Magnolia District Qualifier

for the 2021 National Tournament

Tournament Procedures: Debate

from the Unified Manual

pp. 71-72

Debate events must be held live. Districts may conduct a coin flip where necessary in whatever manner they deem best; some tabulation softwares like Tabroom.com offer an automated coin flip option. As long as NSDA evidence rules are followed, districts may suggest different methods for evidence sharing throughout a debate, though no specific method may be mandated.  [Note - for the Magnolia District tournament, we will NOT use the tabroom.com coin flip. We will ask judges to conduct a live coin flip on camera, using a coin or computer/phone coin flip.]

In partner events, partners may either compete together in the same room or from two different locations. Partners may share a device or use two separate devices. We recommend that all competitors follow local guidelines for social distancing at the time of the tournament. 

Students competing in debate events must follow these rules. Rulings (answering questions or hearing protests) about this language will be made by the District Committee: 

“Competitors may not use green screens, virtual backdrops, on-screen text, or professional equipment enhancements such as professional lighting kits or professional grade camera recording and audio devices during their performance in any event. Professional equipment includes items like softboxes or an auditorium’s lighting system; use of these items is not permitted. Backdrops of a solid color with no special markings may be used by competitors and judges.” 

p. 73

The following rules apply to Lincoln-Douglas, Policy, Public Forum, and Big Questions Debate events at the district tournament. The district tournament is a double elimination contest. Entries who receive their second loss are eliminated from the tournament.  

General Rules and Instructions 

1.  Starting Times: No debate is valid if started after 9:30 p.m. unless it is the final day of the tournament.  

2.  Minimum Rounds: At least three rounds must be held in all contests.  

3.  Number of Judges: One or three judges may be used in the first two debate contest rounds (even if there are eight entries or less), as determined by the District Committee. When eight or fewer debate entries remain, three judges must be used. Any odd number of three or greater may be used for debate elimination and final rounds. Once multiple judges have been used, it is essential that the same number or higher be used for all subsequent rounds. All sections within the same event must use the same number of judges. College-age judges are permitted at the discretion of the District Committee. Current high school students may not judge any portion of the district tournament series.  

4.  Fines: If a judge fails to fulfill a judging assignment, a fine may be assessed at the discretion of the District Committee.  

5.  Protest of Judges: Judges assigned by the tournament committee are final unless protested before the beginning of the tournament. If a judge is added to the pool after the tournament begins, any protest must be made prior to the round in which that individual is assigned to judge. If protested, the District Committee will hear the protest, and its decision is final. If a member of the committee is involved in the protest, they should be recused.  

6.  Judge Strikes: The District Committee may permit a judge strike policy at the district tournament.  [Note - the Magnolia District will not use a strike policy.]

A.  Districts are encouraged to solicit opinions of all schools in the district when determining whether a strike system will be used, and if so, what type of system. The decision of the District Committee is final. 

B.  If a District Committee chooses to implement a judge strike system, the chair must submit a complete description of the proposed strike procedure to the national office for the approval. The description must be approved at least seven days prior to the beginning of the tournament. Strike policy wordings should be sent to director@speechanddebate.org. 

C.  The system used must be maintained throughout the entire district tournament.  

7.  Computer Usage: Permission to use laptop computers in any event shall be the autonomous decision of the District Committee. Granting usage subjects debaters to the guidelines contained in the rules section of this manual. 

8.  Forfeits: Judges should notify the District Committee of a student who arrives to their round more than 15 minutes after the posted start time of the round. If there are multiple judges in the round, all must agree that the student was more than 15 minutes late. Debaters who are 15 minutes late forfeit the round, but the District Committee may waive the penalty. For a speech competitor, the District Committee may choose to drop each judge score in the round by two ranks. The judge(s) should not adjust the student’s ranks themselves. The District Committee may waive the penalty. 

9.  Disqualification: In the case of a disqualification, all previous decisions will stand and no revision of decisions will occur unless dictated by a specific protest procedure (e.g., evidence violation). 

10.  Harassment and Discrimination. Harassment and discrimination in any National Speech & Debate Association event will not be permitted. All district tournaments must follow the NSDA Harassment & Discrimination Policy. All districts are encouraged to create an Equity Office at their district tournament to respond to reported violations of this policy. 

