Invite

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Illinois State University Forensics Union, I cordially invite you to participate in the 12^th Annual Lincoln-Douglas Redbird Debate Tournament, a hybrid NFA-LD tournament that will be hosted on the campus of Illinois State University and through Zoom on November 2-3, 2024. The weekend will be comprised of a 6 round prelim tournament with requisite outrounds by division.

Major Change to the Hybrid Nature of this tournament: In an effort to encourage face-to-face competition, the ISU Redbird will be capping online debate entries to 30% of the field. Priority will be given to student run teams, community colleges, and teams that are over 12hrs driving distance. Additionally, those teams that are competing face-to-face may only bring 2 online judges. For context, had this been the policy for 2023, the total number of online debaters would have been capped at 19 [2023 had 31 total online entries out of a field of 62). It will be on a first-come, first-served basis with a waiting list for online participation (with some leeway for priority listed above).

To facilitate the 30% cap, we ask that online entries enter the ONLINE “divisions”. Any team wanting to utilize hybrid entries will be waitlisted until October 29, 2024, at 5pm. October 30, 2024, I will contact teams to inform them if they were accepted to compete as online entries. I will then merge the online and in-person divisions for the tournament.

Divisions

We will offer Varsity, Junior Varsity, Novice divisions. For the purpose of this tournament:

· Varsity – any student eligible to compete in NFA-LD

· Junior Varsity – any student in their first 2 years of collegiate debate.

· Novice – any student in their first 2 semesters of collegiate debate (3 tournaments = 1 semester) We ask that you put any student with high school policy debate experience in JV so as to protect the novice division when possible. We do leave this decision up to the coaches though.

Judge Coverage

Each program must cover at least 75% of their debate entry to ensure that the judging pool is diverse and qualified. Due to contractual obligations, we are unable to hire any of the graduate students at the university to help cover judging, BUT you can hire them! I cannot guarantee that any will be interested, but I can reach out. This is a 6 round prelim tournament, that means that a full time judge is available for 6 prelim rounds!

· 6 entries = 18 rounds owed. This means your team must cover at least 14 rounds! (I will be rounding up on requirements, so if you do the math and get .5 at the end, round up to the next whole number)

Additionally, in an effort to increase the quality of the LD judging pool we are offering 1 free slot per judge above a team’s commitment (maximum of 2 free entries). We recognize that there is a lot of talent we do not have contact information for and would love to employ those individuals for the weekend. If you assist in securing hireds for the pool, we will pay the judge AND offer your team a free entry slot.

Hybrid Information

All physical rooms will have access to the Zoom in case they are assigned an online competitor or judge. Physical debaters will not have to utilize their personal computers for accessing Zoom if they do not want to. Round 1 and 2 will be preset and pairing in-person debaters will be prioritized for those rounds. However, beginning in round 3 pairings will be power matched as normal.

Covid-19 Protocols

If you have any students or judges that start to show signs of Covid or the flu during the tournament we ask that you DO NOT bring them to campus. If they would like to continue to compete or judge from their hotel room please notify tab and that switch can easily be made. There will also be no fees for a drop due to illness.

FEES

$40 per covered LD entry (1 judge covers six preliminary rounds, each debater = 3 rounds of coverage needed)

IE: if you have 1 debater, 75% coverage would be 2 rounds (a little under 75%). If you have 7 debaters 75% would be 16 rounds.

$140 per uncovered LD entry (This is the $35 entry fee + $100 uncovered fee)

Judges dropped at registration will incur an additional $75 + the $100 uncovered entry fee.

If you need entry fee assistance, please reach out as opportunities are available. The sooner you reach out the easier it will be for us to accommodate you.

ENTRIES DUE:

5:00 pm (CST) Tuesday, October 29, 2024. Mark your calendars!

Any no-shows for the tournament will be assessed the following fees:

· A debater no-show, DURING THE TOURNAMENT, is an additional $80 AND the debater will be dropped from the rest of the tournament. Being on-time to debate rounds is extremely important for hybrid tournaments, there is a 5min window for every round. (If a technical problem arises, please contact tab as soon as possible so that we can make adjustments on a case-by-case basis)

· A judge no-show fee is an additional $100 per round the judge no-shows. After a 2^nd no-show, the judge will be dropped from the judging pool and the school will be assessed the $75 drop fee and the $100 uncovered entry fee.

The tournament will be utilizing Tabroom.com and Zoom for those competing and judging remotely. All registration will occur through Tabroom.

Payment

Please make checks payable to: Illinois State University Forensics Union; EIN# 376014070. W9 is available upon request. If sending a check, we ask that you have them sent to us at least 2 weeks after the close of the tournament. Please mail checks to:

ISU Forensics

Campus Box 4480

Normal, Il 61790-4480

If you would like to pay by credit card, we have the option for you to pay online. Online Payment Portal

We prefer Check or Card, but if you need to pay in cash change will not be available!

Awards – We will award the top 5% or top 5 speakers in each field, depending on which is a higher number. If the novice division does not make, we will recognize Top Novice. The speaker awards are named after Howard C. Nelson, a member of the Illinois State University debate team in the 1920s. Mr. Nelson was a committed member of the team, and the speaker awards are awarded in his honor and to continue the legacy of competitive debate at Illinois State University. We will also offer awards to all advancing debaters.

Sweepstakes – Debate sweeps will be awarded to the top three schools based on prelim and elimination wins. Prelim rounds will score 3 points, Elim wins will score 5 points, tournament champion will earn 10 points.

Rules and Tiebreaks – The tournament will be using NFA-LD Rules. The first tie break will be Opponent Wins and the second tie break will be based dropped High/Low speaker points. (please note this is different than the NFA-LD national tournament)

Preround Prep Time: Prelim rounds will be allotted 15 minutes of prep time, even if the tournament begins to run a little late. Elimination rounds will be allotted 30 minutes of prep time.

Ballot results need to be turned in ASAP AND BEFORE any oral RFDs are provided to the debaters. If it becomes a recurring problem that a judge is giving a verbal RFD before submitting their ballot the tournament reserves the right to drop that judge and assess fees as outlined above.

Judge Commitments– All judges will be committed for the first FULL outround and then 1 round after their last debater’s loss. We would appreciate it if you could stay for all the outrounds to allow for diverse panels. If you would like to volunteer to judge rounds past your commitment, please let tab know ASAP.

RFDs and Feedback: ISU believes that oral feedback and Reasons For Decision (RFD) disclosure is best for the educational aspect of the activity as it allows students the ability to adjust throughout a tournament. We ask that all judges provide an oral RFD and some written notes for the debaters at the conclusion of the round. However, ballots MUST be submitted before this begins. Remember that you can submit your decision and then go back and make more comments until the close of the tournament. There will be a minimum word count of 25 words for the RFD, this is to ensure that coaches and students have a written record of the judge’s decision to help debaters adjust and improve between tournaments. Disclosure in outrounds is required, unless asked to withhold a result for some reason at the tournament’s discretion.

Speaker Points: In an attempt to standardized speaker points, we are going to try using a speaker point scale for this tournament. Judges are asked to stick to the provided scale on the ballots. If awarding C or below level points, PLEASE provide a clear reason as to why and how the student can improve in front of you.

· 28-30 (grade point A) Excellent

· 25-27 (grade point B) Good

· 22-24 (grade point C) Average

· 20-21 (grade point D) Improve

· It is only acceptable to give fewer points than these in instances of improper behavior (which must be noted on the ballot). Please stick to 26-30 as the range for speaker points.