Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the American Debate Association and Wake Forest University, we would like to invite you to participate in the 26th Annual American Debate Association National Championship. This year's competition will be hosted by Wake Forest University from Saturday, March 9 through Monday, March 11, 2012. We anticipate strong numbers in all three divisions and are committed to providing an excellent value for your tournament entry fees. We hope to see you in Winston-Salem.
Michael Hall, ADA President
Jarod Atchison, Director of Debate, Wake Forest University & ADA Nationals Host
Format: The debate topic for the tournament will be the CEDA policy topic, “Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially reduce restrictions on and/or substantially increase financial incentives for energy production in the United States of one or more of the following: coal, crude oil, natural gas, nuclear power, solar power, wind power.”
The tournament will be sanctioned by the ADA and CEDA and will be run in accordance with their rules, including the ADA Standing Rules and the CEDA Statement on Discrimination and Sexual Harassment. The 2012-2013 ADA Standing Rules can be found here: The CEDA Constitution and Bylaws can be found here:
Time limits for speeches are 9-3-6 with ten minutes of preparation time. 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 varsity.
Entries: Enter as many teams as you like in each of the three divisions. Eligibility for participation in the division is governed by the ADA rules. For the purposes of the ADA National tournament only, a debate team is defined as the two-person team that begins the first rounds of the tournament and who debate together throughout the course of the tournament. Hybrids may debate together at the ADA National Tournament, but they may not clear to elimination rounds. If one of the debaters of a team cannot debate in any given round, that round will be forfeited. Teams that forfeit rounds will be given average speaker points, but are ineligible to clear to elimination rounds if speaker points are the determining factor for their clearing. Debaters who forfeit rounds are ineligible for speaker awards.
Please enter the tournament by March 5, 2013 at tabroom.com.
After that date, e-mail changes directly to Michael Hall at mphall (at) liberty (dot) edu. Teams and judges dropped after the March 5 deadline will be responsible for all entry fees.
Fees: Entry fees are $45 per participant (debater, coach, judge, or observer). We will not be able to accept credit cards. Please make checks payable to the American Debate Association.
Judging: Each school must provide 3 rounds of qualified judging for each team entered in the tournament. All judges will be required to judge through the quarter final elimination round or one round after your last team is eliminated whichever occurs later. You should not count on the tournament to provide hired judging. If hired judging becomes available through the tournament, the cost will be $30 per round ($120.00 per uncovered team).
Judges will be assigned with an ordinal mutual preference system.
Speaker Points: We will use a 30 point scale. Tenths are allowed. Ties are not allowed.
Judge Philosophies: Judge philosophies are required for the ADA National Tournament. Each judge should submit or update their judge philosophy through debateresults.com not later than March 3, 2012. Judges who fail to comply at the ADA National Tournament will be ineligible to judge and the schools they represent will be fined $50 plus $30 per committed round ($120 per uncovered team).
Awards: Awards will be provided to teams advancing to the octofinals and beyond, as well as to the top ten speakers in each division. Additionally, awards will be provided to the top two schools in each division as part of the ADA two-team award. The award is determined by the highest preliminary round finish of the two best teams per school in each division.
Transportation: Wake Forest is located approximately 35 minutes from the Greensboro Airport (GSO), and approximately 1.5 hours from the Raleigh Durham (RDU) and Charlotte (CLT) airports.
Registration: Will be held Friday evening from 6:00pm to 9:00pm at the Marriott hotel. If you are running late, please contact Michael Hall directly at (434) 907-5461 to confirm your registration via phone.
Hotel:
Winston Salem Marriott
425 North Cherry Street · Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27101
336-725-3500
Group Rate: $99.00
Group name: AMERICAN DEBATE
Direct Reservation link:
Schedule:
Friday, March 8, 2012
6:00-9:00pmRegistration (At the tournament hotel)
Saturday, March 9, 2012
7:00 amPairings
8:00 amRound 1
10:45 amRound 2
1:00 pmLunch (Provided by Wake Forest)
2:15 pmRound 3
5:15 pmRound 4
Sunday, March 10, 2012
7:00 amPairings
8:00 amRound 5
11:00amRound 6
1:15 pmLunch (Provided by Wake Forest)
3:00 pmFirst Elimination Round
6:15 pmSecond Elimination Round
Monday, March 11, 2012
7:00 amPanels released
8:00amThird Elimination Round*
11:00 amAwards Brunch
1:00 pmElimination Rounds Continue
*Note: A representative from each team must be available at least 30 minutes before the announced start time of the first elimination round of the morning. If said representative is not available and the debate is a flip-for-sides debate, the team that is present may choose their side for the debate.