11.  Scouting: Scouting is strongly discouraged. 

12.  Disputes: The District Committee or tournament committee appointed by it has the full power to adjudicate disputes or interpretation of rules but may not change the rules. The District Committee is authorized to determine how a rule is to be interpreted or applied in a specific situation. In case of a serious dispute or critical question of procedure, which the District Committee cannot resolve, the national office or acting tournament referee must be phoned for a ruling. Please consult the national office to determine the referee for your event.  

pp. 74-76

Absolute Pairing Priorities 

The following seven pairing priorities are absolute and control the pairing procedures described below:  

1.  Draw a bye if one is required. Draw the bye first, before pairing any other rounds.  

•  See the “Drawing a Bye” section on p. 66. 

2.  Do not pair a school against itself unless they are: 

A.  The only two remaining undefeated entries, or 3 of 4 undefeated entries, or 4 of 5 undefeated entries. 

B.  The last two once-defeated entries.  

C.  The last two of three once-defeated entries and the other entry draws the bye.  

D.  A majority of the once-defeated after the bye is drawn and after the undefeated bracket has been paired. 

3.  Do not pair entries that have met before in the tournament.  

•  Exception: Two entries who have met previously may meet again to avoid the same school meeting, or they may meet again if all remaining teams in that bracket have previously met.  

4.  Do not break brackets at any time. Undefeated entries are in one bracket and once-defeated entries are in another bracket. If there are an odd number of undefeated entries, then and only then, should a once-defeated be drawn up to meet an undefeated entry.  

•  Draw from the teams who are “due” the opposite side of the undefeated opponent they will face. In Public Forum, draw from all eligible undefeated teams. 

5.  Entries in Policy and Lincoln-Douglas Debate (not Public Forum) who have debated an unequal number of affirmative and negative rounds are considered due the side they have debated the least. Side constraints cannot violate the priorities listed above that are substantially more important. When an entry has debated an equal number of affirmative and negative rounds, the team is considered eligible for either side in the next round. Side alteration from the previous round is not a priority and should not be considered in pairing. In Public Forum, no entry is due a side at any time.  

6.  During a specific round’s pairing procedure, once an entry has appropriately been drawn up to the undefeated bracket or has drawn the bye, that entry is no longer considered a part of the once-defeated bracket and should not be considered when pairing the once-defeated bracket. Never re-pull an entry from the once-defeated bracket once an entry has correctly been drawn up, even if that particular pull up creates a priority conflict in the once-defeated bracket.  

7.  In every Public Forum debate, sides will be determined by a coin flip between the teams, even if the teams have previously met.  

Pairing Rounds One and Two 

Both Tabroom.com and The Joy of Tournaments software are designed to randomly create preliminary round pairings for rounds one and two to meet the following constraints:  

1.  Seeding is not permitted in the preliminary rounds.  

2.  Unless the small number of entries or the random drawing of byes makes it unavoidable, no team should meet another team from its school, and no school should meet another school more than once.  

3.  In Policy and Lincoln-Douglas Debate, each entry should be assigned one affirmative and one negative round unless it draws a bye. 

4.  If necessary, a bye should be drawn but no school may receive two byes in rounds one and two.  

*If preliminary rounds are manually assigned by cards, these constraints must be met.  

It is the affirmative duty of tabulation staff to audit Tabroom.com and SpeechWire pairings to determine all pairing rules were followed. 

Pairing Subsequent Rounds 

An entry is an independent unit and will be paired and assigned sides based upon its own record. The opponents debated or sides debated by other teams from its school are irrelevant and must not be considered when pairing or assigning sides.  

A. Drawing a Bye 

1.  All entries eligible for a bye must be included in the drawing of a bye.  

2.  Until three entries remain or drawing for a national qualifier, byes will first be drawn from entries losing to an entry who is still undefeated. If no entries have lost to an undefeated or the entries losing to an undefeated have also drawn a bye, a blind draw will take place among all once-defeated teams who have not drawn a bye.  

3.  No entry will have more than one bye until three entries remain. When three entries remain, the bye must go to the undefeated even if the entry has previously received a bye. If no entries are undefeated, draw the bye from all entries who have not previously drawn a bye.  

4.  An entry may not refuse a bye.  

B. Pairing the Undefeated Bracket 

The undefeated bracket takes priority over the once-defeated bracket once any eligible bye has been drawn. Once this bracket has been paired correctly based on the Absolute Pairing Priorities (above), it must not be adjusted or changed to eliminate conflicts in the once-defeated bracket.  

NOTE: If a once-defeated entry is pulled up to create an Absolute Pairing Priorities conflict in the UNDEFEATED bracket and there are entries in the once-defeated bracket that can be drawn up to avoid this conflict, a new entry should be pulled up.  

