Information

Please direct all inquiries to: Eric Oddo (eriodd@d219.org) and Katie Weston (katie.g.weston@gmail.com).

Please direct all entry/judge changes and Tabroom inquiries to Katie.

Registration: Entries will be accepted until September 1, 2016 (assuming the maximum entry limit has not been reached). As mentioned in the invitation, space is limited due to classroom availability. There is no maximum amount of entries per school. With that being said, there is a maximum amount of ninety-six teams over the two divisions. Once that number is reached, registration will close and teams will be placed on a wait list.

Registration will take place ONLINE on Thursday evening, September 8 on www.tabroom.com. We also are going to have an in-person registration at Niles West on Friday, September 9 at 4:00 PM. In the event of ANY changes in entries or judges that occur after the change deadline, email the changes to katie.g.weston@gmail.com.

Checks for entry fees and hired judges need to be mailed to Eric Oddo, 5701 Oakton Street
Skokie, IL 60077 or brought to the tournament and handed to the registration table prior to the beginning of Round One on Friday. Please make check out to Niles West High School. Registration fees will include tournament t-shirts for each competitor and their head coach. T-shirts will be distributed during in-person registration to schools that have fulfilled their entry fee obligation.

Fees: Entry fees for each Policy Debate team are $80.00 and UDL teams will again receive a 50% discount per entry. Dinner on Friday and lunch and dinner on Saturday will be available for purchase in the student cafeteria. A limited number of hired judges will be available at the cost of $300.00 per full commitment and $150.00 per half commitment. Hospitality will be provided for visiting coaches and judges. You must specifically request hired judging through Tabroom. If you are a UDL school, you must email Katie by the registration deadline to have your invoice adjusted.

Format: An 8-3-5 format with an 8-minute preparation rule will be used in both divisions. We will be debating the 2016-2017 National Policy Debate Resolution.  There will be six preliminary rounds of debate, clearing to double-octafinals. If the size of the division does do not warrant a full double-octafinals, we reserve the right to clear to partials or directly to octafinals.

Novice Workshop: Please email the names of your novice workshop attendees to Katie by Tuesday, September 6 at 5:00 PM. The Novice Workshop will run in the morning and early afternoon on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Judging: Schools need to update their judge information on a consistent basis via Tabroom. We will again be using a Mutual Preferred Judging System. Schools MUST supply one qualified judge per two teams in Policy Debate. All judges are required to be available for the first full elimination debate and one round beyond the elimination of their school. We will assess a $50 per round penalty for no show judges, so please ensure your judges are able to fulfill their obligations.