LD Specific Information

LD Rules & Information

·       We will use the January/February NSDA Topic

·       We will utilize the NSDA standard 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 time format.

·       Each debater will have 5 minutes of preparation time.

·       There will be two judges in each preliminary round. At the end of the round, each judge will disclose and give a reason-for-decision, as well as turning in an online ballot

·       Speaker points will be assigned on a 20-30 scale. You can use .1 increments (such as 26.3)

·       Each debater will be assigned a pod, based on mutual-rankings. This pod of 8 debaters will each debate each other, guaranteeing 7 rounds of top-quality competition.

·       Sides in the preliminary rounds will be assigned by the computer. Flip-for-sides (unless previously met, which is only possible in finals) in semi-finals and finals.

·        The top two debaters of each pod will advance to a semi-finals round, where the top seed of “Pod A” will debate the second seed of “Pod B” (and vice versa). If the same school is scheduled to debate each other in semis or finals, it will be a coach’s decision as to how that is handled (debate, coach-over, etc.) We will not break the bracket.

·       To determine who advances to the semi-finals rounds, debaters in each pod will be ranked in this way:

o   Total number of ballots

o   If tied, then head to head record (if more than two debaters are tied, the ballot counts against the other debaters will break the tie)

o   If the debaters split the ballot, then total number of sweeps

o   If still tied, high-low speaker points, followed by total speaks will break the ties

·       Coaches and participants of the tournament are welcome in rounds as long as the platform allows.