Northern Lights District Qualifier

for the 2023 National Tournament

Congress Qualifier Information

Greetings Congress Coaches,

On behalf of the Northern Lights District Committee, it is my pleasure to invite you and your team to the 2022 NSDA District Qualifier in Congressional Debate, held in person at St. Francis High School on Friday, December 9 and Saturday, December 10. Please use the ‘register’ tab at http://northernlights.tabroom.com to complete your registration.

Please note the following important details:

1. Registration: We are using Tabroom.com as our online host for the NL District Tournament Series. Registration will open on Nov. 8 at http://northernlights.tabroom.com. Remember that all entries must be submitted no later than Friday, December 2 at 8pm.

2. Chapter Dues/Membership Requirements: You will not be able to register on Tabroom.com unless your school has paid its annual chapter dues to the NSDA. Please take care of this promptly so that you have no difficulties in entering. In addition, all students must be on record as members of the NSDA seven days prior to the tournament. These two items are non-negotiable as they are dictated by the national office. Please let me know ASAP if you need help with this.

3. Legislation: Each school that attends the Northern Lights MN Congress Tournament may submit up to three pieces of legislation. One should be marked “primary” to reserve for the final round. The legislation should be emailed to allison.harmer@isd728.org by 3:00pm on Friday, November 4. Legislation will be sent to schools and posted to our tabroom site early the following week, allowing students more than four weeks to research and prepare. The order of the docket will be determined by the entries in each chamber. All legislation marked “primary” will be reserved for the final round.

4. Judges: Each school is required to bring ONE judge who can serve for the duration of the tournament. If you have trouble with this, please let me know! Additionally, if your judge is “clean” (i.e. can judge your students), please add that information in the judge notes. Otherwise, coaches or regular, experienced judges are ideal for this.

5. Schedule: All districts requiring more than one preliminary chamber MUST hold a final session. Based on anticipated entry numbers, we expect two preliminary rounds and a final round in the House and three preliminary rounds (no final) in the Senate. Our tentative schedule is as follows:

Friday, Dec. 9:

Registration/Check-in: 2:00-2:30pm

Preliminary Session I: 3:00-5:30pm

Dinner Break: 5:30-6:00pm

Preliminary Session II: 6:00-8:30pm

Saturday, Dec. 10:

House Finals/Senate Preliminary Session III: 9:00-11:45am

Awards: 12:15pm or sooner

6. Fees: In addition to paying your NSDA annual membership fee, please bring a check made to Northern Lights to cover your entry fees (or a PO if your school is slow in processing checks). There is a $25 school fee and each entry is $12.00. Fees are frozen on Dec. 2 at 8pm. If your school mails checks, please address letters to me:

Moorhead High School

Attn. Andrew Tichy

2300 4th Ave. S.

Moorhead, MN 56560

7. Qualifiers: In the House, an equal number of students from each preliminary chamber will advance to the final round (if applicable). If there are fewer than 30 students, the top two will qualify. If there are 30+ students, the top four will qualify. In the Senate, regardless of entry numbers, the top two students will advance to Nationals. At minimum, six schools and ten students must be represented in the Senate for that chamber to be seated.

8. Rule Changes: New this year, preset, randomized recency will be used in every round. Tabroom software will generate this list. Precedence/recency will reset after each round. Direct questioning will also be used in every round. More information can be found starting on page 82 of the NSDA Rules Manual.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing you in person at St. Francis High School in December!

Thank you,

Andrew Tichy

Northern Lights District Chair