East Iowa District Qualifier

for the 2023 National Tournament

Congress Requirements

The District Congress tournament is an important event for our District, as it is another chance to qualify students to attend the National tournament. The Congress tournament will be held January 28th, 2023 at Bettendorf High School.

In order to participate, a few guidelines must be met. I have broken down these requirements by category: school, student, and entry guidelines.

School Requirements (Same as District IE/Debate)

Student Requirements (Same as District IE/Debate)

Entry Guidelines

Now that schools and students are registered and eligible to compete, there are some additional guidelines on what you can enter at the District Congress tournament. Here are the most important points:

1. Single Entry Intent Form – No student may double enter at the National Tournament. Therefore, each student must submit a Single Entry Letter of Intent, and the preferences should be part of the registration process on Tabroom.

Please ensure this is completed prior to the District Congress tournament date.

2. Entry Limts– Each event is capped at 2 entries per school in the Senate and a certain number of entries in the House. A school may enter as many entries as they can, based on their degree strength. You can verify how many entries you are allowed by visiting your profile on the NSDA website. You can verify how many House/Senate "slots" are available for your school strength on page 67 of the District Manual.

3. Congress Specific Rules - Here are some additional, Congress specific details:

A. Legislation - Each school is asked to send in at least 2 bills or resolutions by January 4. Each bill/resolution must be formatted properly. All legislation must be the original work of students from the submitting school. Templates for legislation can be found at:

https://www.congressionaldebate.org/resources/legislation-templates

On the right-hand side, just click on the "Templates" link for help with formatting. It would be very helpful if everyone used the Google format for ease of copying. Schools will receive legislation and it will be posted on a tab on the right at least 2 weeks prior to the tournament.

B. Time Allowances and Sessions - A district must offer at least two rounds, one of which must be a final round. If a district has only one chamber in a division (Senate or House), the scores from all rounds shall cumulatively determine placement and advancement to the National Tournament; a final round is not required. When planning the schedule, each round must include at least ten minutes per student in a chamber. For example, a round with 20 students in each chamber must be at least 200 minutes long. However, if there are 25 or more students in a chamber, the district may choose to hold four hour rounds instead. We will determine the exact time allowed after registration closes.

C. Judges - All judges are required to be unaffiliated. As such, schools will not be providing judges for this event. Each chamber will have 2 judges per session. In addition, each chamber will have a Parliamentarian who is there to keep the chamber running smoothly and will holistically rank all students at the end of the last preliminary round.

D. Senate Guidelines - In order to hold a Senate, where 2 students from the chamber qualify for Nationals, 6 schools are required to be present and active, as well as 10 students or more total (this is a change from previous years). If there are not 6 schools present and active at the tournament, a Senate cannot be held. If a Senate is held, 2 qualifiers will attend Nationals.

E. House Guidelines - Each District can hold as many Houses as their entry count justifies. In each House, 16-29 students in the chamber qualify two students. When you have more than 29 entries, you hold 2 Houses, with each qualifying two students. NOTE: Each House must have a minimum of 16 students to qualify a student to Nationals.

https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/High-School-Unified-Manual-2022-2023Oct13.pdf