Hello Coaches, 

 

You and your team are invited to the Penn High School Debate Tournament to be held on November 20, 2021. Registration will run from 7:30 - 8:30 a.m., with a judges’ meeting at 8:30, and Rd. 1 starting at 9:00 a.m. Penn High School is in the Eastern Time Zone. The entry deadline is 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 17th. Entries are to be made through Speechwire. Drops and Judge adds will be available until Friday afternoon. 

 

Policy Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, World Schools Debate, and Student Congress Debate will all be offered. There will be a Varsity and a Novice division in Policy, LD, PF and Congress. World Schools will only have one division containing debaters of all experience levels. A novice debater is a student who has never debated competitively prior to the 2021-2022 season. Any previous debate competition experience makes that student a Varsity debater regardless of the event. 

 

PLEASE NOTE: We will be debating the November/December topics for PF and LD. 

 

Policy Debate will debate Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its protection of water resources in the United States.

 

Novice restrictions will be as follows: 

 

-Substantially strengthen federal surveillance and standards for lead in drinking water

 

-Substantially limit the use of hydraulic fracturing by energy companies in the United States.

 

-Substantially strengthen federal standards for agriculture-related runoff into lakes and streams.

 

-Substantially increase the protection of wetlands in the United States.

 

 

Public Forum will debate the November-December topic: Resolved: Increased United States federal regulation of cryptocurrency transactions and/or assets will produce more benefits than harms.

 

Lincoln Douglas (Varsity & Novice) will debate the November/December topic: Resolved: A just government ought to recognize an unconditional right of workers to strike.

 

World Schools will debate 2 prepared rounds and 2 impromptu rounds. 

 

Round 1 - Impromptu (topic release will occur at (8:45)

Round 2 - Prepared: This house believes that the American withdrawal from Afghanistan was a mistake.

Round 3 - Impromptu (topic release will occur at approximately 1:00)

Round 4 - Prepared: This house believes that the American withdrawal from Afghanistan was a mistake.

 

Both Divisions of Congress will debate IHSFA Bills  2,3,4, and 5. 

 

If schools are interested in submitting student names for P.O. in Congress or Senate, coaches should email Jstarkweather@phm.k12.in.us with the name recommendation(s). Please specify whether the debater would best be suited in a novice or varsity house. (There will likely be a total of 3 houses - depending on the numbers.)  I will try to spread the P.O. roles over a variety of schools, but I will likely also try to fill these spots quickly.

 

****Judges****

One judge is required for every 4 debaters or portion thereof. 5 debaters = 2 judges. One Policy or Public Forum team = 2 debaters. Please try to bring judges who can judge all events. We will be in need of debate event judges more than we will need Congress-type judges. Therefore, please make sure that your judges are able and qualified to judge more than just Congress.

 

A limited amount of student judges will be allowed if they currently have over 250 NSDA points. They will only be allowed to judge Novice competitions.

 

Ribbons will be provided to the top debate entries in each event. No sweepstakes awards/trophies will be awarded. 

 

Pizza will be available for students during lunch. In addition, there will be snacks and drinks available for purchase. There will be a coaches'/judges' lounge with complimentary lunch and snacks available. 

 

Questions? If so, contact Jeremy Starkweather Jstarkweather@phm.k12.in.us, or via my cell phone (574) 370-4758.