Tournament of Champions

2018

Invitation
 Introductory Letter

Intercollegiate Debate
225 Funkhouser Bldg.
Lexington, KY 40506-0054
859-257-6523
859-323-1995 (fax)
[Link]

Greetings Coaches,

We cordially invite all qualified teams and schools to join us in Lexington, Kentucky for the 2018
Tournament of Champions, the 47th annual, Saturday-Monday, April 28-30. Please find attached the invitation
for this year’s TOC. Additionally, the second annual Middle School Tournament of Champions will be hosted
May 12-13.
We are happy to continue to be able to many amenities including lunch for the students, snacks and
bottled water for all guests during the day, and participant awards for all debaters. We will again be awarding the
TOC Team Excellence Award sponsored by the National Speech & Debate Association. We hope to see you in
Lexington!

Sincerely,

David Arnett
TOC Tournament Director
 Mission Statement
Now in its 47th year, the Tournament of Champions serves as the forum of competition for the nation's very best
speech and debate participants. A public service of the University of Kentucky Intercollegiate Debate Program, the
TOC strives to offer the national high school debate community the highest quality judging, impartial tournament
officials, and a friendly, congenial atmosphere. The TOC is committed to growing its outreach initiatives, including
financial aid for debate programs facing economic hardships. David Arnett, Director of Debate at UK and Dr. J.W.
Patterson, TOC Tournament Founder, welcome all championship competitors who qualify to compete in the
National Tournament of Champions – America’s foremost debate competition.
 Important Dates
TOC fully-qualified entries must be registered on Tabroom: Friday, March 9th, 2018
TOC At-Large Applications must be submitted to UK website*: Friday, March 9th, 2018
At-Large recipients announced**: Friday, March 30th, 2018
All Entry fees due by mail or credit card: Wednesday, April 4th, 2018
Drop deadline for refund: Wednesday, April 4th, 2018

All deadlines fall at 5pm EST on the above dates.

*Direct link: [Link] AND the $50 nonrefundable fee is due at the time of
the application.

**TOC staff may announce at-large recipients for certain events prior to this date. All at-large recipients will be
announced no later than this date.
 Applying to Be a TOC Bid Tournament
If you are a tournament director and you would like to apply for your tournament to be considered a TOC qualifying
tournament please apply by Friday, March 2, 2018 at the following: [Link]
tournament
 Topics and Formats
Debate Topics:

Lincoln-Douglas debaters shall debate the February 2018 National Speech & Debate Association LD topic and
Public Forum debaters will debate the April topic for PFD to be announced at the beginning of March. Policy
debate teams shall debate the 2017-18 national high school topic.

Congressional Debate legislation will be released several weeks before the tournament and will be announced by
the tab director.

Debate Formats:
Policy Debate uses the cross-examination format 8-3-5 which consists of eight-minute constructives, three-minute
cross-examination periods, five-minute rebuttals, and ten minutes of preparation for each team.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debate format is 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 with five minutes of preparation time for each debater.

Public Forum and Congressional Debate will use the National Speech & Debate Association format for speech
and preparation times. Public Forum will use the National Speech & Debate Association rules for the coin toss.

Speech Events will follow NSDA rules except for OI, which will follow NCFL rules.
 Speech Events
We are also again pleased to host competition in the national speech events.

Participants may enter in up to two speech events. It does not matter what flight the events are in.

Please note that all Speech judges will need to have [Link] accounts to facilitate online balloting.

Please contact Chris McDonald, TOC Assistant Director for Speech, with any questions:
[Link]@[Link]

Flight Information
Flight A Flight B
Extemporaneous Speaking Original Oratory
Humorous Interpretation Oral Interpretation
Informative Speaking Dramatic Interpretation
Program Oral Interpretation Duo Interpretation
 Entry Instructions
For fully qualified participants:
1. Register on the [Link] website. All entries will initially be put on waitlist. This must be done by March 9 th.
2. Submit your entry fees for the tournament. This must be done by April 4th.
3. Submit your principal authorization letter (via email to Linda Barker at [Link]@[Link] or through regular
mail).
4. You will then be removed from the waitlist and officially entered in the tournament.

