Good morning folks,

On behalf of Whitman College, the NPTE Executive Board, and just someone excited to wrap up the year with excellent competition, I want to welcome you to the 2024 National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence. I know that most of us will be traveling to Walla Walla in the coming days but as you pack and prepare for travel, we wanted to send some core updates for you that hopefully should help you be ready come competition on Saturday!

1. MPJ- As in the past, the tournament will use mutually preferred judging (with an emphasis on mutual > preferred). Preferences will open 12 Noon (PDT) on Thursday, April 25^th and close at 6:00 PM (PDT) on Friday, April 26^th. IF your travel plans will prevent you from completing by that deadline please let the Exec Board know ASAP.

2. Payment- We can accept digital payments via the NPTE’s official PayPal accessible at npteboard@gmail.com. If an invoice via PayPal is needed for your institution, I can create one directly for you and email to the email on file with TabRoom. We can also accept cash or check’s made out to either Steven Farias, Treasurer NPTE or Pacific Forensics-Noted for NPTE (we apologize for the inconvenience on checks at the moment but as we work to recover much of what was lost during the last few years, we are still working to re-establish the bank account of the organization).

3. Elimination Round Updates- Due to the size of the tournament, we will be cutting to the top 8 this year instead of top 16. The tournament will remain double elimination until we reach semi-finals and finals which when the tournament will become single elimination. In the event that we have an unbreakable tie after prelims for the final spot in elimination rounds, we will hold a runoff debate for the final spot in elims.

4. Tournament information- Baker has done an excellent job providing a packet of information for you and your students that will be available at registration at Young Ballroom from 6:00-8:00 PM. Registration will dovetail into the opening reception where all coaches, competitors, and judges are welcome to attend in the Reid Campus Center. There will be food, conversation, and welcome notes from the tournament. No need to dress to impress, but feel free to bring your best possible self to socialize and build community.

Everything else you might need to know will either be in the packet or available on the google doc for the tournament. This has information about prep rooms, discord for online rounds, and buildings/etc. we will be using. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wZ_BzgrZ17ToUcDsSYmF9WI7uBEf1Wg7AFuF0XIsXAA/edit?usp=sharing

That is all for now! Thank you all for supporting the tournament and we cannot wait to see you all in a couple of days!

-Steven Kalani Farias, Treasurer and TD NPTE