Damus Hollywood Invitational

Varsity and novice policy debate will be switch-side, cross-examination style, with an 8-3-5 format and 8 minutes of prep time. Varsity debaters should only include your finest competitors. Only debaters in their first year of competition may enter the novice division.

A school may enter a maximum of four (4) teams in the varsity division. A school may enter two (2) teams in the novice division. We have space for approximately 80 varsity and 30 novice teams.  

The policy topic for the 2015 Damus Hollywood Invitational is as follows:

Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially curtail its domestic surveillance.

There will be six preliminary rounds in both varsity and novice policy.  Varsity policy will break to double-octafinals and novice policy will break to quarterfinals (assuming entries warrant these elimination levels).  All Saturday and Sunday competition in these events will occur at the Notre Dame High School campus.  All Monday rounds will occur at the tournament hotel, the Marriott Courtyard Sherman Oaks.

Varsity Judging Requirements for Policy Debate

There will be mutual preference judging in varsity policy. Only experienced policy judges may judge in the varsity division. "Experienced" is defined as at least a high school graduate who has competitive or coaching policy debate experience. Competitive college debate experience or a long history of coaching policy debate is most preferred. Inability to provide experienced judges may limit a team's entry and/or require a team to hire judges to fulfill their obligation. All varsity judges are required to post their judge philosophies on the wiki by October 23^rd  (5pm PT); the judge philosophy wiki can be found at http://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/. We would like every school that wants to participate to do so; however, we require the best possible judging to ensure students have a positive competitive experience. If a school does not have experienced judges to fulfill their commitments, please contact Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com.

Obligations:

• 1 team = 4 Round Commitment (at least 1 judge)
• 2 teams = 6 Round Commitment (at least 1 judge)
• 3 teams = 10 Round Commitment (at least 2 judges)
• 4 teams = 12 Round Commitment (at least 2 judges)

 In regards to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first elimination round and/or one round beyond their last school's best competitive finish. Whichever requirement is later will apply. For example, if your school has a competitor in the octafinals, then your school's judges are all obligated through the quarterfinals. This rule is necessary to ensure the best possible judging for the tournament. Please make appropriate travel arrangements that honor these requirements.

Novice Judging Requirements for Policy Debate

Adults as well as students who are 3rd or 4th year varsity debaters are eligible to judge in the novice divisions. Coaches/Directors are responsible for ensuring that any varsity debaters are knowledgeable and responsible enough to fairly assess a novice debate round.

Obligations:

• 1 team = 4 Round Commitment
• 2 teams = 6 Round Commitment

In regards to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first elimination round and/or one round beyond their last school's best competitive finish. Whichever requirement is later will apply. For example, if your school has a competitor in the octafinals, then your school's judges are all obligated through the quarterfinals. This rule is necessary to ensure the best possible judging for the tournament. Please make appropriate travel arrangements that honor these requirements.

Penalty for Missing Rounds

Please note there is a $40 per round penalty for any judges that miss their rounds. Please advise your judging staff that the team will be charged if they do not attend their debate rounds. We prefer not to charge any teams for missing debate rounds and this nuisance fee is only assessed to discourage judges from missing debates to ensure a high quality experience for all competitors.

Hired Judging for Policy Debate

There will be a limited number of LD and policy judges available for hire. Note that once you hire a judge, you are liable to pay for that request EVEN IF you find you do not need it as the tournament approaches.  This rule applies even in the event your school decides not to attend the tournament at all; your school will still be responsible for any judge hire and relevant drop fees. You must email Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com by October 2, 2015, at 5pm (PT) to hire judging.

Lincoln-Douglas will include varsity and novice divisions, with NFL rules and time limits. Varsity LD debaters should include only your finest competitors.  Only debaters in their first year of competition may enter the novice division.

A school may enter a maximum of six (6) debaters in the varsity divisions and four (4) debaters in the novice division. We have space for approximately 120 varsity and 40 novice debaters in LD.

The November/December NSDA (formerly the NFL) Lincoln-Douglas topic will be used; check the October Rostrum

There will be six preliminary rounds in varsity and novice Lincoln-Douglas.  Varsity LD will break to double octafinals; novice LD will break to quarterfinals (if numbers warrant).  All Saturday and Sunday competition for these events will take place at the Harvard-Westlake Upper School campus. All Monday competition will occur at the tournament hotel, the Marriott Courtyard Sherman Oaks.