For entries seeking an at-large bid:

1. Register on the Tabroom website. When you do there should be an option to mark your entry as seeking an at-
large bid. This must be done by March 9th
2. Fill out the following application: [Link] This must be done by March
9th.
3. Submit a $50 application fee per at-large bid being sought. This must be done by March 9 th to have your
application considered.
4. We will announce at-large bids no later than March 30th. If you are accepted, arrangements need to be made to
submit the principal letter and remaining entry fees (if you are accepted the $50 application fee is credited to your
full entry) as close to April 4th as possible.
 Principal Permission to Compete
Each school must submit a signed letter by the school’s Principal, on official letterhead, indicating that all the
applying students are enrolled at the school, and that they have the school’s permission to compete at the
Tournament of Champions representing their school name.

You may submit one letter for your entire squad as long as the letter contains all the applying students’ names.

This letter should be signed by the Principal and submitted by mail to UK Debate. (You may also scan and email to
[Link]@[Link]).

Our mailing address is:

Tournament of Champions
c/o Linda Barker
225 Funkhouser Building
Lexington, KY 40506-0054

Sample Language for the Letter:

The following students are enrolled at ____ (insert high school name) ____ and have permission to compete at the
2018 Tournament of Champions National High School Debate Tournament, in Lexington, KY, representing the
school:

<list all students applying>

Signed,

<Insert Principal signature>

 Eligibility for the Tournament
In all debate events, debaters must have two or more “bid legs” to be fully qualified for the TOC. A “bid leg” is
earned when an LD debater, Policy Debate team, Congressional debater, or Public Forum team reaches or surpasses
the designated elimination round at a TOC-approved bid tournament. Additionally, participation in elimination
rounds of the previous TOC tournament guarantees admission (teams must be intact for Policy and Public Forum
debate). In the Speech division, competitors will be considered fully qualified with one bid.

If a debater or team has only one bid leg, they may apply for an At-large spot to compete at the tournament. In the
Speech divisions, a competitor may apply for an At-large spot with a “record of distinction” at bid tournaments. At-
large spots will be awarded on a merit basis, until we have reached the entry capacity for each division. The number
of at-large spots is determined by the number of fully qualified entries and by the space available on campus. While
we strive to accept a handful of at-large entries in each event, please understand that given the natural variation in
the number of fully-qualified entries each year, we cannot guarantee that any specific number of slots will be
available.

In both Policy debate and Public Forum debate, all qualifying legs must be earned by intact teams. This means that
the two students must have been debating together when they earned their qualifying legs, both for purposes of their
fully-qualified team application and for purposes of applying for an at-large bid.

All students competing at the TOC must be representing their enrolled high school. No independent entries
are allowed. Each entry must be authorized to compete for their school by their principal. In Policy and Public
Forum debate, both team members must be from the same degree granting institution; no hybrid entries are allowed.
 Entry fees and Payment Instructions
Fee Due Date
Entry fees must be paid in full by Wednesday, April 4, 2018.

Methods of Payment
1. Paying by Credit Card-- We prefer payment by credit card, if available to your school. To pay your entry fees
by credit card, please use this link [Link] Please contact Linda Barker
([Link]@[Link]) with any questions regarding how much you owe.

2. Paying by Check-- Please make checks payable to “UK Debate Tournaments”. Unfortunately, we cannot
accept cash. Mail checks to:

Tournament of Champions
c/o Linda Barker
225 Funkhouser Bldg.
Lexington, KY 40506-0054

School/Administrative fee: $75- 1 per school

Per Policy entry: $175
Per Lincoln-Douglas entry: $150
Per Congress entry: $150
Per Public Forum entry: $175
Per Speech entry: $100
Per Duo Entry $140
Per Double Entry $50
At-Large Application fee: $50*
Lunch Cost Coaches/Judges: $18**
TOC T-shirts $20***

Each entry fee includes two lunches for all debaters on Saturday and Sunday and free bottled water and snacks
throughout the tournament.

