Tournament Rules

Tournament Portal

The tournament will run online. We will use classrooms.cloud for our competition. 

Entry Fees and Payment

The entry fee is $100 per team. This covers virtual rooms, trophies, tournament judge hires, and shipping for trophies.

We would prefer that teams mail their checks in advance. 

Please make all checks payable to New Trier Township High School. Checks can be sent to:

New Trier Township High School

c/o Dave Weston

385 Winnetka Avenue

Winnetka, IL 60093

Tournament Format

The tournament will follow an 8-3-5 format with 8 minutes of preparation time per team. 

Teams will debate the 2020-2021 high school policy debate topic, "Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following areas: forensic science, policing, sentencing." 

Student Participation

Students must compete on behalf of a singular school institution. Teams representing a private entity (aka "independent entries") that is not a school (i.e. any for profit entity, league, consortium, etc.) and/or are comprised of students from different school institutions will not be permitted to compete. In an ideal world, we would allow every student to debate. However, in order to keep the tournament in compliance with the rules of regional states education officials we must exclude independent entries.

Please note that we do not consider schools districts to be singular school institutions. Several districts are made up of different schools. Therefore, even if students receive diplomas from the same district, if team members are not enrolled at the same institution then they will not be eligible for entry.

Each student must be enrolled and in good standing with their respective school institution. Tournament registration must reflect the actual names of the students in accordance with their school enrollment. False names, symbols, etc. that are not congruent with school enrollment records will not be permitted as registered competitors. For example, if a student's name is Andrew Jeffrey Smith, but is enrolled as "AJ Smith" for the purposes of the tournament, then this would be acceptable if that student's school administration knew them as such. However, if that same student registered for the tournament as "X," then that would not be acceptable as the school administration would not know the student as such. Our tournament and school administration considers this data to be important for ensuring the safety of all students. It is also necessary for us to supply information (when needed) to the National Speech and Debate Association, the National Debate Coaches Association, and the Tournament of Champions committee.

By competing in the tournament, you are agreeing to these terms. Programs found not to be in compliance with this policy will be disqualified from the tournament. 

School Chaperone

The tournament's preference is that a school employee "accompanies" their institution's students to the competition. This means the school employee must be available for any tournament related communication. 

Recording

Please note that we are currently modifying our recording policies for virtual competition.