APPLE VALLEY

The 36th Annual (2nd Virtual)
MinneApple Debate Tournament
November 5-7, 2021
Sponsored by the Apple Valley High School Team, Apple Valley Speech & Debate Alumni Foundation, and American Legion Post 1776

On behalf of the Apple Valley Team, Apple Valley Speech & Debate Alumni Foundation, and the Apple Valley American Legion Post 1776, we would like to invite you and your team to attend the 36th annual MinneApple Debate Tournament on November 5th through 7th. The MinneApple is proud to offer Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, and Congressional Debate. Our commitment to providing an efficient tournament with great hospitality, strong competition, and superior judging has made it one of the largest debate tournaments in the nation. We would be honored to have you be a part of this event. Our awards will once again feature the red marble apple.

The MinneApple is a Tournament of Champions qualifier at the OCTAFINAL level in LD, the OCTAFINAL level in Public Forum, and a Tier 2 level bid in Congressional Debate (top 16). We offer three divisions of LD, varsity and novice divisions in Public Forum, and an open division of Congressional Debate. We offer mutual judge preference in varsity LD debate and judge strikes in varsity PF debate.
All LD and PF divisions will have six preliminary rounds. In varsity LD and PF and all students with 4-2 records will be eligible to compete in partial triple octafinals.

Due to COVID-19, this year’s MinneApple will take place virtually using the NSDA’s Campus platform.

We look forward to seeing you at the MinneApple!

DETAILS

Virtual tournament:
This year, the MinneApple will be using a virtual format facilitated by NSDA Campus. Links to virtual rooms will be available to students and judges directly through the tabroom pairing. Further instructions will be provided as the tournament nears.

The virtual format also necessitates changes to our typical schedule. Most notably, some late elims will push into Sunday morning, and start and end times will change to accommodate multiple time zones. Below is a sketch of start and stop times by day, for more detailed schedules please view the event schedules linked on the sidebar.
We will be using the auto-flip feature for all rounds featuring flip for sides. Students will be notified through tabroom whether they have won the flip, the winning side will have 10 min to make their pick or else either team can make a selection
In debate events, each side will have 10 min of "tech time" to deal with technical issues that may come up. Beyond that amount, time will need to be taken from speeches.

Decision times:
LD Decision Times: We will again be using decision times in LD this year. Decision time simply means there will be a deadline by which the judge must make a decision in each debate. Each round’s decision time deadline is based on the Tabroom pairing start time. If the judge does not enter a decision in tabroom by the decision time, it is within the Tabroom’s power to randomly assign the winner of that debate. We do intend to enforce this, but hope we don't have to.
For prelims we will enforce a 75 minutes decision time for elims it will be 80 minutes.

Independent Entries:
We will not admit any student who wishes to compete without the approval, knowledge, or consent of their school administration and/or coach(es).

Harassment and Discrimination Policy:
This tournament upholds our school district’s harassment and discrimination policy. Instances of harassment/discrimination should be reported to the tabroom or tournament ombudsman as soon as possible. Reports of harassment/discrimination will be handled in accordance with ISD 196 policy and will be adjudicated by Tournament Equity Officers, or an Apple Valley High School Administrator.
This year our Equity officers are:
Dan Hodges
Michelle Keohane
Tzitel Voss

Judging:
In Varsity divisions, please assist us in having the best pool of judges possible by making judges available to us that reflect the quality of the competition. First-year outs are allowed to fulfill a school's commitment.
Please remember that a school's judges are obligated at least through the first full elimination debate, or one round past the elimination of its last team/debater after that. To ensure the best judging pool possible and flexibility for pairings, we cannot guarantee requests for partial judging commitments. Given that the Minneapple has only single flights in each preliminary round, this commitment is comparable to a half-time commitment at a tournament that has flighted rounds.
Judges obligations cannot be split across divisions. For example, if you have two novice LD debaters, you will need one judge at Scott Highlands Middle School. However, if you have only one Novice LD debater and one Varsity LD debater, you would need one judge at each building for a total of two judges.
If judging obligations are not met, the tournament reserves the right to remove a school's entries to balance the student-judge ratio. This includes cases where judges are missing the first round on Friday or Saturday. Debaters may be reentered into the schedule but with losses for the missed rounds.
LD: We do not flight rounds. Therefore, each school must provide one qualified judge for every two LD debaters in each division, or portion thereof.
PF: We do not flight rounds. Each school must provide one qualified judge for every 2 teams, or portion thereof.

Judge Preferencing:
In Varsity LD, the Minneapple will afford teams the ability to rate judges as well as strike a small portion of the field. In order to accomplish this, we require that all teams submit judge names by 6PM CST November 1st. If a judge's name is changed or removed from the pool after this date, the tournament will assess a $50 fee. This fee is charged to prevent teams from adversely affecting all other teams preferences. This fee will be assessed at registration and will be due before teams are permitted to compete. All judges in the Varsity LD division are required to submit a judging philosophy on tabroom by 6PM CST on November 1st. Teams whose judges have not submitted a paradigm will not be permitted to submit a preference sheet without exception. Judge Preferences will open on November 3rd.
Any teams who have not fulfilled their judging obligation or who have judges without paradigms listed online before the deadline will not be permitted to preference judges without exception.
Any judge who is not listed on the preference sheet will become a free strike. Teams wishing to exercise their free strikes must notify the tab room prior to the next round's pairing to ensure that their strikes are honored.
In Varsity PF, we will offer limited judge strikes.

JUDGE CONFLICT POLICY

The tournament will use the TOC rules when evaluating judge conflicts.

Chaos Control Fees:
Because the judge pool is integral to the efficiency and quality of the tournament, a 'chaos control' fee of $40.00 will be assessed per missed round per judge and must be paid by the end of the tournament.

Time Limits and Resolutions:
In LD, we will use the NSDA 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 time limits with 4 minutes of preparation time. Each division of LD will debate the NSDA November/December resolution.
In PF, we will use NSDA rules and time limits. Each division of PFD will debate the NSDA November resolution.

LD/PF Pairing Protocols:
Rounds one and two in all divisions will be randomly paired. Rounds three through six will be paired high-low within brackets. Brackets will not be broken in elimination rounds. Varsity speaker awards are based on speaker points in preliminary rounds.

NSDA Rules:
The MinneApple will use NSDA rules for all events, but the enforcement of all rules is left to judges in the round. If there are NSDA pilot rules available for an event, they will be in effect at the tournament.

APPLE VALLEY MINNEAPPLE DEBATE TOURNAMENT

5-7 November 2021

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APPLE VALLEY MINNEAPPLE DEBATE TOURNAMENT ​