*The At-large application fee is applied to your entry fees if your application is accepted (for example, if you are
applying for an at-large in Congress, you will pay $50 due with the at-large application, and if its accepted, your
remaining entry fees would be $100).

**See meal information section for more information.

***T-shirts can be pre-ordered by contacting Lincoln Garrett at lincolngarrett49@[Link]. Please include total
number and the sizes desired. The total will be added to your invoice on Tabroom.
 Registration on Friday of the Tournament
All schools must register for the tournament on Friday, April 27, 2018, between 6:30 and 9:00pm EST.
Registration will be at the Campbell House, exact meeting room location TBA. If you cannot make it to Registration
by 9:00pm, it is imperative that you call or text Lincoln Garrett at 719-565-9528 (or email
lincolngarrett49@[Link]) to confirm that all members of your party are en route to the tournament.
Please keep us posted regarding any travel delays that you encounter.

All entry fees are due before the tournament begins or your entries will not be allowed to compete.
 At-Large Application Instructions
At-Large Applications have their own online entry form, which can be found here [Link]
fees-online-0. The administrative fee due with every at-large application is $50 (nonrefundable), and is applied
toward your entry fees if your at-large application is accepted. Application and fees must be received by March 9,
2018.

For Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Congress, 1 TOC bid is required to apply for an at-large bid.
Please be aware that any letters accompanying At-Large applications may be shared with the Advisory Committee
of the respective event, since it is the Advisory Committee members who evaluate and rank the at-large applicants.

Please list all tournaments attended by your at-large entry on the entry sheet. Failure to include all tournaments
may result in your application being disqualified.

Coaches are encouraged to submit a ONE PAGE additional letter of support with the at-large application to detail
any extenuating circumstances that you may want to share with the committee for their evaluation of your
application.

**Please do not include any payment of the remaining entry fees with your initial at-large application.
Submit the at-large application fee only. You may submit the remaining payment after you have been notified of
your applications acceptance. Refunds will not be given in the event this guideline is not followed.
 Judging
Judging Obligations
All judges are obligated through the Octafinal round on Monday in Public Forum, LD, and Policy and the finals
in Congressional Debate, and also one round past the school’s elimination in elimination rounds. So, for example,
if your school’s last LD student is eliminated in quarterfinals, your LD judges must be available to judge the LD
semifinal round. We are always very short on judging towards the end of the tournament, so we greatly appreciate
any volunteers willing to stick around for the late elimination rounds. The tournament will assess a $300-dollar
penalty for judges who miss a round when obligated.

For preliminary rounds:

For Policy debate: You must provide 4 rounds per entry. Two entries require 8 rounds, three entries require 12
rounds, etc. All judges entered must be entered for at least 3 rounds. So, if you have one team and two judges you
would owe 4 rounds and need to enter both judges for 3 rounds for a total of 6 rounds.

For Lincoln-Douglas:
For 1 LD entry, the school is obligated for 4 double flighted rounds.
For 2 LD entries, the school is obligated for 8 double flighted rounds.
For 3 LD entries, the school is obligated for 12 double flighted rounds.
For 4 LD entries, the school is obligated for 16 double flighted rounds.
For 5 LD entries, the school is obligated for 20 double flighted rounds, etc.

For Public Forum:

For 1 PF entry, the school is obligated for 4 double flighted rounds.
For 2 PF entries, the school is obligated for 7 double flighted rounds.
For 3 PF entries, the school is obligated for 11 double flighted rounds
For 4 PF entries, the school is obligated for 14 double flighted rounds, etc.

For Congressional Debate: 1 qualified judge per school is required.

For the Speech: 1 qualified judge per 4 entries or fraction thereof.

