AQUAMARINE

Welcome to the 2023 Aquamarine Cup, the sixth Grand Prix tournament of the 2022-23 NADC Season.

The NADC is the next revolution in debate, designed to grow debate to maximum competitiveness -and- accessibility with monthly, low-fuss, streamlined debating. The NADC runs on a sports/eSports-inspired Grand Prix system, fully online. All entries allowed.

The Circuit runs mostly identically to standard Public Forum tournaments, with a few key differences:

Exclusively online
Speaker points are now the last tiebreaker
Circuit Rating points and Badges based on performance
Enforced topicality for Middle School (see “Topicality” for more)

We look forward to hosting a better, more rewarding debate experience.

DIVISIONS

MS PF Novice: Middle Schoolers who are competing at tournaments for the first time this academic year. If your only debate experience is in-house tournaments with only your own school/club, you still qualify for Novice.
MS PF Open: Middle Schoolers who have competed in prior academic years at tournaments. If one partner is novice and one is open, you must register as Open.
HS PF Novice: High Schoolers who are competing at tournaments at the high school level for the first time this academic year. Previous MS experience does not disqualify you from Novice.
HS JV: Same as Varsity, but for students with less experience than typical Varsity debaters. Recommended for teams that are a combination of Varsity and Novice.
HS PF Varsity: High Schools who have competed in prior academic years at the high school level. If one partner is novice and one is varsity, you must register as varsity.
Lincoln-Douglas: For now, as this is our first month including the event, we are keeping HS and MS as simply Open. If there are enough registrants, we will break these into novice and varsity

*Based on entry size, we reserve the right to collapse JV into Varsity, and/or all into a "hybrid pool." A hybrid pool preserves the data on which teams are novice and which teams are open, but creates a larger pool for possible assignments. For the first two rounds of debating, novices are guaranteed to debate novices, and open teams are guaranteed to debate open teams. From there, rounds are power-matched. This means that the vast majority of rounds will remain novice-novice or open-open, but allows for greater schedule flexibility to reduce the odds of school-school conflicts, bracket pullups, repeat rounds, etc. During Elims, the pools will separate back out in novice and open.

GRADES

Middle school: 5th-8th grade
High school: 9th-12th grade

PRIZE POOL
(note #2: currently, the prize pool is only eligible for US/CAN residents, but all debaters can still compete)

Public Forum Prize Pool
Debaters winning select elimination rounds will receive a portion of the prize pool, which grows based on entry size!

Starting pool: $1,000
25+ PF entries: $2,000
50+ PF entries: $3,000
100+ PF entries: $4,000
200+ PF entries: $5,000

The prize pool will be distributed across 4 Elimination sections.
HS Var champ = 25%
HS Var finalist = 15%
HS Var semifinalist = 10% each
MS Var champ = 15%
MS Var finalist = 10%
HS Nov champ = 10%
MS Nov champ = 5%
(If the field grows, we will aim to reward more debaters! Percentages subject to change.)

Lincoln Douglas Prize Pool
(likely to increase in size! Check back for updates with increased entry size!)

HS Champ: $150
MS Champ: $100

Speech Events Prize Pool
Speech event prizes TBA based on entry size

(How do I get the money?)
The NADC will send digital payment to the parent or legal guardian of each designated winning debater.
Important note! US/CAN eligible only. Additionally, for competitors in states like Oregon or Ohio who have relevant bylaws, you are allowed to decline the payment, and we can issue an email stating as such so that you have a copy!

Bid info (Varsity/Open only):
Finals: Platinum bid
Semis: Gold bid
Quarters: Silver bid
Octas: Bronze bid
(How does it work?)
400 Qualifier Points are needed to bid directly to the Grand Championship Main Event in June.
Platinum = 400 points; Gold = 300 points; Silver = 200 points; Bronze = 100 points. (Novice: divide by 2)

(Do I keep my points even if I change partners?)
Yes. All points are durable, awarded as individual Qualifier Points (QP) to both members of a team. This means that receiving a gold bid = 300 points assigned to Debater A, and 300 points assigned to Debater B. To qualify directly to the Grand Championship Main Event, both debaters need 400 total QP or more, but they do not need to have amassed those points together as the same team.

(You said Grand Championship Main Event. Is there something else?)
Yes! In addition to our monthly "Cups," two weeks before the Main Event is our Wildcard Event. This offers teams a last-chance to make it to the Main Event. All novice teams can enter the wildcard event.

TOPIC
Public Forum Debate – 2023 March and 2023 February
Lincoln Douglas Debate – 2023 March/April and 2023 Jan/Feb