Varsity Judging Requirements for Lincoln-Douglas Debate

There will be mutual preference judging in varsity Lincoln-Douglas. Only experienced LD judges may judge in the varsity division. "Experienced" is defined as at least a high school graduate who has competitive or coaching LD debate experience. Inability to provide experienced judges may limit a team's entry and/or require a team to hire judges to fulfill their obligation. All varsity judges are required to post their judge philosophies on the wiki by October 23^rd (5pm PT); the judge philosophy wiki can be found at http://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/. We would like every school that wants to participate to do so; however, we require the best possible judging to ensure students have a positive competitive experience. If a school does not have experienced judges to fulfill their commitments, please contact Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com.

Obligations:

• 1-2 competitors = 4 Round Commitment (at least 1 judge)
• 3-4 competitors = 6 Round Commitment (at least 1 judge)
• 5-6 competitors = 10 Round Commitment (at least 2 judges)

In regards to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first elimination round and/or one round beyond their last school's best competitive finish. Whichever requirement is later will apply. For example, if your school has a competitor in the octafinals, then your school's judges are all obligated through the quarterfinals. This rule is necessary to ensure the best possible judging for the tournament. Please make appropriate travel arrangements that honor these requirements.

Novice Judging Requirements for Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Adults as well as students who are 3rd or 4th year varsity debaters are eligible to judge in the novice divisions. Coaches/Directors are responsible for ensuring that any varsity debaters are knowledgeable and responsible enough to fairly assess a novice debate round.

Obligations:

• 1-2 competitors = 4 Round Commitment (at least 1 judge)
• 3-4 competitors = 6 Round Commitment (at least 1 judge)

In regards to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first elimination round and/or one round beyond their last school's best competitive finish. Whichever requirement is later will apply. For example, if your school has a competitor in the octafinals, then your school's judges are all obligated through the quarterfinals. This rule is necessary to ensure the best possible judging for the tournament. Please make appropriate travel arrangements that honor these requirements.

Penalty for Missing Rounds

Please note there is a $40 per round penalty for any judges that miss their rounds. Please advise your judging staff that the team will be charged if they do not attend their debate rounds. We prefer not to charge any teams for missing debate rounds and this nuisance fee is only assessed to discourage judges from missing debates to ensure a high quality experience for all competitors.

Hired Judging for Lincoln-Douglas Debate

There will be a limited number of LD and policy judges available for hire. Note that once you hire a judge, you are liable to pay for that request EVEN IF you find you do not need it as the tournament approaches.  You must email Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com by October 2, 2015, at 5pm (PT) to hire judging.

The WSDC format is comprised of 3-person teams. During each round, each team will compete against another 3-person team from a different school. If the team is from the United States, they must represent the school for which they are currently enrolled, have principal approval to travel and compete as part of the school’s official debate team and have an adult chaperone present at the tournament. If the team is international, then all competitors for a team must be enrolled in high school (or an equivalent institution in their country of origin) and must have an adult chaperone/coach (at least 18 years of age and graduated from high/secondary school). We anticipate the division will be small this year and may use a round robin format.  Schools may enter 1-2 teams and must provide one judge for their team. There is room for approximately 16 teams.

There will be a diversity of prepared and impromptu motions. These motions will be released by September 1st so that participants have ample time to prepare for the competition.

Points and wins will be calculated using the WSDC Championship process. See Rules and guidelines for the WSDC format at www.schoolsdebate.com/guides.asp. Note that some details in this document are specific to the WSDC Championships and will not apply to the Damus Hollywood Invitational. If you have questions about a specific practice, please email Christina Tallungan at Tallungan@gmail.com.

Also, instructional videos that you might find helpful in preparation can be found at http://debate.uvm.edu/wsdcvideo.html.

Awards

The following awards will be given in this year’s competition: Top Individual Speaker, Champion, and 2nd Place

Judging Requirements for WSDC Debate

Each team should also enter a qualified judge (an experienced adult). We would like every school that wants to participate to do so; however, we require the best possible judging to ensure students have a positive competitive experience. If a school does not have experienced judges to fulfill their commitments, please contact Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com.

Obligations:

• 1 team = 4 Round Commitment (at least 1 judge)
• 2 teams = 6 Round Commitment (at least 1 judge)

In regards to elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first elimination round and/or one round beyond their last school's best competitive finish. Whichever requirement is later will apply. For example, if your school has a competitor in the semifinals, then your school's judges are all obligated through the finals. This rule is necessary to ensure the best possible judging for the tournament. Please make appropriate travel arrangements that honor these requirements.

Penalty for Missing Rounds

Please note there is a $40 per round penalty for any judges that miss their rounds. Please advise your judging staff that the team will be charged if they do not attend their debate rounds. We prefer not to charge any teams for missing debate rounds and this nuisance fee is only assessed to discourage judges from missing debates to ensure a high quality experience for all competitors.