Judging Qualifications (who counts to meet a judging obligation)

Unless the judge is the Director of Debate or an Assistant Debate Coach officially employed by that school, the
Tournament Director and/or Tab Room Staff have the right to refuse any judge who is not qualified in the event that
they are entered.

IMPORTANT NOTE—First Year Out Judges

Policy/LD/PF
First year outs are free strikes and DO NOT count toward a school’s judging obligation. They must be entered a
minimum of two rounds (Three rounds if the judge is in policy debate).

Judge Qualifications
For LD and Congressional debate, any judge who has judged at a tournament this season in the event they wish to
enter the pool at the TOC will be considered a qualified judge. Any judge who has not met this qualification may
ask for an exception on a case by case basis. Such exceptions would be granted only to people who have significant
prior experience with the event. In all other cases judges who wanted to be added to the pool, will be added as “free
strikes”.

For Policy debate – For judges to count toward the commitment, they must have judged at least four rounds during
the regular season at varsity high school tournaments. Exemptions will be made for those that have made a good
faith effort to fulfill the requirement, e.g. putting yourself in for a full commitment at a tournament. Judges who do
not meet the requirement are considered a free strike and do not count toward the commitment.

Judge Philosophies:
For Policy. Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum, all judges must submit a judging philosophy to Tabroom. No
Policy or LD entry will be considered complete until all affiliated judges have submitted a judge philosophy. For
examples, please peruse the judge philosophy website.

Judge Preclusions:
Please indicate on the tournament entry website all preclusions for all judges. Judges should preclude themselves
from any debater who they have previously coached, had a close, personal relationship with, or for any other reason
the judge believes they cannot be objective towards them if assigned. This includes any judge who has done any
paid or volunteer coaching, even if conducted digitally or otherwise-remotely. Any college debater or coach should
preclude herself or himself from any debater whom they have seriously recruited to attend their school. Judges
should preclude themselves from judging their alma matter.

In the event a pairing is distributed, and a judge reports a conflict after the fact, resulting in a changing of the
pairing that school will be charged a $200 fine.

A separate TOC Procedures document that will be posted to the Tabroom website and TOC website will have more
detailed guidelines about what constitutes a preclusion for a given event.

Disclosure of decisions and oral critique policy:

The Tournament of Champions serves as both a competitive and educational forum for the nation’s best debaters,
coaches, and judges. As such, the Tournament encourages judge-debater interaction by making decision disclosures
and giving oral critiques in the policy, PF, and LD debate divisions. Please submit your ballot online or to the ballot
table before giving any post-round feedback.

Judging in event pools other than your debate entry:

Judges may only cover their school’s obligation in the judge pool of another event with prior permission of the
Tournament Director.
 Hired Judging
The tournament will provide and coordinate a limited supply of hired judging.

To cover one Policy/PF/LD entry is $250. To cover two is $450. To cover a Congress or Speech entry is $75. Hired
judging fees are not refundable.

All judging requests need to be communicated to lincolngarrett49@[Link]. You will receive an email either
confirming your request will be honored or letting you know we cannot accommodate it.

If your school has additional capacity beyond what you are obligated and would like to generate credit toward your
entry fees, please communicate that by emailing Lincoln to coordinate.
 The “Entourage” Rule
For Policy anyone attending the tournament that contributes to the competitive debate effort for a school must be
entered into the judge pool for a minimum of three rounds. For Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas anyone
attending the tournament that contributes to the competitive debate effort for a school must be entered into the
judge pool for a minimum of two rounds. This includes any volunteers contributing debate work. Parents (who are
not also coaches) and chaperones do not need to be in the pool. Any school found violating this rule will be issued
a $200 fine.
 2018 Hotel Information
Due to the high demand on the TOC weekend, and the expiration of room blocks starting in late March, we
encourage our participants to book early.

This is just an initial listing at the time of us publishing the invitation. For more up to date hotel information please
visit the Hotel Information section of the tabroom website or [Link].

