Details

Registration:

The initial registration deadline is October 12th. When registering, all entries will be initially waitlisted. Once payment is received, your registration will be guaranteed, and your entries will be removed from the waitlist. Payment by check or purchase order must be received by Monday, October 12, 2019. As of 7 pm CST on Monday, October 12th, fees will be assessed and refunds will no longer be available. We understand that many schools are having trouble processing payments this fall and we will be flexible. If you would like to pay electronically by card or ACH, email us at minneappledebate@gmail.com.

Registration Checks

Please make checks payable to: Apple Valley Speech & Debate Alumni Foundation

Click here for a copy of our W9

Checks can be mailed to:

Minneapple Debate
Attn: Colin Goodson 
16240 Godson Drive
Lakeville, MN 55044 

Virtual tournament:

This year, the Minneapple will be using a virtual format facilitated by NSDA Campus. Links to virtual rooms will be available to students and judges directly through the tabroom pairing. Further instructions will be provided as the tournament nears.

The virtual format also necessitates changes to our typical schedule. Most notably, some late elims will push into Sunday morning, and start and end times will change to accommodate multiple time zones. Below is a sketch of start and stop times by day, for more detailed schedules please view the event schedules linked on the sidebar.

We will be using the auto-flip feature for all rounds featuring flip for sides. Students will be notified through tabroom whether they have won the flip, the winning side will have 10 min to make their pick or else either team can make a selection

In debate events, each side will have 10 min of "tech time" to deal with technical issues that may come up. Beyond that amount, time will need to be taken from speeches. 

Friday November 6th

First round begins at 4pm central
Last round begins at 8pm central

Saturday November 7th

First round begins at 10am central
Last round begins at 8pm central

Sunday November 8th

First round (if needed) beings at 10am central
Tournament concludes

Decision times:

LD Decision Times: We will again be using decision times in LD this year. Decision time simply means there will be a deadline by which the judge must make a decision in each debate. Each round’s decision time deadline is based on the Tabroom pairing start time. If the judge does not enter a decision in tabroom by the decision time, it is within the Tabroom’s power to randomly assign the winner of that debate. We do intend to enforce this, but hope we don't have to.

For prelims we will enforce a 75 minutes decision time for elims it will be 80 minutes. 

Entry Rules and Fees:

The registration deadline is October 12th. We may need to close registration prior to October 12th due to space.  We will continue to take registrations after that date if space can accommodate entries. In order for us to provide the best tournament possible, all changes should be communicated promptly and as they occur up until the day of the tournament. You may continue to make changes to registration after the website is shut down by emailing minneappledebate@gmail.com.  On the day of the tournament, all changes in registration must be called directly into the tab room before you arrive at the tournament site. The pre-tournament tab contact on registration day is Chris Theis at 952.412.9353. 

Fees can be refunded until 7PM CST on Friday, October 12th; no refunds are available after this date.  If space allows for late entries, they must be followed by payment per the procedures listed in order to be guaranteed.

Any outstanding balances for the tournament must be paid at the registration desk before any entries from your school are allowed to compete.

• Schools may enter up to SIX Varsity LD debaters and SIX Varsity PF teams. Additional entries may be entered on the additional entry waitlist. The tournament will be capped at 180 total entries in both Varsity PF and Varsity LD.

• There are NO entry limits in JV and Novice LD, Novice Public Forum, or Congressional Debate.
• There is a school registration fee of $25.
• The Varsity Public Forum fee is $75 per team.
• The Varsity LD registration fee is $75.
• The Congressional Debate entry fee is $50.
• The Novice Public Forum fee is $35 per team.
• The Novice LD fee is $35.
• The JV LD entry fee is $40.

Independent Entries:

We will not admit any student who wishes to compete without the approval, knowledge, or consent of their school administration and/or coach(es).

Harassment and Discrimination Policy: 

This tournament upholds our school district’s harassment and discrimination policy.  Instances of harassment/discrimination should be reported to the tabroom or tournament ombudsman as soon as possible.  Reports of harassment/discrimination will be handled in accordance with ISD 196 policy and will be adjudicated by Tournament Equity Officers, or an Apple Valley High School Administrator.

This year our Equity officers are:

Dan Hodges

Michelle Keohane

Tzitel Voss

Judging:

In Varsity divisions, schools may not hire out their entire judging commitment.  A minimum of one judge must represent each school.  We believe this will further enhance the diversity and quality of our Varsity judge pools.

Also, in Varsity divisions, please assist us in having the best pool of judges possible by making judges available to us that reflect the quality of the competition.  First-year outs are allowed to fulfill a school's commitment, but we strongly encourage the head coach to serve as a critic and be represented in the judge pool. 

Please remember that a school's judges are obligated at least through the first full elimination debate, or one round past the elimination of its last team/debater after that.  To ensure the best judging pool possible and flexibility for pairings, we cannot guarantee requests for partial judging commitments. Given that the Minneapple has only single flights in each preliminary round, this commitment is comparable to a half-time commitment at a tournament that has flighted rounds. 

Judges obligations cannot be split across divisions.  For example, if you have two novice LD debaters, you will need one judge at Scott Highlands Middle School. However, if you have only one Novice LD debater and one Varsity LD debater, you would need one judge at each building for a total of two judges.

If judging obligations are not met, the tournament reserves the right to remove a school's entries to balance the student-judge ratio. This includes cases where judges are missing the first round on Friday or Saturday. Debaters may be reentered into the schedule but with losses for the missed rounds.

LD: We do not flight rounds. Therefore, each school must provide one qualified judge for every two LD debaters in each division, or portion thereof. 

