the debater competed in four tournaments last year and will have competed in two this year before our tournament, s/he must compete in the Open division.

Independent Entries

We will accept independent entries if the following conditions are met:

1)Students must be accompanied by an adult who is either their guardian or who has been authorized by their guardian. If the adult is not the student's guardian, we require a letter from the guardian identifying the chaperone. The letter should be sent in advance of the tournament, and should be received with the entry fee check. We will drop independent entries who do not meet this requirement by the deadline.

2)Though independent entries do not represent their school, we will not admit independent entries who are attending the tournament against the wishes of their school. Independent entries must provide contact information for their school administration so that this can be confirmed.

3)Home schooled students must provide documentation of their status.

4)Debate clubs/companies must disclose the schools that their students attend. These students must meet the requirements listed above (#1 and #2 for students who attend a school, #1 and #3 for home schooled students). Please send an email providing the requested information.

Please note that independent entry, or entry under the name of a debate club or company will not allow a student to enter if their school has already filled the maximum entry. Our generosity regarding independent entries may not be used to circumvent entry limits.

Drops

You may drop entries without penalty until December 4. Please do not enter debaters who are not committed to attending the tournament. Entries dropped after December 5 will incur a drop fee of $40 or $332.50 (depending on division). Entries dropped after December 11 will be responsible for the full entry fee.

Topic

VARSITY DEBATERS will debate the NSDA January/February topic, which is released on Dec. 1. We have chosen this topic to give a head start to debaters who will be attending the Stanford and Cal invitationals. We expect that this early start will be especially valuable to debaters from leagues that do not offer competition on the NFL January/February topic.

NOVICE DEBATERS will debate the NSDA November/December topic, which is Resolved: In the United States criminal justice system, jury nullification ought to be used in the face of perceived injustice.

Judging

Schools are required to provide one judge for every three debaters or fraction thereof. All schools are required to provide judges through the first FULL elimination round or one round beyond the elimination of their competitors, whichever comes later. You must provide judge names by Friday, December 11. All entries not covered by judges after this point will be charged judging fees. We need to do this in order to allow us to hire an adequate pool of experienced judges for the tournament.

Schools may provide varsity debaters as judges to cover Novice division entries at the discretion of the tournament director. Student judges will be held to high standards of conduct. Student judges who behave inappropriately will be removed from the judging pool and their schools will be responsible for judging fees for any missed rounds. You must indicate if a judge is a current student when you enter that judge’s name.

We care about our judging pool. Because of this, we request information on all of the judges you provide. Please indicate competitive and judging experience for all judges. For the Open division, if you cannot provide experienced judges, please plan to pay judging fees instead. We’ll be happy to hire great judges to cover your entry, and you’ll be happy with the quality of the judging pool.