April 19-20, 2025 CARD Tournament and Conference of Scholars

March 1, 2025

Dear colleagues and friends,

We would like to cordially invite you to the 2025 CARD Tournament and Conference of Scholars, hosted by Arizona State University. Please join us in Tempe, AZ for a weekend of exploring the topic of clean energy policy, undergraduate research presentations, and a celebration of the 2024-2025 debate season.

This invite contains the key parameters for our schedule, the cost of the event, and how to register/submit materials. More specific details will be provided to registered participants as the event draws closer, but we wanted to highlight the unique elements of our event and the key “need-to-knows” in this invite.

Mode: This is an in-person event that will accommodate online-participation for judges, students, and guests who cannot join in Tempe.

Tournament + Conference: This is a debate tournament and undergraduate research conference with 4 rounds of competition and 1 round of presentations where students can either share their own work or serve as audience members for panelists, including opportunities for Q&A

Conference Submissions- Accessible + Creative. Debaters are strongly encouraged to submit proposals (or even small research papers) for inclusion in the conference by April 9, 2025. Students could consider presenting research they have prepared for debate rounds (such as an affirmative case, or a set of negative “off-case” positions). We also welcome creative, original, and artistic work.

Awards: The event will conclude with an award ceremony that recognizes student performance in debate and awards for creative and engaging research. To encourage students to pursue both debating and sharing their work for different audiences, the top junior and senior division undergraduates who participate in both debates and conference presentations will receive a cash prize (funded personally by some of our directors and coaches).

Fees: Fees will be charged to schools participating in the debate tournament to offset the costs of tabulation and contribute towards event costs, including catered food both days. Students participating only in the research conference will not be charged a fee, but must register ahead of time at (link forthcoming)

If there are questions, do not hesitate to contact event organizer Dr. Adam Symonds (Adam.Symonds@asu.edu) or the CARD Executive Secretary Dr. Travis Cram (Travis.Cram@wwu.edu).

Best wishes from ASU Forensics

Tournament and Conference Registration

Tournament entries: Debate programs can register for the tournament on Tabroom.com

Deadline- initial entries and party size: April 9, 2025, 5 pm PST.

Deadline- judging and entry adjustments (fees locked): April 17, 2025, 5pm PST.

Schedule for tournament fees:

School registration fee $55

Debate team fee $90

Uncovered judging fee $200

Hotel information:

Option 1:

Sonesta Select Tempe Downtown
601 South Ash Ave, Tempe AZ, 85281
$129/night 2 bed rooms
booking link

Option 2:

Residence Inn Tempe Downtown/University
510 S Forest Ave, Tempe, AZ 85281
$189/night king+sofa bed rooms
booking link

Conference Individual Submission and Registration: Program directors are responsible for directing their participating undergraduate students to submit their individual research via Google Form. The form outlines the specific parameters for research submissions.

Submission Form: (link forthcoming)

Submission deadline: April 9, 2025, 5pm PST.

Conference Theme: We will include any student presentation that is connected to the broader topic of climate change. It is not solely limited to the context of the United States, or formal questions of policy. We are especially interested in submissions that respond to the conference theme:

What is to be done in the face of the existential threat of climate change? For more than thirty years, the IPCC has produced data on the release of greenhouse gases, increasing temperatures, and the relationship between them. With the planet now more than 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and climbing, scientists predict major changes to the Earth’s ecosystems, and habitability. CARD strives to develop student skills in practicing democratic citizenship. This year’s topic demands that students evaluate the implications of impending climate change and contemplate how citizens can respond at various levels.

Submission Parameters: We aim to encourage diversity and creativity in approaches, as scholarship comes in a variety of forms. Submissions should adhere to one of the following options (let your students know they can propose a short essay under option B if they are not ready to submit by the deadline):

A. Short Research essay: A brief essay (7-10 double-spaced pages) that responds to the topic prompt in some manner (arguments in favor, arguments against, critical analysis of assumptions or gaps in the topic prompt, etc.). Students could consider converting debate speech materials into written materials as one example of this work. Essays should be double spaced with 12 point font and 1 inch margins, include a sources cited page and use any recognized academic formatting style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.). With the author's permission, these essays will be published online as a digital collection.

B. Creative research proposal: A short (1-2 double-spaced pages) proposal for original student work that engages in original, creative, performance and/or artistic methods of analysis of the topic prompt in some manner (for example, presenting original photographic work, a spoken-word testimonial, a research poster, etc.). The proposal submission should include a description of the project, its significance, and your plan for presenting the work in an 8-minute period at the conference.

Schedule of events

Saturday, April 19

Event Time

Breakfast 8:00am

Round 1 pairing 8:30am

Round 1 start 9am

Round 2 pairing 10:30am

Round 2 start 11am

Lunch 12:30pm

Round 3 pairing 1:30pm

Round 3 start 2pm

Round 4 pairing 3:45pm

Round 4 start 4:15pm

Sunday, April 20

Event Time

Breakfast 8:00am

Showcase pairing 8:30am

Showcase start 9:00am

CARD business meeting 10:45am

Research presentations 12:00pm

Closing/Awards ceremony 1:30pm