Campbell House (Tournament Hotel, where registration, awards and elim rounds take
place)
[Link]
n=TOC&arrival=20180426&departure=20180430&cid=OM,WW,HILTONLINK,EN,DirectLink&fromId=HILTO
NLINKDIRECT

Inn on Broadway
Group Code Debate18
(859) 519-2060

Clarion Hotel
1950 Newtown Pike
859-233-0512
Name of Event: UK Debate
Cut-off date 4/7/18

Four Points by Sheraton

(859) 259-1311
Event Name: UK Debates
Cut-off date 3/27/18

Residence Inn, Lexington North

1080 Newton Pike
(859) 231-6191
Name of Event: UK Debates 2018
Cut-off date 4/1/18

Hilton Lexington Suites

245 Lexington Green
859-271-4000
Event Name: UK Debates Tournament of Champions 2018

Spring Hill Suites Marriott

863 South Broadway
859-225-1500
Event Name: 2018 Tournament of Champions
Cut-off date 3/27/18

Holiday Inn Express Northeast

Event Name: UK Debates Tournament of Champions 2018
(859) 231-0656
Hyatt Place Lexington Hotel
[Link]

Hilton Lexington Suites

[Link]
20180426/[Link]?WT.mc_id=POG
Group Name: UK DEBATES 2018
Group Code: UDB
Phone Number: 8592714000
 Meal Information
We will again be offering lunch on both Saturday and Sunday for all debaters. A fee of $18 per person will be
added for each additional person in your group as identified in Tabroom. This will cover lunches on both days as
well as snacks during the day. If there is an observer not listed in Tabroom they may be added as well for $18. If you
would like to opt out of lunches for non-debaters contact Lincoln Garrett at lincolngarrett49@[Link] and the
fees for non-debaters will be removed.

Please let us know on your entry forms if you have any vegetarians or vegans in your group so that we order the
appropriate amount of veggie-friendly food. Please also note any other special dietary restrictions such as food
allergies so we can make sure that everyone is accommodated.

We will again be offering free bottles of water and snacks for all guests to be located somewhere close to the
ballot table in each building. And, we will also continue offering a judge lounge with breakfast in the morning and
coffee and other snacks all day.
 Awards Ceremonies
This year we will host two awards ceremonies. Speech awards will be held Sunday night. The final round for speech
events will take place on Monday beginning during the debate awards ceremony.

Debate awards will be held Monday morning.

They will be held in the Ballroom on the ground floor level of the Campbell House.

We welcome all members of your party to attend awards.

 The Julia Burke Award
The Julia Burke Flame for Character and Excellence in National High School Policy Debate

A national high school annual debate award has been established, and was presented for the first time at the national
Tournament of Champions, held at the University of Kentucky on May 6-8, 2000. The purpose of this award is to
recognize a high school policy debater who achieves competitive excellence in high school policy debate on the
national circuit, and who demonstrates goodness of heart despite the pressures of competition at the highest level.
The award includes a perpetual and an individual trophy, a $2,000 college scholarship, and a $2,000 contribution to
the charity designated by the recipient.

To submit a nomination for the Award (due by April 1), please visit the Burke Award website:
[Link]
 The William B. Tate TOC Team Excellence Award
We are excited to award the Third Annual William B. Tate Tournament of Champions Team Excellence Award
(TEA), a sweepstakes award for the TOC sponsored by the National Speech & Debate Association (formerly the
National Forensic League).

A school’s best-performing entry in each division (CX, LD, PF, and Congress) shall count toward that school’s
Team Excellence Award (TEA) calculation. TEA points shall be determined by each entry’s seed rank at the end of
preliminary rounds, based on the seed rank as determined within each division. Only schools and entries that are
current, paid members of the NSDA are eligible for this honor, as well as the runner-up and third place awards.

