Event Information and Judging

Judge Requirements: All judges in varsity policy and LD debate must have a judge philosophy on tabroom or the judge wiki.  Both divisions will be using a preference system so it is very important that judges entered in those events have philosophies listed.  This is a requirement for participation, not a request.

Public Forum Debate, Entry Fee $50 per team

PF will use the 2017 September/October topic:

Resolved: Deployment of anti-missile systems is in South Korea's best interest.

PF will use the standard times and each team will have 2 minutes of prep time per round.

PF Judging: 1 judge covers 4 entries, the fee for each missing judge is $100

Entry Fee: $50 per team

Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Entry Fee $50 per debater

LD will use the 2017 September/October topic:

Resolved:  In the United States, national service ought to be compulsory.

LD will use the standard 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 speech times with 4 minutes of prep time. 

LD Judging: 1 judge covers 4 entries, the fee for each missing judge is $175

Entry Fee: $50 per debater

Varsity Policy Debate, Entry Fee $80 per team

All policy debate events will use the 2017-18 topic:

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

Varsity and Novice Policy will use the standard 8-3-5 format with 8 minutes of prep time.

Varsity Policy Judging: 1 judge covers 2 entries, the fee for each missing judge is $175

Entry Fee: $80 per team

Novice Policy Debate, Entry Fee $30 per team

Novice Policy Judging: 1 judge covers 2 entries, the fee for each missing judge is $100

Entry Fee: $30 per team

Who is eligible for novice debate?

At the JW Patterson Invitational Debates a policy team may enter the novice division if they meet one of the following criteria:

1.  It is the first full year of debate competition for both debaters. 

2.  Both debaters are still in middle school.  They have not entered 9th grade.

*Note: For a year of debate competition to count towards the novice quota the debater should have competed in at least 3 tournaments.

Clarification?

1.  If my team 9th-grade debater competed in middle school debate and attended at least 3 debate tournaments they have to compete in the varsity division?  Yes, we do not consider this team a novice. 

2.  If I have 8th-grade students who debated all 7th-grade year and attend 3 or more tournaments do they have to compete in varsity?  No, they are currently in middle school so they may stay in the novice division.

3.  If my 9th-grade debater debated in middle school but only attended two tournaments do they have to debate in varsity? No, they did not meet the 3 tournament threshold to qualify for a year of novice debate so they may stay in the novice division. 

4.  If my 9th-grade debater attended 1 tournament in 7th grade and 2 tournaments in 8th grade do they have to compete in the varsity division?  Yes, they have competed in 3 total tournaments during middle school so that counts as a full year of competition.

5.  Does attending a tournament in LD or Public Forum count towards my novice policy experience?  Yes, debate is debate.  While the events are different they share many of the same skill sets: flowing, line-by-line argumentation, calculating impacts, etc.  

Novice Debate Evidence Packet--UPDATED

There will be a novice debate evidence packet that must be used at this tournament.  Novice policy debaters are encouraged to using files from the Oklahoma novice policy packet.  I will email the packet to anyone interested (just ask) and post it on this site soon.  

If a novice policy team wants to use an Aff case or negative arguments that are not included in the Oklahoma novice packet they MUST email Bryan Gaston (tournament director, bgaston@heritagehall.com) the full files (this includes all evidence they might read in the round) by Sept. 22nd.  The files will be distributed to all coaches in the novice division.  In the event that there is no case neg for "X" teams Aff or answers for "X" Neg argument I will allow coaches to send me additional files that answer Affs or Neg arguments until October 1st.  I will then email out the supplement files.  If I do not get an email from "X" teams coach with the non-OK packet Aff and Neg args they want to run by Sept. 22nd it will not be included in the updated novice policy packet and cannot be used. 

PLEASE do not abuse my flexibility on this issue by sending me files your novices will likely not read or attempt to flood the novice case list or evidence packet with a ridiculous amount of files.  I want the novice division to be a solid teaching and training ground where there is a decent set of predictable arguments while not forcing everyone out of state to use the Oklahoma packet.