Competition Events

We are offering the following events for competition. All events run concurrently, students may only register for one event.

Public Forum: The Public Forum division will offer seven preliminary rounds over Friday and Saturday. We will be debating the November Topic. The division will likely break to octafinals, but depending on the number of entries this may change. Our intent is to clear all debaters with a 5-2 record. We are running this division "Apple Valley style" - meaning that this division will not be double flighted. If the division becomes extremely large, we may offer a novice division for first year debaters.

Why seven rounds? A couple reasons: First, in PF we observe a coin-toss - so we do not have any side-skewing concerns. Second, we like giving all students more opportunities to debate. Third, for Wisconsin Debaters seeking state qualification, we need to offer an odd number of rounds.

Lincoln-Douglas: The Lincoln-Douglas division will offer seven preliminary rounds over Friday and Saturday. We will be debating the November-December Topic. The division will likely break to octafinals, but depending on the number of entries this may change. All rounds will be in the 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 format, with 4 minutes prep. This division will not be flighted.

Open Policy Debate: The open policy debate division will offer five preliminary round over Friday and Saturday. This division will likely break to quarterfinals, but depending on the number of entries this may change. All rounds will be in the 8-3-5 format with 8 minutes prep. Wisconsin teams, please note, this is a two-person division that will switch sides.

New this year: we are also offering coaches the option to designate their second year debaters as JV debaters. We will offer a break out rounds for the top JV CX debaters who do not clear to elimination rounds.

Novice Policy Debate: The novice policy debate division will offer five preliminary rounds over Friday and Saturday. This division will likely break to semifinals, but depending on the number of entries this may change. All rounds will be in the 8-3-5 format with 5 minutes prep. Wisconsin teams, please note, this is a two-person division that will switch sides.

Why five rounds in policy debate? Two reasons: For Wisconsin Debaters seeking state qualification, we need to offer an odd number of rounds. A lower number of rounds helps keep the CX divisions on a similar schedule as the PF/LD divisions.

Congressional Debate: Back by popular demand! The Congressional Debate Division will offer two competitions. There will be one competition on Friday with one session and there will be one competition on Saturday with  one or two sessions. Each day will be its own competition - meaning we will give out two sets of awards. On Saturday, if there is sufficient interest, we will have one session that breaks to a Super Session. If there is not sufficient interest to make a Super Session on Saturday work, we will offer a second session on Saturday. If eliminated students in another division (Lincoln-Douglas or Public Forum) are interested in participating in a Congressional Debate, we may offer them the opportunity to participate in the second Saturday Congressional Debate Session (if we are not doing a super-session). We are intending to give awards to the best presiding officer, the top debaters (as determined by the judges), and the top debaters (as determined by the students). Schools wishing to submit legislation must do so by Monday, October 31. We are hoping to release the legislation to be debated by November 3.