Event Info-READ

**You may mail checks ahead of time or stop by in person registration at the tournament hotel Friday to drop off your payment and pick up meal tickets***

Judge Requirements: All judges in varsity policy and LD debate must have a judge philosophy on tabroom.  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 2019 September/October topic:

Resolved: The European Union should join the Belt and Road Initiative.

PF will use the standard times the NSDA approves

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

In PF will be using the following NDSA reccomened times:

Time Limits

*Each team is entitled to three minutes of prep time during the round.

Note: The 3 minute summary and 3 minutes of prep are being piloted in 2019-2020. These are the speech times that will be used at all 2019-2020 district tournaments and the 2020 National Tournament.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Entry Fee $50 per debater

Varsity LD will use the 2019 September/October topic:

Resolved: In the United States, colleges and universities ought not consider standardized tests in undergraduate admissions decisions.

Novice LD will use the NSDA 2019 novice topic: 

Resolved: Civil disobedience in a democracy is morally justified.

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

Varsity Policy Debate, Entry Fee $100 per team

Novice Policy Debate, Entry Fee $50 per team

All policy debate events will use the 2019-20 topic:

Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce Direct Commercial Sales and/or Foreign Military Sales of arms from the United States.

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

Policy Judging: 1 judge covers 2 entries, the fee for each missing round $30

We will accept four entries from each school, entries after that will be waitlisted.  I anticipate being able to allow many teams from the waitlist in the tournament and will start that process 1 week after registration opens (to give all schools a chance to enter). 

Due to multiple states attending the novice policy event--we are going to enforce hard novice disclosure rules that will lock in two weeks before the tournament begins. Coaches with novice teams entered will get an email Sept. 2nd from Mr. Snider explaining how this will work.

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.