Damus Hollywood Invitational

Welcome to the Fifth Annual Damus Hollywood Invitational!  We are excited to host the tournament on November 4-6, 2017. On Saturday and Sunday, novice and varsity policy debate and the WSDC format competition will be hosted at Notre Dame High School; novice and varsity Lincoln-Douglas will be hosted at Harvard-Westlake Upper School.  All Monday rounds for policy and LD will be hosted at the tournament hotel, the Marriott Courtyard Sherman Oaks/Los Angeles.  We strongly urge teams to stay at the tournament hotel to help make hosting the tournament more affordable.  

We are a quarterfinals bid to the Tournament of Champions in varsity policy and a semifinals bid to the Tournament of Champions in varsity LD. We also hope to have a diverse national pool of competitors in both varsity policy and LD that will ensure a better points standing for the NDCA Championships.

Entry limits are as follows: four (4) varsity policy teams, two (2) novice policy teams, six (6) varsity LDers, four (4) novice LDers, and two (2) WSDC teams.  All competitors must represent the school for which they are currently enrolled, have principal approval to travel and compete as part of the school’s official debate team and have an adult chaperone present at the tournament.

Registration will open on August 15^th (5pm PT) at http://damushollywoodinvitational.tabroom.com. Due to limited space, we urge teams to register ASAP.  Once the tournament space fills, we will start a waitlist for each event.

Some tournament highlights/changes:

(1) iPad Mini’s will be given to the top speakers in the policy and LD divisions.

(2)Novice Policy will be limited to reading NDCA Novice Policy Packet evidence as well as “full source shared” UDL/MDL packets or state-sanctioned evidence packets. UDL/MDL and state-sanctioned packets must be balanced (meaning there are adequate answers to each position included) and must be emailed in full source by 10/2/17 to Tallungan@gmail.com to be allowed in the novice division. This evidence will be reviewed and then provided on the ND Tournament website for everyone by October 5^th.  If no alternate packets are submitted, then the field will be restricted to using the NDCA packet evidence. Please email questions if you are unclear on what this policy means.  

(3)Coaches will be asked to acknowledge tournament policies and audio recording procedures. This acknowledgement will replace individual audio recording forms.

(4)We pride ourselves on our hospitality so several meals are included with your entry fees. On Saturday, we will have the In-N-Out truck at ND only (since there is no lunch at Harvard-Westlake due to late start) and on Sunday, we will have taco catering at both ND and H-W. We will also have “To go” breakfasts for students still competing on Monday morning. 

(5)We will be using paperless balloting on Tabroom and mutual preference judging in varsity policy and LD. 

(6)3^rd and 4^th year varsity debaters can judge the novice divisions of policy and LD.

(7)Any teams that are paid in full will be able to do online registration on Friday night; hopefully, making it as convenient as possible for coaches who have paid tournament fees on time.

(8)No maverick, hybrid, or independent entries are permitted.

Please read the rest of the invitation for fee and tournament policies.  If you have any questions, please contact Christina Tallungan at Tallungan@gmail.com.

Best wishes,

Christina Tallungan                                Mike Bietz

Director of Debate, Notre Dame                        Director of Debate, Harvard-Westlake

Varsity and novice policy debate will be switch-side, cross-examination style, with an 8-3-5 format and 8 minutes of prep time. Varsity debaters should include your finest competitors.

In the novice division, only debaters in their first year of competition may enter, meaning students in the novice division should NOT have prior debate competition experience in any event. Please email Christina Tallungan (Tallungan@gmail.com) if you need clarification when entering teams.

A school may enter a maximum of four (4) teams in the varsity division. A school may enter two (2) teams in the novice division. We have space for approximately 80 varsity and 30 novice teams.  

The policy topic for the 2017 Damus Hollywood Invitational is as follows:

Resolved:   The United States federal government should substantially increase its funding and/or regulation of elementary and/or secondary education in the United States.

There will be six preliminary rounds in varsity and five preliminary rounds in novice.  Varsity policy will break to double-octafinals and novice policy will break to quarterfinals (assuming entries warrant these elimination levels).  All Saturday and Sunday competition in these events will occur at the Notre Dame High School campus.  All Monday rounds will occur at the tournament hotel, the Marriott Courtyard Sherman Oaks.

Varsity Judging Requirements for Policy Debate

There will be mutual preference judging in varsity policy. Only experienced policy judges may judge in the varsity division. "Experienced" is defined as at least a high school graduate who has competitive or coaching policy debate experience. Competitive college debate experience or a long history of coaching policy debate is most preferred. Inability to provide experienced judges may limit a team's entry and/or require a team to hire judges to fulfill their obligation. All varsity judges are required to post their judge philosophies on the wiki (http://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/) or tabroom by October 23^rd at 5pm (PT). We would like every school that wants to participate to do so; however, we require the best possible judging to ensure students have a positive competitive experience. If a school does not have experienced judges to fulfill their commitments, please contact Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com.

Obligations:

• Each team = 3 rounds (e.g., 2 VCX teams = 6 rounds and requires at least 1 judge to cover; 3 VCX teams = 9 rounds and requires at least 2 judges to cover)

In regards to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first elimination round and/or one round beyond their last school's best competitive finish. Whichever requirement is later will apply. For example, if your school has a competitor in the octafinals, then your school's judges are all obligated through the quarterfinals. This rule is necessary to ensure the best possible judging for the tournament. Please make appropriate travel arrangements that honor these requirements.

Novice Judging Requirements for Policy Debate

Adults as well as students who are 3rd or 4th year varsity debaters are eligible to judge in the novice divisions. Coaches/Directors are responsible for ensuring that any varsity debaters are knowledgeable and responsible enough to fairly assess a novice debate round.

Obligations:

• Each team = 3 rounds (e.g., 2 NCX teams = 6 rounds and requires at least 1 judge to cover; 3 NCX teams = 9 rounds and requires at least 2 judges to cover)

In regards to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first elimination round and/or one round beyond their last school's best competitive finish. Whichever requirement is later will apply. For example, if your school has a competitor in the octafinals, then your school's judges are all obligated through the quarterfinals. This rule is necessary to ensure the best possible judging for the tournament. Please make appropriate travel arrangements that honor these requirements.

Novice Evidence Restrictions for Policy Debate

Novice Policy will be limited to reading NDCA Novice Policy Packet evidence as well as full source and shared UDL/MDL packets or state-sanctioned evidence packets. UDL/MDL and state-sanctioned packets must be balanced (meaning there are adequate answers to each position included) and emailed in full source by 10/2/17 at 5pm (PT) to Tallungan@gmail.com to be allowed in the novice division. This evidence will be reviewed and then provided on the tournament tabroom website for everyone by October 5^th.  If no alternate packets are submitted, then the field will be restricted to using the NDCA packet evidence. Please email questions if you are unclear on this policy. 

Penalty for Missing Rounds

Please note there is a $40 per round penalty for any judges that miss their rounds. Please advise your judging staff that the team will be charged if they do not attend their debate rounds. We prefer not to charge any teams for missing debate rounds and this nuisance fee is only assessed to discourage judges from missing debates to ensure a high quality experience for all competitors.

Hired Judging for Policy Debate

There will be a limited number of LD and policy judges available for hire. Note that once you hire a judge, you are liable to pay for that request EVEN IF you find you do not need it as the tournament approaches.  This rule applies even in the event your school decides not to attend the tournament at all; your school will still be responsible for any judge hire and relevant drop fees. You must email Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com by October 2, 2017, at 5pm (PT) to hire judging.

Lincoln-Douglas will include varsity and novice divisions, with NFL rules and time limits. Varsity LD debaters should include only your finest competitors. 

In the novice division, only debaters in their first year of competition may enter, meaning students in the novice division should NOT have prior debate competition experience in any event. Please email Christina Tallungan (Tallungan@gmail.com) if you need clarification when entering teams.

A school may enter a maximum of six (6) debaters in the varsity divisions and four (4) debaters in the novice division. We have space for approximately 120 varsity and 40 novice debaters in LD.

The November/December NSDA Lincoln-Douglas topic will be used; check the October Rostrum.

There will be six preliminary rounds in varsity and novice Lincoln-Douglas.  Varsity LD will break to double octafinals; novice LD will break to quarterfinals (if numbers warrant).  All Saturday and Sunday competition for these events will take place at the Harvard-Westlake Upper School campus. All Monday competition will occur at the tournament hotel, the Marriott Courtyard Sherman Oaks.

Varsity Judging Requirements for Lincoln-Douglas Debate

There will be mutual preference judging in varsity Lincoln-Douglas. Only experienced LD judges may judge in the varsity division. "Experienced" is defined as at least a high school graduate who has competitive or coaching LD debate experience. Inability to provide experienced judges may limit a team's entry and/or require a team to hire judges to fulfill their obligation. All varsity judges are required to post their judge philosophies on the wiki (http://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/) or tabroom by October 23^rd at 5pm (PT). We would like every school that wants to participate to do so; however, we require the best possible judging to ensure students have a positive competitive experience. If a school does not have experienced judges to fulfill their commitments, please contact Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com.