PF: We do not flight rounds.  Each school must provide one qualified judge for every 2 teams, or portion thereof. 

Hired Judges:

YOU MUST SPECIFICALLY REQUEST A HIRED JUDGE BY OCTOBER 12th.  LEAVING THE JUDGING COMMITMENT BLANK DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE HIRED A JUDGE. Requests are NOT guaranteed until confirmed. We have a limited number of hired judges available and will try to honor requests to the best of our ability. Please make every attempt to bring your own judges for each division. The fee is for a judge is $175 per uncovered entry. Note: this fee is per entry, not per judge owed. Requests after that designated date will incur a late fee charge of $130.00. If you are interested in being hired by the tournament, please fill out this form.

Judge Preferencing:

In Varsity LD, the Minneapple will afford teams the ability to rate judges as well as strike a small portion of the field. In order to accomplish this, we require that all teams submit judge names by 6PM CST November 2nd. If a judge's name is changed or removed from the pool after this date, the tournament will assess a $50 fee. This fee is charged to prevent teams from adversely affecting all other teams preferences. This fee will be assessed at registration and will be due before teams are permitted to compete. All judges in the Varsity LD division are required to submit a judging philosophy on tabroom by 6PM CST on November 2nd. Teams whose judges have not submitted a paradigm will not be permitted to submit a preference sheet without exception. Judge Preferences will open on November 4th. 

Any teams who have not fulfilled their judging obligation or who have judges without paradigms listed online before the deadline will not be permitted to preference judges without exception. 

Any judge who is not listed on the preference sheet will become a free strike. Teams wishing to exercise their free strikes must notify the tab room prior to the next round's pairing to ensure that their strikes are honored. 

In Varsity PF, we will offer limited judge strikes. 

Judge Conflict Policy: 

The tournament will use the TOC rules when evaluating judge conflicts. 

Chaos Control Fees:  

Because the judge pool is integral to the efficiency and quality of the tournament, a 'chaos control' fee of $40.00 will be assessed per missed round per judge and must be paid by the end of the tournament.  Schools must have their judging obligations filled for all rounds including rounds one and two on Friday or pay for hired judges to fulfill those round requirements. 

Awards: 

Due to the virtual nature of the tournament, we will not be offering our signature marble apples as awards this year. Instead, we will use the money typically earmarked for trophies to make donations on behalf of elim participants to charities of their choice. We will be compiling a diverse list of reputable charities suggested by the community. If you have a recommendation, please email us at minneappledebate@gmail.com.

Time Limits and Resolutions:

In LD, we will use the NSDA 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 time limits with 4 minutes of preparation time. Each division of LD will debate the NSDA November/December resolution.

In PF, we will use NSDA rules and time limits. Each division of PFD will debate the NSDA November resolution. 

LD/PF Pairing Protocols:

Rounds one and two in all divisions will be randomly paired. Rounds three through six will be paired high-low within brackets. Brackets will not be broken in elimination rounds. Varsity speaker awards are based on speaker points in preliminary rounds. 

NSDA Rules: 

The MinneApple will use NSDA rules for all events, but the enforcement of all rules is left to judges in the round. If there are NSDA pilot rules available for an event, they will be in effect at the tournament. 

Congress Information: 

Legislation: Schools must use CongressionalDebate.org legislation templates, and submit -- via this Tabroom registration site -- up to one (1) item per student, and up to 4 per school. Only Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, or Rich Text Format (RTF) file types will be accepted - no PDFs. Legislation may be rejected if it does not meet standards enumerated for relevant legislation within the jurisdiction of the United States Congress.  If there are many submissions from schools, we will select the best from among each school's submission for the overall tournament docket.  See below for deadlines and posting dates.

Rules/Procedures:  The MinneApple uses NSDA rules, including pilot rules.

Advancement and Finals:  Using NSDA tabulation protocols, about one-third of the preliminary session field advances to semifinal chambers of 9-12 students, and a final session chamber of 10-14 students. Direct questioning will be used for semifinal and final rounds.

Awards/TOC Bid Level: The top six students receive MinneApple apple awards, and non-placing final session participants will receive an award.  The top PO from each preliminary chamber -- as well as the final session PO -- will receive a gavel.  All final round contestants, plus the next highest-ranked student in each of the semifinal chambers earns one bid/leg to the University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions.

Student Leadership Award: While student vote will not determine outcome of the tournament, a special award modeled after the NSDA National Tournament leadership award will be conferred upon one final round debater who earns preferential ranking by their peers. 

Judges: One judge for every five Congressional debaters. This judging obligation may not be shared with other divisions.  Since the Minneapple offers small chambers to allow students more meaningful opportunities to debate, more judges will be needed.  Please note experience as a parliamentarian in the notes area when registering judges.

Important Dates:

October 12th

Registration Due (capacity may be full prior to this date).
Final Fees Assessed at 7 PM CST.  No refunds are available after this date.
Check Payment/Purchase Order Due.
Golden Apple Award Nominations Due.
Distinguished Alumnus Award Nominations Due.
Hired judge requests due by 7 PM CST.
Additional entry waitlist notified.

October 19th

Congress Legislation Due (extended to October 19).

October 24th 

Congressional Debate Legislation Released. 

November 2nd

Final Judge Names Entered by 7 PM CST.
Varsity LD Judge Paradigms submitted on tabroom

November 4th

Judge Preferencing available.  

After November 4th: 

ANY changes to your entries or judges should be entered on the website until it is closed. Then all changes should be emailed to minneappledebate@gmail.com.  Changes on the day of the tournament must be called in to Chris Theis at 952.421.9353.