JUDGING

Please be sure that when supplying judges, each judge has a registered TABROOM account with a paradigm. There will be no judge training at any tournament, but resources to learn on your own can be found below.
Be sure to test out connections for BEST results. Mics must work 100% volume.
All judges must be 18 or older, and have graduated from High School.
All judges must have a paradigm on Tabroom. Failure to do so may result in your entry being ineligible to compete.
All judges are required to remain on standby to judge at least one round past any GSA teams' best placement. For example, if school A had zero teams break to eliminations, their judges are still obligated to be available to judge the first round of eliminations. If school A had 1 team lose in octafinals, their judges are still obligated to be available to judge quarterfinals.
In order for the Circuit to be both competitive and fair, it is incredibly important that all students abide by the code of honor and integrity when disclosing their affiliations and relationship to judges in the pool.
All conflicts must be marked in Tabroom. This is especially crucial for unaffiliated entries. Unaffiliated entries must mark conflicts for any conflict with either of the two competitors.
Competitors are not allowed to be judged by any judge whom they have had a past personal relationship with, including: coaching, assisting, personal friendship, family relation, etc. In the event that a conflict is knowingly ignored and taken advantage of, the affiliation of the entry will receive a $250 fine, and the entry will risk losing their future tournament prospects.
Judges are expected to be in their round 15 minutes before it begins. Judges who do not report by round start time or swap assignments will be charged $100 per round. If you are not called for a particular round, you are on standby and must remain near your phone while tournament staff have verified that every room has judges. You will receive a text message if you are needed as a substitute. Failure to appear for standby assignments is the same as failing to appear to judge an assigned round.
There will be free judge training for anyone who wants to attend. Two sessions with identical material, but there will be both Level 1 and Level 2 judge training. It will be a 30 minute zoom session with 20 minutes of information followed by Q&A (you are free to leave after 20 minutes).
Training dates (link to come later, please email Nadia and Victor if you are interested in attending because the link is not yet available)

RULES

Format
4-4-3-4-4-3-3-3-3-2-2 (3 minutes prep time)
Topicality (MIDDLE SCHOOL ONLY)
NADC is committed to upholding the integrity and value of the origins of Public Forum debate.

Although there is immense value in non-topical, extra-topical, role of the ballot, and critical arguments, at the core of Public Forum debate lie two values: a firm commitment to debating the resolution at hand, and an accessible way to debate real-world issues.

Debaters have other categories with more open rules at their disposal. Additionally, many, if not most, Middle Schoolers are wholly unfamiliar with the technical expectations of “progressive arguments.” This leads to most instances of such arguments on the MSPF level largely lacking academic or moral merit, nullifying the value of debate.

For those reasons, MS divisions of our tournaments uphold a strict standard of remaining topical (please ask your coaches if you have questions regarding this). This means the following:

Debaters must either endorse (Aff) or reject the resolution (Neg).
Theory arguments–herein defined as arguments that are not about the resolution itself but about the conduct or actions a debater takes, which are then used to persuade the judge to give someone a loss–are not allowed. Examples of theory arguments:

Paraphrasing theory
Disclosure theory
Trigger Warning theory
To check back against any negative externalities, debaters are encouraged and welcome to call for evidence, ask their opponents if they are comfortable with a certain argument being run, etc. Similarly, judges are encouraged to be scrutinous in their reading of evidence and uphold a respectful debate round. Finally, in the event that a competitor or judge witnesses behavior by another competitor that egregiously violates the code of conduct, they are welcome to email our tab staff or join the tab call. If such conduct occurred, that team may be subject to forfeiting the round.

Critical and pre-fiat arguments–herein defined as arguments commonly found in the “Kritik” literature which make arguments beyond the scope of the resolution itself concerning the “role of the ballot” or “pre-fiat impacts,” which are then used to persuade the judge to give someone a loss–are not allowed. Examples of critical/pre-fiat arguments:

Capitalism K (“vote Neg to disrupt the capitalist order”)
Pre-fiat awareness (“vote the Affirmative down to encourage debaters not to do x, y, or z in the future”)
Role of the ballot (“the Role of the Ballot is to award the debater who best interrogates the methodological and epistemological framework of society”)

Debaters are still allowed to: present frameworks to evaluate the resolution, utilize the underlying logic of kritiks to present post-fiat impacts of the resolution being passed, etc.

Presenting a non-topical argument will not cause a disqualification. However, judges who evaluate such arguments will be disqualified and fined as if they are a missing judge. Competitors should remind the judge of the topicality rules in the packet if they hear a non-topical argument, and should remind the judge to discount the argument when considering who won the debate.

Elims

Tournament will break 4-2 entries
Elims will have 3 judge panels
Seeding prioritizes head-to-head and strength of schedule tiebreakers first, and speaker points last.

Tech time
Teams are allotted 10 minutes of technical time, which runs the moment technical issues begin impeding the round. If more than 10 minutes have passed, that team forfeits the round. Judges are responsible for enforcing tech time. If a forfeiture needs to be made, please report it to the tab staff by joining the support call. If you are having any issues with that call, you can email NorthAmMSDC@gmail.com with the subject “Tech time forfeiture.”
Forfeiture Teams that are more than 10 minutes late to round automatically forfeit the round. Absences should be reported to the tab staff by joining the support call. If you are having any issues with that call, you can email NorthAmMSDC@gmail.com with the subject “Time forfeiture.”

Observers/Spectators
Observer policy will depend upon entry size. If size and cost permits, we will add it on.

Disqualifications/Evidence Challenge
Disqualification standards and evidence challenges will match standard NSDA rules. In the event of a round-terminating evidence challenge, judges should go to the tab staff by joining the support call. If you are having any issues with that call, you can email NorthAmMSDC@gmail.com with the subject “evidence challenge.” Competitors are encouraged to review NSDA rules before making such a challenge, as it can result in the loss of the round.

Code of conduct
All students, judges, and participants hereby acknowledge all the rules and expectations established herein, as well as any expectations provided by their respective institutions. All participants pledge to treat all others with kindness and respect, punishable by disqualification from the current tournament and, if necessary, all future tournaments.

All competitors must have a parent-signed conduct form complete before the tournament. Failure to do so will render you ineligible to compete. Conduct form is available below.

NORTH AMERICAN DEBATE CIRCUIT AQUAMARINE CUP

25-26 March 2023

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