TEA Calculation
Seed Rank TEA Pts # Seeds in See Note
Bracket 
1 20 1 +4 pts. } Note: Inverse increase
2, 3, 4 16 3 +3 pts. in points, proportionate to
5, 6, 7, 8, 9 13 5 +3 pts. number of seeds in each
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 10 7 +2 pts. bracket.
17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 8 8 +2 pts.
25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 6 10 +2 pts.
35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 4 12 +1 pts.
47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 3 12 +1 pts.
59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70 2 12 +1 pts.
71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80… 88 1 12+

The TEA award shall be calculated with the following priorities:

a). Sum total TEA points (higher value prevails)
b). Number of events in which school has entries (higher value prevails)
c). Sum of seed ranks in each division (lower value prevails)
d). Sum of reciprocal fractions of seed ranks in each division (higher value prevails)
e). Highest number of lowest seed ranks (1st seeds, 2nd seeds, 3rd seeds, etc.)
f). Include the school’s second entry from each division in the sum total, and repeat steps a-d.

For Congressional Debate, seed rank shall be determined by grouping each chamber’s prelim ranks (all firsts, all
seconds, all thirds, etc.), and calculating ranking within the group through the following priorities:
a). Cumulative rank total (lower value prevails)
b). Sum of rank reciprocal fractions (higher value prevails)
c). Cumulative rank, adjusted by dropping high/low ranks (lower value prevails)
d). Sum of rank reciprocal fractions, after dropping high/low ranks (higher value prevails)
e). Number of ranks vs. non-ranks (9s)
f). Number of 1sts, 2nds, etc.
Congressional Debate Example (using 2011 results):
Student Chamber Cume Rank Reciprocal Adj. H/L H/L Recip Prelim Rank Seed Rank
Rodriguez 2 29 5.708 20 4.583 1 1
Schaeffer 4 29 4.667 22 3.5 1 2
Neubauer 1 38 4.889 28 3.778 1 3
Slaughter 3 46 4.5 36 3.389 1 4
Bakke 3 38 4.769 28 3.658 2 5
Bernstein 1 45 4.047 35 2.936 2 6
Laporte 4 52 2.841 41 2.23 2 7
Sella 2 53 2.954 43 1.843 2 8
 Permissions, Verification, and Conduct Policy
All debaters and guests attend the TOC at the invitation of the University of Kentucky and must abide by all rules
established by this invitation, the TOC Tournament Procedures document, and any rules set by the University of
Kentucky for guests on campus.

By submitting entry application information to the Tournament, both coaches and debaters certify that their
applications are complete and reflect fully correct information. Submission of an entry form or at-large bid
application grants permission for the information contained in the entry/application form to be distributed to
TOC Advisory Committee members, TOC Tournament Officials, TOC tab room officials, and the University
of Kentucky Debate staff. Permission is also granted for Tournament Officials (as just listed) to verify any
information included on the application.
 Education and Openness Policy
While the TOC is a competitive event, we strongly believe that it is an educational endeavor. All debates at the TOC
are considered open to the public, and any person including coaches, debaters, parents, school officials, and
members of the general public are allowed to observe and take notes in TOC debate rounds. Any sources read as
evidence in round should be available to other competitors should they make a request for the citation after the
evidence has been read.
 Contact Information
Tournament of Champions website: [Link]

Please direct any administrative questions to:

Lincoln Garrett, UK Head Debate Coach
lincolngarrett49@[Link]
719-565-9528

OR

Linda Barker, TOC Administrative Assistant

[Link]@[Link]
859-257-6523 (office, 8am-5pm EST)
859-323-1995 (fax)

Mailing address:
Tournament of Champions
c/o Linda Barker
225 Funkhouser Building
Lexington, KY 40506-0054

Please direct any questions regarding TOC procedures (or for interpretation or clarification of any language in the
invitation) should be directed to:
Lincoln Garrett at [Link]@[Link]

Please direct any questions about speech events to:

Chris McDonald, Assistant Tournament Director for Speech at [Link]@[Link]

For assistance during the tournament, you may contact Lincoln or Chris (info above) or additionally: