StandingRules

Southeastern Pennsylvania Debate League
= STANDING RULES =

Section R1 - Host School
It shall be the responsibility of a host school to distribute or mail an invitation at least two (2) weeks prior to the scheduled tournament date. An invitation must include registration forms, directions, phone and fax numbers, and a school map.
 * Section R1.1**

The host school must be able to provide the following on the day of the tournament:
 * Section R1.2**
 * A list of available classrooms
 * Copying availability
 * Speech ballots
 * Refreshments for judges
 * Refreshments for contestants
 * Extemp topics
 * A posting area/microphone
 * A tabulation headquarters
 * Meeting area

Any decision to be made concerning the postponement of a scheduled League tournament will be made no later than noon on the day of the tournament. The decision will be made jointly by the League President and the coach of the host school. All League schools will be notified as rapidly as possible.
 * Section R1.3**

League postponements will be rescheduled at the same host school for the same day of the following week unless other conflicts exist.
 * Section R1.4**

All league school must submit registration to the League President and any other designee by the Tuesday before a tournament, no later than 4 P.M. The day of a tournament only name changes and drops will be accepted. Schools not registered by Tuesday at 4 P.M. will not be scheduled for the tournament the following day.
 * Section R1.5**

Section R2 - Judges
All adult judges should be a coach, teacher, parent or graduate of a school with experience in the event to be judged. All league schools must be accompanied to a League tournament by an adult.
 * Section R2.1**

All student judges in Varsity Cross Examination Debate, Public Forum Debate and Lincoln Douglas Debate shall be certified by the league and its coaches as having experience in the event judged and/or as having attended the League’s workshop for student judges.
 * Section R2.2**

A school must meet the ratio of judges necessary in each event or have contestants disqualified.
 * Section R2.3**

The League demands that all judges are to act in a professional and objective manner. Judges decisions are final and cannot be reversed.
 * Section R2.4**

Section R3 - Semifinal Pairings in Varsity Cross Ex Debate
In Varsity Cross Examination debate, all teams which meet the League criteria of preliminary competition are eligible to compete in the League semifinal tournament. Teams will be seeded based on record. The criteria for seeding will be in the following order: 1. Winning percentage 2. Number of wins 3. Total team rank 4. Total team points
 * Section R3.1**

The equivalent of an octofinal bracket will be created. If there are more than sixteen teams qualified for the semifinal, only the top sixteen will advance. If there are fewer than sixteen teams, higher seeds will be advanced into the quarterfinal round. The bracket will be set as follows:
 * Section R3.2**

At the conclusion of the semifinal tournament, the top four (4) teams advance to the finals.

The bracket will not be changed for any reason. If two teams from the same school are scheduled to debate each other, the debate can occur or the coach may advance one of the teams without a debate being held.
 * Section R3.3**

Section R4 - Semifinal Pairings in Public Forum Debate
In Public Forum debate, all teams which meet the League criteria of preliminary competition are eligible to compete in the League semifinal tournament. Teams will be seeded based on record. The criteria for seeding will be in the following order: 1. Winning percentage 2. Number of wins 3. Total team rank 4. Total team points
 * Section R4.1**


 * Section R4.2** Refer to Section R5.2 for pairings


 * Section R4.3** Refer to Section R5.3 for bracket restraints.

Section R5 - Semifinal Pairings in Lincoln Douglas Debate
All contestants who meet the League criteria are eligible to compete in the League semifinal tournament. Debaters will be seeded based on the following criteria: 1. Winning percentage 2. Number of wins 3. Average points per round 4. Total points
 * Section R5.1**

On the day of the league semifinal tournament, a bracket will be created from among those seeded contestants competing on that day. Each debater will compete in three (3) rounds of debate. If it is necessary to award byes, all attempts will be made to limit them to no more than one (1) per debater. The bracket will be based on the concept of power protection. As an example, a twenty - four contestant bracket would be structured as follows: Contestant 1 vs. 24 23 22 Contestant 2 vs. 23 22 24 Contestant 3 vs. 22 24 23 Contestant 4 vs. 21 20 19 Contestant 5 vs. 20 19 21 Contestant 6 vs. 19 21 20 Contestant 7 vs. 18 17 16 Contestant 8 vs. 17 16 18 Contestant 9 vs. 16 18 17 Contestant 10 vs. 15 14 13 Contestant 11 vs. 14 13 15 Contestant 12 vs. 13 15 14
 * Section R5.2**

At the end of the three (3) rounds, the top eight contestants will advance to the final tournament. They will be seeded based on: 1. Wins 2. Median points 3. Total Points

The bracket will not be changed for any reason. If two teams from the same school are scheduled to debate each other, the debate can occur or the coach may advance one of the teams without a debate being held.
 * Section R5.3**

Section R6- Semifinal Pairings in Speech Events
Any student who has competed in at least two league tournaments, at least one of which must be in speech, is eligible to compete in the League semifinal tournament. Students may double enter, as well. (Suggest Poetry and Prose only).
 * Section R6.1**

There will be three rounds of competition. In each round, the contestants will be ranked with a rank of 1st being best. At the end of three rounds, the top six (6) contestants in each event shall advance to the League final tournament.
 * Section R6.2**

Executive decisions may be made to advance more than six (6) contestants to finals if either unbreakable ties exist or the number of contestants in the event warrants advancing more.
 * Section R6.3**

Section R7 - Semifinal Judges
In all instances of the League semifinal tournaments, a school must have its required ratio of judges in order to compete. It is the responsibility of the school’s coach to make provision for a full complement of judges in all events. It is also the responsibility of the coach to provide the league with judges experienced in the events they are judging.
 * Section R7.1**

Section R8 - League Finals
In Varsity Cross Ex Debate, Public Forum Debate and Lincoln Douglas debate, the finals rounds will complete the preexisting brackets.
 * Section 8.1**

In speech events, there will be three rounds of competition with the contestants being ranked. After three rounds, the contestant with the lowest total ranks shall be declared the winner.
 * Section 8.2**

All league rules will be followed at the League final including those governing judging requirements. As often as possible, students in final rounds will be judged by a panel of adult judges.
 * Section 8.3**

The League final tournament will conclude with a banquet and the distribution of all League trophies and awards.
 * Section 8.4**

The awards to be distributed by the league at the banquet are: A. Trophies and certificates to all finalists in Oral Interpretation, Extemp Speaking and Dramatic Performance. B. Trophies and certifcates to all quarterfinlists, semifinalists and finalists in Lincoln Douglas Debate and Public Forum Debate. C. Certificates to all quarterfinalists in Policy Debate. D. Trophies and certificates to all semifinalists in Policy Debate. E. Trophies to the top 3 in Student Congress and certificates to the top 8 contestants. F. Trophies to the top 3 schools in overall sweepstakes. G. A rotating trophy to the top school in accumulated sweepstakes. The winning school’s total returns to 0 upon winning this award and all other schools begin the following season with their previous total.

The league’s sweepstakes winners will be determined by using the following criteria: A. For Policy Debate, quarterfinalist = 5 points, semifinalists = 10, 2nd place = 15 and 1st place = 20. B. For LD and PFD, quarterfinlists = 2 points, semifinalists = 5 points, 2nd place = 8 points and 1st place = 10 points. C. For speech events, finalist = 2 points, 4th = 4 points, 3rd = 6 points, 2nd = 8 points and 1st = 10 points. D. For Student Congress, Senate: 1st 10 points, 2nd 8 points, 3rd  6 points, 4th  5 points, 5th  4 points, 6th 3 points, 7th  2 points, 8th  1 point. House: 1st 5 points, 2nd  4 points, 3rd  3 points, 4th  2 points and 5th  1 point.
 * Section 8.5**