Divisions & Eligibility

The Novice division is limited to debaters in their first year of competition. First year competitors may participate in the Novice division regardless of how many previous tournaments they have competed in.

Debaters who debated during the 2022/23 school year must compete in the Varsity division unless they have competed in no more than 5 debate competitions over the length of their debate career (this includes ALL forms of debate, including Policy, LD, Parliamentary, and Public Forum). This 5 tournament limit for Novice eligibility includes tournaments held in the 2023/24 school year. In other words, if the debater competed in 4 tournaments last year and will have competed in 2 this year before our tournament, s/he must compete in the Open division (online) or TOC (in person).

The TOC division is open to all interested debaters. It is a Varsity level division and Quarter Final level TOC qualifier.

The Open division is open to all debaters. The top performing novices in this division will receive awards if they do not reach elimination rounds. Please be sure to mark your novice competitors in this division so that they can be eligible for recognition.