1.  Pair undefeated entries against undefeated entries. When viewing pairings on Joy of Tournaments, use the “Show Seeding” option to ensure that the undefeated entries are paired against undefeated entries.  

2.  In Lincoln-Douglas and Policy Debate, ensure that Joy of Tournaments has properly paired the entries to ensure side equalization. Side alteration is never a priority, so this warning must be ignored.  

A.  If pairing manually, place cards of entries with more affirmative rounds (due negative in the next round), in a pile to the right. Place cards of the entries with more negative rounds (due affirmative in the next round) in a pile to the left. All entries who have an equal number of rounds (due either affirmative or negative) should be placed in a separate pile. If the piles are unequal, randomly draw from the pile of equal sides to create equal piles.  

B.  If there are an odd number of undefeated entries, draw up a once-defeated entry who is due to uphold the opposite side of the undefeated entry.  

C.  Shuffle and lay out cards of entries due affirmative into a column on the left side of the table. Shuffle and place the cards of the negative entries in a column to the right of the affirmative column, ensuring that the Absolute Pairing Priorities are met.  

3.  In Public Forum Debate, ensure that Joy of Tournaments has paired brackets properly and no absolute priority has been violated. Side alteration and equalization warnings must be ignored.  

A.  If pairing manually, shuffle all of the cards for the undefeated bracket and lay half in a column on the left and the remaining in a column on the right. If there are an odd number of undefeated teams, draw from the pile of eligible once-defeated teams. 

C. Pairing the Once-Defeated Bracket 

1.  If necessary, check to see if the software selected a once-defeated entry to meet an undefeated. Unless absolutely unavoidable, ensure that the pull up into the undefeated bracket did not violate the Absolute Pairing Priorities.  

2.  At this point, the undefeated bracket is final and should not be altered for any reason. When using the software, be sure not to move an entry into or out of the undefeated bracket.  

3.  Follow the rules from the undefeated bracket for Lincoln-Douglas and Policy Debate as described in #2 above and for Public Forum in #3 above.  

D. Determining National Qualifiers 

1.  If a district is eligible to send only one entry to the National Tournament, the qualifier is the final round winner.  

2.  If a district is eligible to send two entries: 

A.  The last two remaining entries are the qualifiers.  

B.  If three teams remain, one will draw a bye (which must go to the undefeated if there is one or to an entry who has not previously drawn a bye) and the other two entries debate. The bye and the winner are the qualifiers.  

3.  If a district is eligible to send three entries: 

A.  The last three remaining entries are the qualifiers.  

B.  If four entries remain and one is undefeated, all four entries will debate.  

1)  If the undefeated loses, then three entries remain and are the qualifiers.  

2)  If the undefeated wins, it and the other winning entry qualify. The two entries who lost to the qualifiers will debate to determine the third qualifier.  

C.  If four entries remain and there are no undefeated entries, all entries debate, and the two winners are two of the qualifiers. The two losing entries debate again to determine the third qualifier.  

D.  If five entries remain, a bye goes to the undefeated. If there is no undefeated entry, draw a bye from all entries who have not previously drawn a bye. The four remaining entries debate each other. The bye and the two winners are the qualifiers.  

4.  If a district is eligible to send four entries:  

A.  The last four remaining entries are the qualifiers.  

B.  If five entries remain, a bye goes to the undefeated and the other four entries debate each other. An undefeated entry should only receive the bye if it is the sole undefeated entry remaining. The bye and the two winners are three of the qualifiers. The two losing entries debate again to determine the fourth qualifier.  

C.  If six entries remain, draw two byes. Byes first go to undefeated entries. If one undefeated entry remains, that undefeated entry receives a bye and qualifies. Then, a bye is drawn from the remaining once-defeated entries who have not already received a bye, and that entry qualifies. The remaining four entries debate each other. The two byes and the two winners are the four qualifiers. 

D.  If seven entries remain, a bye goes to the undefeated and the remaining six debate each other. The bye and the three winners are the qualifiers. 

E. Determining Alternates 

A list of 14 alternates must be determined in events with 30 entries or more. In events with 29 entries or fewer, no entry that finishes in the bottom half of the field may be listed as an alternate. Alternates are determined by the most number of rounds debated. Byes and forfeit wins are counted as rounds debated. Ties must be broken in the following order: 

1.  The result of a head-to-head debate between the entries, if they met in the tournament.  

2.  Total ballots. The number of ballots for a bye equals the number of judges in the round where the bye occurred.  

3.  A run-off round between the entries.