Obligations:

• Each LD Debater = 2 rounds commitment (e.g., 3 LDers = 6 rounds and requires at least 1 judge to cover; 4 LDers = 8 rounds and requires at least 2 judges to cover)

In regards to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first elimination round and/or one round beyond their last school's best competitive finish. Whichever requirement is later will apply. For example, if your school has a competitor in the octafinals, then your school's judges are all obligated through the quarterfinals. This rule is necessary to ensure the best possible judging for the tournament. Please make appropriate travel arrangements that honor these requirements.

Novice Judging Requirements for Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Adults as well as students who are 3rd or 4th year varsity debaters are eligible to judge in the novice divisions. Coaches/Directors are responsible for ensuring that any varsity debaters are knowledgeable and responsible enough to fairly assess a novice debate round.

Obligations:

• Each LD Debater = 2 rounds commitment (e.g., 3 LDers = 6 rounds and requires at least 1 judge to cover; 4 LDers = 8 rounds and requires at least 2 judges to cover)

In regards to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first elimination round and/or one round beyond their last school's best competitive finish. Whichever requirement is later will apply. For example, if your school has a competitor in the octafinals, then your school's judges are all obligated through the quarterfinals. This rule is necessary to ensure the best possible judging for the tournament. Please make appropriate travel arrangements that honor these requirements.

Penalty for Missing Rounds

Please note there is a $40 per round penalty for any judges that miss their rounds. Please advise your judging staff that the team will be charged if they do not attend their debate rounds. We prefer not to charge any teams for missing debate rounds and this nuisance fee is only assessed to discourage judges from missing debates to ensure a high quality experience for all competitors.

Hired Judging for Lincoln-Douglas Debate

There will be a limited number of LD and policy judges available for hire. Note that once you hire a judge, you are liable to pay for that request EVEN IF you find you do not need it as the tournament approaches.  You must email Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com by October 2, 2017, at 5pm (PT) to hire judging.

The WSDC format is comprised of 3-person teams. During each round, each team will compete against another 3-person team from a different school. If the team is from the United States, they must represent the school for which they are currently enrolled, have principal approval to travel and compete as part of the school’s official debate team and have an adult chaperone present at the tournament. If the team is international, then all competitors for a team must be enrolled in high school (or an equivalent institution in their country of origin) and must have an adult chaperone/coach (at least 18 years of age and graduated from high/secondary school). We anticipate the division will be small this year and may use a round robin format.  Schools may enter 1-2 teams and must provide one judge for their team. There is room for approximately 16 teams.

There will be a diversity of prepared and impromptu motions. These motions will be released by September 15^th so that participants have ample time to prepare for the competition.

Points and wins will be calculated using the WSDC Championship process. See Rules and guidelines for the WSDC format at www.schoolsdebate.com/guides.asp. Note that some details in this document are specific to the WSDC Championships and will not apply to the Damus Hollywood Invitational. If you have questions about a specific practice, please email Christina Tallungan at Tallungan@gmail.com.

Also, instructional videos that you might find helpful in preparation can be found at http://debate.uvm.edu/wsdcvideo.html.

Awards 

The following awards will be given in this year’s competition: Top Individual Speaker, Champion, and 2nd Place.

Judging Requirements for WSDC Debate

Each team should also enter a qualified judge (an experienced adult). We would like every school that wants to participate to do so; however, we require the best possible judging to ensure students have a positive competitive experience. If a school does not have experienced judges to fulfill their commitments, please contact Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com.

Obligations:

• 1 team = full commitment (at least 1 judge)
• 2 teams = 2 full commitments (at least 2 judges)

In regards to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first elimination round and/or one round beyond their last school's best competitive finish. Whichever requirement is later will apply. For example, if your school has a competitor in the semifinals, then your school's judges are all obligated through the finals. This rule is necessary to ensure the best possible judging for the tournament. Please make appropriate travel arrangements that honor these requirements.

Penalty for Missing Rounds

Please note there is a $40 per round penalty for any judges that miss their rounds. Please advise your judging staff that the team will be charged if they do not attend their debate rounds. We prefer not to charge any teams for missing debate rounds and this nuisance fee is only assessed to discourage judges from missing debates to ensure a high quality experience for all competitors.

