We are excited to invite middle + high schools (in Wisconsin or beyond) to participate in our WORD debate festival format.

What makes it a festival?

• No elimination rounds; contests emphasize participatory, learning mindsets
• Schools register debaters by round (see schedule) for maximum flexibility (including mixing/matching debate categories).

Debate Categories & Entry Fees

• Congressional Debate (1 student = an entry); $2.50/entry
• World Schools Debate (3-5 students* = an entry); $7.50/entry
  * in a Worlds round, 3 students may speak

Entry fees are waived for WISDAA member schools; Wisconsin schools pay fees shown above; non-Wisconsin schools will be assessed a separate one-time $50 administrative fee per school year.

All schools are expected to provide adjudicators; please see Adjudicators section below regarding fees for uncovered adjudicators.

In Worlds, we do allow "hybrid" entries, consisting of students from multiple schools.

Topics

Congressional legislation (one bill per round) is posted to the right. For this contest, both Worlds rounds will be prepared motion rounds, so we encourage registering the same teams for both rounds wherever possible, so students get experience debating both sides.

• Prepared motion: This house prefers a standard primary election over the caucus system.

Adjudicators & Uncovered Adjudicator Fees

Each school should provide adjudicators (judges) equivalent to the number of entries (or fraction thereof) participating during a given time slot. Those requirements are:

• Congressional: 1 adjudicator per 6 entries or fraction thereof
• Worlds: 1 adjudicator per 2 entries or fraction thereof

Uncovered adjudicator slots will be assessed a $30 fee per adjudicator not provided.

Schedule