Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Niles North Debate Program would like to invite you and your students to a Novice and Junior Varsity scrimmage on Saturday, October 24th. 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 24th

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

Topic: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially curtail its domestic surveillance.

Format: This is a switch-side, five round tournament. Rounds one and two will be preset, with both pairings released at the same time. Rounds three, four and five will be power-matched. Round five will be a flip for sides as determined by the computer. Only students in their first year of high school debate may compete in the Novice division, and only students in their second year of high school debate may compete in the Junior Varsity division.

Entries: Entries will initially be capped at nine Novice and four Junior Varsity teams per school. We will begin releasing teams off of the waitlist on October 1st. We will release one team per division, per school in the order in which they registered and will continue cycling through the waitlist. If you would like to allocate your initial 13 slots differently between the two divisions (ex: 11 Novice and two Junior Varsity), please email me and I am happy to adjust your entries accordingly.

Judging: Each school is required to provide one full judge per two teams or 3 rounds per entry if you have an odd number of Novice or Junior Varsity 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 high school graduates that competed in policy debate 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. We will be printing pairings, as well as blasting them online through Tabroom. 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: It 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 Maine East Scrimmage (Sept. 26th) or Glenbrook North Scrimmage (Oct. 6th), you must disclose by Monday, Oct. 12th. 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. 13th with any Affirmative disclosure.

Meals: In order to keep the tournament running on time, we will be taking lunch orders in advance. More information on the meal options and pricing will be forthcoming soon. Because of the low entry fees, we would really appreciate it if all students and student judges purchase meals through the tournament! We will also have light concessions for sale throughout 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.

Sincerely,

Katie Weston, Head Debate Coach 

Ian Miller, Assistant Debate Coach

Ivan Silverberg, Director of Communications