Hired Judging for WSDC Debate

There will be a limited number of WSDC judges available for hire. Note that once you hire a judge, you are liable to pay for the judge hire EVEN IF you find you do not need the hire as the tournament approaches.  You must email Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com by October 2, 2015, at 5pm (PT) to hire judging.

To compete in ANY division or event at the Damus Hollywood Invitational, students must have their parents complete a permission form allowing them to be audio taped. The audio permission form can be found on tabroom website for the Damus Hollywood Invitational.  

Please send your permission forms to Tim Mahoney, pacedebate@gmail.com, or fax them to him at 425-740-9130. He keeps a running list of students who have submitted forms on file. If your students previously submitted forms in 2015 to Tim Mahoney, they do not need to submit another form.

This form is necessary to enforce our clipping policies. Please review these policies with your students. The tournament recognizes the NDCA definition of card clipping and will follow the NDCA’s suggested guidelines for processing card clipping accusations. The NDCA definition and procedures can be found here: https://www.debatecoaches.org/s/clipping.pdf

First, complete online registration at http://damushollywood.tabroom.com.

Second, send in necessary entry fees to confirm your entries.  Teams will be accepted on a “first come, first served” basis. Send checks to:

Notre Dame High School

Attn: Christina Tallungan/Debate

13645 Riverside Drive

Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

Please make all checks or money orders payable to “Notre Dame High School.”  We will not accept purchase orders in lieu of a check or a money order for fees.

If you wish to enter more competitors above the school limit, please enter them on the website and email Christina Tallungan at tallungan@gmail.com.

Entries will not be confirmed without payment in advance.  Except for the penalties or the fees for extra entries, we will not collect fees at registration on Friday night. If you have illness or change in entries for any reason, fees can be refunded until October 15^th at 5pm (PT); no refunds are available after this date/time.

Refundable Fees (Until October 15^th at 5pm PT):

School Fee - $25/Each School

WSDC - $100/Each Team

Novice LD - $65/Each Competitor

Varsity LD - $75/Each Competitor

Novice CX - $75/Each Team

Varsity CX - $100/Each Team

Non-refundable Fees:

Hired Judge Fee -   $200/Per uncovered policy team

                                    $150/Per uncovered LD debater

                                    $200/Per uncovered WSDC team

            Missing Judge Penalty - $40/per judge per missed round

            Nuisance Penalty - $50 (any changes to entry after 11/2/15 at 12noon (PT)

While there is not an official deadline to enter the tournament, we operate on a “first come, first serve” basis and we will probably fill all space at the tournament.  As a result, each school should send in its entries as soon as possible.

Please pay careful attention to the below deadlines to avoid paying any penalties and/or to avoid losing preference privileges in varsity LD and policy. 

AUGUST 14^th (5pm PT) - Registration opens at http://damushollywood.tabroom.com

OCTOBER 2^nd (5pm PT) - Hired Judging Deadline. Email Christina Tallungan at Tallungan@gmail.com if you need hired judging. Hired judging will NOT guaranteed after this deadline. Note hired judging fees are non-refundable.

OCTOBER 15^th (5pm PT) -     Drop Deadline. Any entries dropped at this point must pay any of the relevant drop fees per team (see list of fees above).

OCTOBER 15^th (11:59pm PT) – Hotel Block Deadline. Must book before this deadline to receive tournament hotel rate.

OCTOBER 23^rd (5pm PT) -    Judge Online Entry Deadline. Schools must enter names of all their judges.

Judge Philosophy Deadline. All varsity LD and policy judges must have a judge philosophy posted at  http://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/. *All varsity judges must be entered and have judge philosophies posted on the wiki at this point fora school to have the privilege of judge preferences for ALL of their varsity competitors.

NOVEMBER 2^nd (12noon PT) – Competitor Online Entry Deadline.  All correct competitor names and drops must be entered online to avoid a $50 nuisance fee.

NOVEMBER 2^nd (5pm PT) - Mutual preferences available for varsity LD and policy at http://damushollywood.tabroom.com. Preferences will close on Friday before registration.

NOVEMBER 6^th (6-9pm PT) – Online registration and registration at the  Marriott Courtyard Sherman Oaks.

Marriott Courtyard Los Angeles Sherman Oaks (15433 Ventura Blvd. Sherman Oaks, CA 91403) will serve as the only tournament hotel for the Hollywood Invitational. Monday elimination rounds will be held at this hotel.  All schools are strongly encouraged to stay at the tournament hotel. While there may be some cheaper options, these options are often farther away from the tournament, which means battling significant L.A. traffic, or they are not quality properties.

