Sunflower Invitational: Tournament Guidelines and Procedures

The Sunflower Invitational

January 5-6, 2018

Blue Valley Southwest High School

Tournament Guidelines and Procedures

1.  The resolution to be debated is Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its funding and/or regulation of elementary and/or secondary education in the United States.

2.  The tournament will be cross-examination style with 8-3-5 time limits.  Prep time is 5 minutes.

3.  Round I will be pre-set.  Subsequent rounds will be power-matched “high” vs “high”.  Each team will debate as close to 3 rounds affirmative or 3 rounds negative as is possible by the end of the 5^th preliminary round.  Brackets will be broken during elimination rounds.

4.  Entry fees are $10.00 per team.  Registration deadline is December 18th.  Cancellations after January 3rd at 5:00 pm are non-refundable.

5.  In each division, the top sixteen teams will receive medals.  The top 10 speakers will receive medals.

6.  Each school is REQUIRED to bring one ADULT judge for every 2 teams (or portion thereof) entered in the tournament.  Please bring judges who will write educational and fair ballots.  Failure to bring judges disqualifies your teams from debating.  Judges must be high school graduates (should have graduated in May 2017 or before).  Judges are obligated to judge one round beyond when their school’s teams are finished in the tournament.  ALL JUDGES MUST HAVE A TABROOM.COM ACCOUNT TO BEST INSURE COMMUNICATION DURING THE TOURNAMENT.

7.  Any team more than 10 minutes late to a round through no fault of the tournament will be forfeited with a 3-4 loss and 0 speaker points.

8.  Tournament Tie-Breakers

A.  To advance to the first elimination round in each division:

1. Win/Loss; 2. Total Speaker Ranks; 3. Total Opposition Wins; 4. Opposition Total Ranks; 5. Head to Head; 6. Total Individual Speaker Points (- Best / - Worst; 7. Total Individual Speaker Points; 8. Computer Coin Flip.

B.  Recognition of the Top 10 Speakers in each Division:

1. Total Individual Speaker Points (- Best / - Worst); 2. Total Individual Speaker Points; 3. Total Ranks; 4. Total Opposition Points; 5. Total Win/Loss; 6. Total Opposition Wins; 7. Head to Head; 8. Computer Coin Flip.

C.  Sweepstakes

Total points earned by up to 3 teams entered (regardless of division).  1 pt. awarded for each win, 1 pt. awarded for each bye.  If tied at the conclusion of the 5 preliminary rounds, tied schools/teams advancing into the first elimination round will receive an additional point.  If tied at that point, schools/teams advancing into the second elimination round will receive an additional point.  This process will continue until the tie is broken.   If there is still a time at the start of the final round, each final round champion will receive an additional point.  If there is still a tie at the end of the tournament, Co-Sweepstakes Champions will be announced.  The Novice Open Division winner will "host" the award from January - May.  The Novice Division winner will "host" the award from August - December.

9.  Brackets will be broken throughout to avoid two teams from the same school having to meet.  Brackets will be broken so as to favor the higher ranked team.

10.  Determination of sides in Elims: The higher seeded team will “call the coin toss.”  The winner of the coin toss will determine sides.

11.  Judges will be considered “clean” at the beginning of elimination rounds and may see a team a second time in elimination rounds.