At-Large Entries

Application

Deadlines

All students not qualifying for the NPDL-TOC via meeting at least one of the posted annual points thresholds are encouraged to apply at-large. At-large applications will open 2/1/2017. Teams made up of one fully qualified partner and one non-qualified partner will participate in the same application pool as other at-large applicants. The deadline for at-large applications will be the same as the second points deadline. At-larges will be informed of their status (accepted or position on waitlist) two weeks after the second points deadline. Accepted teams will have three days to confirm their registration before their spot will be offered to the next team on the waitlist. If a team qualifies via tournament points but has already submitted an application, they will be considered fully qualified and their application will not be part of the review process. The final order in which applicants are offered spots will be in compliance with NPDL-TOC Regional Diversity Rule.

Required Materials and Formatting

Application packets should consist of the following:

• Application form (submitted through the link posted on the main page.

• Sample case file (submitted via email)

• Round recording file (submitted via email)

• Waiver forms for any minors whose voices are heard in the round recording (submitted via email)

Submission of a personal essay has been eliminated for this year. Missing any portion of the application package will not result in invalidation of the application package but may result in no points being awarded in impacted categories.

In an effort to keep student identities anonymous to reviewers, round recording files should be sound only and not contain any identifying information. Sample cases should also contain no identifying information. Submitted files should be named as follows:

• Round recording files should be named [Student1 First and Last Initial-Student 2 First and Last Initial Recording]. If the recording is from a tournament, the name should also include “Tournament.” Descriptive information for the video will be submitted in the application form.

• Sample case files should be named [Student1 First and Last Initial-Student 2 First and Last Initial Case].

Failure to follow anonymity instructions will result in ZERO points being awarded in these categories.

Scoring

The Board will designate a committee of coaches and community members to assess round recordings and sample cases. This committee will be made public before at-large applications close. Cases and recordings will be assigned for review by two committee members who do not know the applicants. All objective categories will be scored by the NPDL-TOC director.

Tournament Points (40%)

(No change from 2016-2017)

Tournament points = 20 * (Partner 1 Points/Max Applicant Points + Partner 2 Points/Max Applicant Points)

Underrepresented Region (17.5%)

(Increased 7.5% from 2016-2017)

Point Allocations (17.5 possible)

• 17.5 points: East Coast, South, Midwest, Washington State, International

• 15 points: California region 2, 3, or 4

• 10 points: Oregon

• 0 points: California region 1

Small School (20%)

(Increased 10% from 2016-2017)

Point Allocations (20 possible)

• 5 points: Applicants would be first from their school to attend the NPDL-TOC

• 10 points: School has less than 50 points in Club Rankings

• 5 points: Applicants would be the only team from their school competing at the NPDL-TOC this year

Underrepresented Minority in Debate (5%)

(Increased 5% from 2016-2017)

Applications are scored based on EITHER partner qualifying as an underrepresented minority. For example, if both partners are female, they would earn four points. If one partner were nonbinary and both were Latinx, the team would earn the maximum five points.

Point Allocations (5 possible)

• 3 points: Underrepresented racial minority (Black, Latinx, Native American, Pacific Islander)

• 2 points: Female or nonbinary

The director reserves the right to invalidate an entire application in which applicants misreport minority status.

Round Recording (10%)

(Increased 5% from 2016-2017)

Recordings from tournaments or practice rounds are acceptable. Speeches other than those given by the applicants do not need to be included. The director reserves the right to invalidate an entire application in which applicants misrepresent a recording that does not contain them or do not submit waivers for all minors in the recording

Sample Case (7.5%)

(Decreased 2.5% from 2016-2017)

Entrants should submit a sample affirmative and negative, written jointly, on a topic to be issued when at-large entries open.