Rates are $109 per night for a king or double queen room with 1-4 occupancy. Deadline to book this rate is October 15, 2015. Please make your reservations early to guarantee the block rate; most decent hotels near the schools are at least $50 per night more per night.

Please reserve your hotel rooms through this link (you have to cut and paste the link into your browser):

https://www.marriott.com/meeting-event-hotels/group-corporate-travel/groupCorp.mi?resLinkData=Damus%20Hollywood%20Invitational%20Debate%20Tournament^laxsf%60DHIDHIA|DHIDHIB%60109.00%60USD%60false%6011/6/15%6011/9/15%6010/15/15

Parking: The Marriott Courtyard has significant space for buses. The parking fee for buses is $60/night. Please call the Marriott Courtyard to reserve your bus parking. Car parking is self-park in a structure behind the hotel. Car parking in the structure is $17/per night. There is limited street parking near the hotel, but please read the street signs carefully to avoid being ticketed or towed.

For USC Round Robin Competitors:  Set-up shuttle services to make your transition smoother from the Round Robin Hotel to the Marriott Courtyard Sherman Oaks on Friday, 11/6/15. The Hollywood Invitational staff will help you with luggage transfer and transportation from the USC RR to the tournament hotel on Friday evening. Please email Christina Tallungan, Director of Debate at Notre Dame High School, at tallungan@gmail.com for further details.

We strongly recommend flights into LAX or Burbank airports, not Long Beach or Ontario. Burbank Airport is the closest; however, it is smaller and fares are sometimes significantly more than LAX. Burbank is approximately 11 miles from the tournament hotel; LAX is approximately 18 miles from the tournament hotel. Please note that the freeways you will be travelling are very congested so leave ample travel time (Love LA!).

It is easiest to rent a vehicle or bring a bus. The tournament has not negotiated any special rates with rental car companies.

Directions for Harvard-Westlake Upper School

Address: Harvard-Westlake Upper School, 3700 Coldwater Canyon Studio City, CA 91604

Parking Instructions:

TBD – See tournament announcements as tournament approaches.

Directions from Tournament Hotel:

Via freeway - Turn left onto Ventura Blvd, Turn left onto Sepulveda Blvd, Turn right onto on-ramp to 101 Freeway South, Exit Coldwater Canyon, Turn right onto Coldwater Canyon, Turn left onto Harvard-Westlake Upper School campus.

Google Maps - http://goo.gl/maps/OZ9MY
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Via side streets - Turn left onto Ventura Blvd, Turn right onto Coldwater Canyon, Turn left onto Harvard-Westlake Upper School campus.

Google Maps - http://goo.gl/maps/5gPTt
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Directions from Notre Dame High School: 

Turn left out onto Woodman from parking lot, Turn left onto Riverside Drive, Turn right onto Coldwater Canyon, After passing Ventura Blvd, Harvard-Westlake will be on your left hand side.

Google Maps from ND - http://goo.gl/maps/4wZ8E
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Directions for Notre Dame High School

Address: Notre Dame High School, 13645 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

Parking Instructions:

Park in the school lot off of Woodman Avenue. If the school lot is full or you have a bus, there is additional parking BEHIND the shops (Bank of America, Ross, etc.) diagonally across the street from the school.  Bus parking can be found in this lot. If you park in front of the shops, your car is subject to be towed so please make sure to park behind the shops to avoid this costly nuisance.

Directions from Tournament Hotel:

Via freeway -  Turn left onto Ventura Blvd, Turn left onto Sepulveda Blvd, Turn right onto the on-ramp to the 101 South Freeway, Exit  at Woodman Avenue, Turn left onto Woodman Avenue. The school is on the corner of Woodman Avenue and Riverside Drive. Turn right into the parking lot on Woodman Avenue. if driving a bus, please unload passengers in the small turnout off of Woodman Avenue just before the parking lot.

Google maps - http://goo.gl/maps/mfasf
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Via side streets - Turn left on Ventura Blvd., Turn left onto Hazeltine, Turn right onto Riverside Drive, Turn left onto Woodman Avenue, Turn right into the Notre Dame parking lot on Woodman.

Google Maps - http://goo.gl/maps/Zs9SL
View Larger Map

Directions from Harvard-Westlake:

Turn right onto Coldwater Canyon, Turn left on Riverside Drive, Turn right onto Woodman Avenue, Turn right into Notre Dame parking lot.

Google Maps - http://goo.gl/maps/uBXwv