Hello Coaches, 

 

You and your team are invited to the Penn High School Debate Tournament to be held on December 7th, 2024. 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, December 4th. Entries are to be made through Speechwire. Please try to have your judges in by Thursday afternoon. Drops will be available through Saturday morning so feel free to process those on your own during the bus ride. 

 

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 all five events. I would like to try something different this time, as long as numbers allow. We will offer a JV division. My hope is that this will increase the level of competition for our Varsity debaters, while also allowing an opportunity for some of our less experienced varsity debaters to earn some ribbons.

 

A novice debater is a student who has never debated competitively prior to the 2024-2025 season. Any previous debate competition experience makes that student a JV/Varsity debater.

 

All Events and Divisions will follow ISSDA rules and restrictions. 

 

Topics

 

Lincoln-Douglas Debate – 2024 November/December Topic- Resolved: The United States ought to adopt a wealth tax.

 

Public Forum Debate – 2024 November/December Topic-Resolved: The United States should substantially reduce its military support of Taiwan.

 

Student Congress-December/January Docket- 

A.M. Session

• B/E 6: A Bill to Promote Eco-Friendly Packaging

• SC 4: A Bill to Regulate Homeschooling

• FP 1: A Resolution to Eradicate Piracy in the Red Sea

P.M. Session

• B/E 5 A Bill to Ban Online Gambling

• SC 5: A Bill to Mandate That All Federal Elected Officials Place Their Assets in a Blind Trust for Their Term of Office

• FP 4: A Resolution to Sanction the Republic of Türkiye

 

Chambers should attempt to debate three bills within each session. ​Varsity/JV chambers may elect their P.O. 

Please email P.O. nominations for the novice chamber to- jstarkweather@phm.k12.in.us

 

​World Schools Debate - Rounds 2 & 3 Prepared topic: Resolved: This house would nationalize energy companies

 

​Rounds 1 & 4 are impromptu rounds, with a different topic each round.

 

No electronics allowed for prep or during rounds. This will be enforced at the Penn tournament, and students will NOT be able to use their phones as timers. 

These are the norms :)

Students should write out notes and speeches on paper. They should use printed copies of speeches in prepared rounds. 

• Students may use 2 reference books for impromptu rounds.

• Students will have 1 hour prep per impromptu round. 

 

Policy Debate – 2024-2025 Topic-Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in copyrights, patents, and/or trademarks.

 

Important Note: ​Novice Policy Topic Restrictions are no longer in place starting on Dec 1st. 

 

****Judges****

We ask that each team provide the number of judges to run the tournament smoothly. 

 

• Congress- 1 judge for every 5 entries

• LD/PF- 1 judge for every 4 entries (since it’s double flighted)

• CX- 1 judge for every 2 entries

• WSD- 1 judge for every 2 entries

 

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 number 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. Sweepstakes awards/trophies will be awarded to the Top 5 Teams

 

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. We ask that you strongly encourage your students to make purchases from the concession stand, as this will help us cover the cost of speechwire services. 

 

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