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Dear Colleague,

You are cordially invited to participate in the 35^th annual Liberty University Debate Tournament, October 2-4, 2026.

We will offer six preliminary rounds of in-person competition in novice, junior varsity, and open. We will clear ½ of all teams in each division, up to a full double-octofinal bracket

We plan on offering 2 prelims on Friday, with the remaining 4 on Saturday and elimination rounds on Sunday. Please note that all times on the tournament schedule are Eastern Time.

Sincerely,

Michael Hall with Morgan Copeland, Maverick Edwards, Heather Hall, and John Nagy

Liberty University Debate Tournament

October 2-4, 2026

Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia

Format:

Topic: We will debate the 2026-2027 CEDA resolution.

Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially reduce arms transfers from the United States to one or more of the following:

• the Federal Republic of Nigeria

• Japan

• the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

• the Republic of China

• the Republic of the Philippines

• the State of Israel

• Ukraine

• United Mexican States.

Sanctioning: The tournament will be sanctioned by CEDA and will be run in accordance with their rules. A copy of the CEDA Constitution and By-Laws can be found here: CEDA-Constitution-and-By-laws-4-19-22.pdf.

In-person Format: All competitors and judges must be available in-person.

Preliminary rounds: There will be six preliminary rounds. Rounds one and two will be pre-set. Rounds three through six will be power matched. Three divisions of debate will be offered: novice, junior varsity, and open.

Elimination rounds: We will clear the top ½ of each division, up to a full double-octofinal bracket.

Observation/Recording: Recording rounds, releasing videos, or videos without prior permission of the participants is prohibited. Anyone registered as a debater or judge on tabroom is allowed to watch any debate unless the participants ask them to leave. Anyone not registered must get prior approval from each participant before being allowed to watch the debate. This includes parents, high school students, and coaches who have zero judging commitment.

Our goal is to run the entire tournament in DeMoss Hall. Food and most competition rooms will be in DeMoss Hall on the 4^th floor. We will do our best to keep the entire tournament on the 3^rd and 4^th floors, but we will likely have to use rooms on other floors, particularly on Friday.

Entries:

Eligibility: Eligibility for participation in each division is governed by CEDA rules.

Definition of a Debate Team: For the purposes of ADA tournaments, a debate team is defined as the two-person team that begins the first round of the tournament and who debate together throughout the course of the tournament. If one of the debaters of a team cannot debate in any given round, that round will be forfeited. To debate in a round is defined as to give one constructive speech and one rebuttal. Speaker points in forfeit situations will be averaged, but the team forfeiting is ineligible to clear to elimination rounds if speaker points are the determining factor for their clearing. The debate may still occur for educational purposes. However, that team will still be eligible for speaker awards and elimination rounds.

Hybrids: Hybrid teams may participate in preliminary rounds and are eligible to clear.

Deadline: Please enter the tournament by September 28, 2026 using tabroom.com. After that date e-mail entry changes directly to Nick Ryan (nryan2wc at gmail).

Fees: Fees are $75 for each participant (debater, judge, observer, or coach). Fees cover the cost of awards and every meal from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch.

Please contact Michael Hall (mphall at liberty dot edu) if the fee structure is a barrier to your participation. We will happily reduce or waive fees.

Paying Fees: We prefer payment by credit card at the following link: In-Person Attendance Fee

We also accept checks made checks payable to Liberty Debate. You can drop checks off in the tabroom at any time during the tournament.

Tournament Registration: Please confirm your entries through tabroom when you start your travel to Lynchburg. Changes should be emailed to nryan2wc at gmail,

Judging:

Entry Requirement: Each school must provide 3 rounds of qualified judging for each team entered in the tournament.

Please use tabroom to coordinate your hired judging. The tournament will have a limited number of rounds per available for hire at $75 per round. If you need to hire judges, please enter early.

All judges will be required to judge through the quarterfinal elimination round or one round after your last team is eliminated whichever occurs later.

Judges are expected to have significant prior experience with policy debate. If a judge does not have significant prior experience with policy debate, they are ineligible to judge without advanced permission from the tournament.

Judge Placement: Judges will be placed using mutual preference in all divisions in a manner consistent with CEDA rules.

Speaker Points: We will use a 30-point scale with .1 increments. No ties are allowed.

Decision Time: In preliminary rounds, judges are expected to render a decision within 2:15 of the announced start time. In elimination rounds, judges are expected to render a decision within 2:30 of the announced start time. At debate tournaments conducted online the time given to render a decision may be expanded by time allotted to resolve technical difficulties. If a judge needs to take additional time following a delay because of technical difficulties (Tech Time), the judge should promptly communicate the need to delay and the amount of time of the delay to the tournament tab room staff. If the judge is unable to make a decision within the appropriate time parameters for that round, the tab room should randomly decide a winner by coin flip.

Awards: Awards will be provided to the top 8 teams and the top ten speakers in each division.

Food: We will provide dinner on Friday, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner on Saturday, and Breakfast and Lunch on Sunday.

35^th Liberty University Debate Tournament

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

(All Times are Eastern)

Friday, October 2 (All Times are Eastern)

3:15 pm - Round 1 & 2 Pairings

3:50 pm - Round 1 Report Time.

4:00 pm - Round 1 Start Time

6:15 pm - Round 1 Decision Time

6:00 pm – Dinner—DeMoss 4^th Floor

6:35 pm - Round 2 Report Time

6:45 pm - Round 2 Start Time

9:00pm - Round2 Decision Time

Saturday, October 3 (All Times are Eastern)

7:30 am – Breakfast—DeMoss 4^th Floor

7:45 am - Round 3 and 4 Pairings

8:10 am - Round 3 Report Time. 

8:30 am - Round 3 Start Time

10:45 am - Round 3 Decision Time

11:00 am – Lunch—DeMoss 4^th Floor

11:35 am - Round 4 Report Time

11:45 am - Round 4 Start Time

2:00 pm - Round 4 Decision Time

2:30 pm - Round 5 Pairing

3:05 pm - Round 5 Report Time

3:15 pm - Round 5 Start Time

5:30 pm - Round 5 Decision Time

5:15 pm – Dinner—DeMoss 4^th Floor

6:00 pm - Round 6 Pairing

6:35 pm - Round 6 Report Time

6:45 pm - Round 6 Start Time

8:00pm - Round6 Decision Time

Sunday, October 4 (All Times are Eastern)

7:00 am – Breakfast – DeMoss 4^th Floor

7:15 am – First Elim Pairing

7:25 am - Coin Flip Blast

7:35 am - Flip Deadline

7:50 am - Report Time

8:00 am - Start Time

10:30 am - Decision time

12:00 pm – Lunch – DeMoss 4^th Floor