Tournament Details

Topics

We will use the 2018 NSDA policy debate resolution.
We will use the September-October NSDA LD debate resolution.
We will use the September/October NSDA Public Forum resolution. 

ENTRY and REGISTRATION

Enter on Tabroom.com. If you have questions about using the site, email Dave McGinnis at: mcgin029@gmail.com 

Tournament entry will close when we are full (see Entry Deadlines below.)  

ENTRY LIMITS

Until our upper limit is reached, we guarantee acceptance for the first six entries (in each division) from each school; additional entries will be waitlisted and entered on a first-come, first-served basis until we are full. Teams should enter their contestants sooner rather than later; once we reach our cap in each event, we cannot accept additional entries. 

We will notify schools about waitlist status after the entry deadline (see below for more on deadlines). 
 

FORMAT AND AWARDS

All divisions will feature 6 prelim rounds and clear to double-octofinals. In the event that fewer than 32 debaters or teams complete prelims with a record of 4-2 or better, we will clear to partial-doubles, octos, or partial-octos, as circumstances dictate; in any case, only teams with winning records may clear. 

If there is a large pool of 4-2 debaters or teams not in the top 32, we may modify the elim schedule, as time and judging permits, to include a partial triple-octofinal round. We do not guarantee that all 4-2 debaters will clear, though we try to minimize the number of 4-2 debaters not clearing. 

Awards will be given to all debaters clearing to double-octofinals in all divisions. 

Special awards will also be given to the top 10 speakers in each division. The top speakers will receive the nigh-legendary Giant Mallets.   

A Team Sweepstakes Award, the Mid-America Cup, will be given to the school with the greatest overall achievement in each division. 

FEES

Each policy team entry fee is $90.00.
Each public forum team entry fee is $45.00.
Each LD debater entry fee is $80.00.

ENTRY DEADLINES 

The deadline for entry is Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at 12:00 noon central time. 

Please update your entry with changes as they come up; the website will remain open for changes until shortly before the tournament. 

Tournament entry will close when we are full, even if this occurs before the entry deadline. Do not delay - enter now! 

Entry fees will be fixed on Wednesday, September 12, at noon central time. You will be charged for any entries dropped after this time. 

Last minute drops recorded on or after Wednesday, September 19 at noon central time will incur a $25.00 drop fee in addition to the original entry fee. 

PAYMENT OF FEES

Fees must be paid by the time of registration on Friday, September 21. If your district has difficulty processing checks, please submit check requests early. Entries unpaid at the time of registration will have to be paid in cash or covered by personal check. 

Checks should be made out to FRIENDS OF VALLEY DEBATE. Mail fees to:

                        Valley High School, attention David McGinnis
                        3650 Woodland Avenue
                        West Des Moines, Iowa 50266-2198

Preferencing 

Lincoln-Douglas debate and policy debate will  feature mutual preferencing. Preferencing will be offered through Tabroom.com.
 

TOURNAMENT HOTEL 

The tournament hotel is the West Des Moines Marriott:

1250 Jordan Creek Pkwy, West Des Moines, IA 50266

To reserve rooms, call the hotel's reservation line at:, 866-202-9771.  To receive the Group rate, let them know that you are booking with the Mid-America Cup 2018 Debate Tournament) group initially when making the reservation.  All reservations must be received by the group’s cut-off date: September 13, 2018. Reservations made after the cut-off date will be subject to availability and the most available rate.

Reservations by attendees must be received on or before Thursday, September 13, 2017.

EVENT RULES 

Policy debaters will use the 2018-2019 NSDA resolution, with 8 minute constructives and 5 minute rebuttals and 8 minutes of preparation time per team. 

Lincoln-Douglas debaters will debate the September-October NSDA resolution, using the 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 format with 4 minutes of preparation time. 

Public Forum debaters will debate the September-October resolution, using standard NSDA time format. Each round will begin with the coin flip, as prescribed by the NSDA event guidelines.
                                   

CONCESSIONS 

Complimentary food and beverages, including light meals, will be available for judges. 

Reasonably priced concessions will be available for debaters, including typical debate-tournament fare. 

Due to time constraints, we request that teams not leave campus for lunch. We will try to "hurry up" rounds where possible; students and judges who are late for rounds risk forfeiting rounds and/or paying additional judge fees.
 

TRANSPORTATION 

Those traveling by air should fly into the Des Moines airport (airport code DSM). 

The tournament uses two buildings for preliminary rounds: 

Valley High School (policy and public forum)
3650 Woodland Avenue
West Des Moines, Iowa 50266-2198 

Valley Southwoods Freshman High School (LD)
625 South 35th Street
West Des Moines, Iowa 50265

INDEPENDENT ENTRY 

We will accept independent entries. 

(A) Your coach and school must approve your attendance at the MAC. Teams may enter "independently" of their school -- i.e. use an alternate team name -- but the coach and school must be aware of and approve of your participation. 

(B) All debaters are expected to travel with a responsible adult. We cannot take responsibility for a minor's well-being. We expect that all independent entries will adhere to these guidelines. In the event that we discover that a student has not, we reserve the right to cancel the student's entry in the tournament at any point in the process. Tournament entry and judging fees will not be reimbursed past the entry deadline.

(C) All entries participating as a common squad must be enrolled in the same diploma-granting school. No pairings consisting of debaters from different schools (defined as a single, diploma-granting institution) will be permitted in team events.