Lincoln Southwest Silver Talon

November 9, 2019 -- 7001 S 14th Street

The 17th annual Lincoln Southwest Silver Talon Debate Tournament will take place on November 9, 2019.  We will offer competition in Policy, Lincoln Douglas, Congressional Debate and Public Forum. We are pleased to announce that we are once again a TOC bid tournament with a finals bid in Public Forum. 

This tournament will follow all NSAA bylaws.  This is a high school only tournament. Students must be eligible according to NSAA and may only compete for the school in which they are currently enrolled.  The NSAA bylaws can be viewed at nsaahome.org. 

Online balloting – we will be using online balloting for all events. 

Online Entry -- Entries will only be accepted online via Tabroom.com.  Deadline for entries is November 6, 2019. Fees and judge requirements will be accessed at that time.  Changes or drops after that date can be changed on the website or emailed to me at theimes@lps.org.

Special Programs --

Novice Congress Workshop – Janet Rose, former Kearney High head coach, will be offering a novice congress workshop in the morning.  Novice congressional debaters will be given instruction and practice during this workshop. In the afternoon, these debaters will compete in congressional houses and receive awards for their competition.  Novice students should only prep the first seven bills on the docket.

Awards –

• Policy – Six speaker awards in each division, along with team awards for semifinal and final participants.

• Congress – A gavel to the presiding officer as well as medals to the top six speakers and a trophy to the champion in each house.

• Lincoln-Douglas – Six speaker awards in each division along with awards for quarterfinalists and above.

• Public Forum – Six speaker awards in each division along with awards for quarterfinalists and above. We will also be giving special awards for the TOC bid teams.Sweepstakes – Trophies will be awarded to the top three teams. Teams must compete in three of four events to be considered for a sweepstakes award.

Fees –

Policy -- $25                                                  Lincoln-Douglas Debate -- $20

Public Forum -- $25                                       Varsity Student Congress -- $15

Novice Student Congress $17 

Judge Coverage (judges are obligated to one round beyond their team’s elimination)

• Policy -- One judge per two teams.  May be hired for $100. (We really need your judges.)

• Lincoln-Douglas – One judge per two debaters.  May be hired for $100

• Public Forum – One judge per two teams.  May be hired for $100

• Congressional Debate – One judge per six debaters or part thereof.  May be hired for $10 per debater.

Policy Debate –

We will determine the round structure based on the number of entries. 

Lincoln-Douglas Debate –

We will be using the November/December topic FOR BOTH DIVISIONS.  Will follow the 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 format with 4 minutes prep time.  Varsity and novice divisions will have five prelims (powered after two) breaking to quarters.

Public Forum Debate –

We will use the November/December topic.  NOTE – WE WILL BE USING NSDA PILOT. SUMMARY SPEECHES AND PREP TIME WILL BE THREE MINUTES. Varsity and Novice divisions will have five prelims (powered after two) breaking to quarters. Note – we will use the November topic for both novice and varsity competition. 

Congress –

• Novice – We will once again be offering a novice congress workshop for the first two sessions of congress. After the workshop, the novice students will run a traditional congress session with awards.

• We will utilize NSDA style of congress at this tournament. Each school will be assessed a judging fee for each six students.  This fee will be $60. You can alleviate this fee by bringing a judge for each six entries. This fee will be prorated. So, if you bring three students you can pay $30 or bring a judge.  Your judges may only be used for ½ a day in congress, so please let me know which other event they would be willing to judge. These judges will all be finished before awards. We will usually run awards after quarterfinals. 

• Note – these judges will only point record.  There will be three point recorders in each session.  These point recorders will switch at noon. There will be no student vote.  The point recorders will rank each student in the session. The parliamentarian’s vote will be used as a tiebreaker. 

• We will be using the Nebraska Docket.  Here is the order of bills and resolutions as they will be debated.  Students may not rearrange the docket. 

A Note on Novice Competition – I believe that it is important for a student in novice competition to only compete with students who are in their first year of debate competition in any event.  If you have a special situation you would like to discuss, please contact me. 

Concessions --

We are planning a variety of tasty treats for you and your team.   Our parent boosters will be serving breakfast, lunch and snack items during the day in the commons.  You may also buy lunch vouchers for your students for $5. These will be good at our concession stand and will be enough for students to buy a meal deal.  No change will be given for unused money on vouchers.

Contact Info --

You may reach me via cell phone at 402/310-4152.  Email – theimes@lps.org. Please contact me with questions or concerns.