Hired Judging for WSDC Debate

There will be a limited number of WSDC judges available for hire. Note that once you hire a judge, you are liable to pay for the judge hire EVEN IF you find you do not need the hire as the tournament approaches.  You must email Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com by October 2, 2017, at 5pm (PT) to hire judging.

It is an expectation of the tournament that students will accurately represent material read during speeches. In order to ensure compliance students may record their opponents’ speeches. It is the responsibility of coaches to ensure that their debaters and parents understand this tournament requirement and complete the paperwork necessary to ensure compliance with applicable state laws.

The tournament recognizes the NDCA definition of card clipping and will follow the NDCA’s suggested guidelines for processing card clipping accusations. The NDCA definition and procedures can be found here: https://www.debatecoaches.org/s/clipping.pdf

Please email Christina Tallungan (Tallungan@gmail.com) if you have any questions.

First, complete online registration at http://damushollywood.tabroom.com.

Second, send in necessary entry fees to confirm your entries.  Teams will be accepted on a “first come, first served” basis. Send checks to: 

Notre Dame High School

Attn: Christina Tallungan/Debate

13645 Riverside Drive

Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

Please make all checks or money orders payable to “Notre Dame High School.”  We will not accept purchase orders in lieu of a check or a money order for fees.

If you wish to enter more competitors above the school limit, please enter them on the website and email Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com.

Entries will not be confirmed without payment in advance.  Except for the penalties or the fees for extra entries, we will not collect fees at registration on Friday night. If you have illness or change in entries for any reason, fees can be refunded until October 16^th at 5pm (PT); no refunds are available after this date/time.

Refundable Fees (Until October 16^th at 5pm PT):

WSDC - $50/Each Team

Novice LD - $75/Each Competitor

Varsity LD - $85/Each Competitor

Novice CX - $100/Each Team

Varsity CX - $125/Each Team

Non-refundable Fees:

Hired Judge Fee -   $200/Per uncovered policy team

                                    $150/Per uncovered LD debater

                                    $200/Per uncovered WSDC team

            Missing Judge Penalty - $40/per judge per missed round

            Nuisance Penalty - $50 (any changes to entry after 10/31/17 at 12noon PT)

While there is not an official deadline to enter the tournament, we operate on a “first come, first serve” basis and we will probably fill all space at the tournament.  As a result, each school should send in its entries as soon as possible.

Please pay careful attention to the below deadlines to avoid paying any penalties and/or to avoid losing preference privileges in varsity LD and policy.  

AUGUST 15^th (5pm PT) - Registration opens at

                                                http://damushollywood.tabroom.com  

SEPTEMBER 15^th (5pm PT) – Release prepared motions for WSDC division. 

OCTOBER 2^nd (5pm PT) -            Submit any state-sanctioned or UDL/MDL novice

policy evidence packets for approval in the novice policy division. Email Christina Tallungan at Tallungan@gmail.com to submit full source evidence packet. 

            Hired Judging Deadline. Email Christina Tallungan at

Tallungan@gmail.com if you need hired judging.

                                              Hired  judging will NOT guaranteed after this                                                deadline. Note hired judging fees are non-refundable.

OCTOBER 5^TH (5pm PT) -       List of approved novice policy packets updated on

tabroom.com for students and coaches to prepare.

OCTOBER 12^th (11:59pm PT) - Full prepayment due for rooms booked in hotel

block. Drop unneeded rooms by this date to avoid unnecessary penalties.

OCTOBER 16^th (5pm PT) -        Drop Deadline. Any entries dropped at this point  must pay any of the

relevant drop fees per team (see list of fees above).

OCTOBER 16^th (11:59pm PT) – Hotel Block Deadline. Must book before this

                                                deadline to receive tournament hotel rate.

OCTOBER 23^rd (5pm PT) - Judge Online Entry Deadline. Schools must enter

                                           names of all their judges.

Judge Philosophy Deadline. All varsity LD and policy judges must have a judge philosophy posted on judge wiki or tabroom.

October 31^st  (12noon PT) – Competitor Online Entry Deadline.  All correct                                                             competitor names and drops must be entered online

                                                to avoid a $50 nuisance fee.

October 31^st  (5pm PT) -   Mutual preferences available for varsity LD and                                                  

policy at http://damushollywood.tabroom.com.

                                                Preferences will close on Friday before registration.

NOVEMBER 3^rd (6-9pm PT) – Online registration and registration at the