Invitation

Greetings!

We are excited for the 2016 Howard and Diana Nichols Invitational and very much looking forward to hosting you and your students on our campus. We hope this document contains all of the necessary information for the tournament but if you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

DIVISIONS: We will offer Varsity divisions of Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, Policy and Congressional debate.

Event Rules:  Public Forum and LD  will utilize the September/October NSDA topic. NSDA rules will be followed with regards to Public Forum debate and will include a coin flip to determine sides and speaking position. Policy will use the 2016-2017 NSDA topic.

HARKER COMPETITORS: We may enter some of our own, younger students in the tournament, especially in smaller divisions. If we do they will be eligible to clear and win speaker awards.

JUDGING:  We ask that you provide excellent critics to adjudicate rounds. In Lincoln-Douglas and Policy we ask that you bring experienced judges with significant prior debate experience (we ask that schools not bring parent judges). Each LD and PF team entered requires two rounds of judging. Each policy team requires 3 rounds of judging. ALL JUDGES ARE OBLIGATED FOR ONE **FULL** ELIMINATION ROUND BEYOND THEIR TEAM'S ELIMINATION. FAILURE TO FULFILL THIS OBLIGATION MAY PREVENT FUTURE PARTICIPATION AT THE NICHOLS INVITATIONAL.

INDEPENDENT ENTRIES: As in the past we will NOT accept "independent" entries. We define an independent entry as a team or student who wishes to compete without the approval, knowledge, or consent of their school administration and/or coach(es). All students must compete under the degree-granting high school's name in which they are officially enrolled. STUDENTS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN OFFICIAL SCHOOL CHAPERONE (ONE DECLARED LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE BY THE SCHOOL BEING REPRESENTED) DURING THE ENTIRETY OF THE TOURNAMENT.

Lodging. We have secured a block of rooms at the Courtyard Cupertino located at 10605 North Wolfe Rd. for a rate of $109 per night. The hotel is a about a 10 minute drive to campus without traffic. Reservations can be made using this link:

http://www.marriott.com/meeting-event-hotels/group-corporate-travel/groupCorp.mi?resLinkData=Harker%20School%20Room%20Block%5Esjccu%60HKSHKSA%60109.00%60USD%60false%604%609/29/16%6010/2/16%609/1/16&app=resvlink&stop_mobi=yes

Tournament Rules:

We request that oral comments not be made by judges  until after a decision has been submitted online to the tab room.

Brackets will not be broken in elimination rounds.

Each school can initially enter 4 teams in each division. On September 13th we will release teams from the waitlist pending space.