AWARDS LIVE STREAM: https://www.youtube.com/live/yj2nXnp2Xs8?si=gdtDCV60SO7fIIyx

Important Locations:

Main Tab: Schroeder Hall 246

Congress Tab Friday: Fell 180

Student Holding Areas: Schroeder Hall 130 and 138

Preliminary Round Competition on Friday:

Congressional Debate - Fell Hall

Public Forum Debate - Schroeder Hall

Lincoln-Douglas Debate - Stevenson Hall

Event Schedules

We are excited to announce that this year's tournament has been sponsored by the Institute for Speech and Debate! Please check out thisflyer for more information about their summer camps!

Parking Information: Both days, school busses should drop off at the Bone Student Center Circle Drive on University Street. Students should walk across the University Street to Schroeder Hall. Both lecture halls (room 130 and 138) will serve as student holding areas! Both days, school busses should then be moved out to the S103 lot located on Main Street at the Parking and Transportation Building. Mini School Busses should park in the G86 Lot just north of the Bone Student Center Lot. Cars and Passenger Vehicles on Friday can park in the Bone Student Center Lot for $1/hour. On Saturday, other vehicles can park there or in any Red/Green lot in a non metered space. Please reference the linked parking map below!

Parking Map

Greetings Illinois Coaches–

We are looking forward to connecting with you and your debaters for this year’s In-person IDC Varsity State Debate Championships. March 15-16, 2024 at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois (Congressional, Lincoln-Douglas, and Public Forum Debate) and virtually for the Inaugural Asynchronous Pro Con Debate Challenge. Dates for the tournament shall be March 15-16, 2024. Team check-ins will take place online only via ihsa.tabroom.com on Thursday, March 14, 2024.

You can find the basic information in this invitation. We will release more information as the tournament date closes in.

Please fill out this form to indicate to us your intent, or lack thereof, to participate in the tournament. This will help us with planning as well as our advocacy to the IHSA to bring back the Debate State Final.

Here’s a review of some important information:

• The tournament for Congressional Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and Public Forum Debate will be in person. Pro Con Debate Challenge will be held online as an asynchronous event.

• Each school is limited to four entries in LD, PF, and Pro Con Debate Challenge and twelve entries in Congress.

• Entry fees will be consistent with last year! Entries in LD & PF are $25 each. Entries in Congressional Debate and Pro Con Debate Challenge will be $20 each. Schools that require a fee waiver for participation should reach out to host Brian Rohman at bmrohma@ilstu.edu.

• We will be using Tabroom (http://ihsa.tabroom.com) for registration, scheduling, judging, and results in all events. Make sure all participants--including judges--have Tabroom.com accounts.

• Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas topics will be released by the National Speech and Debate Association on February 1, 2024 on NSDA’s “Current Topics” page. If your school is a NSDA Member, you will be able to vote on the topics during the final week of January.

• As in previous years, first year out debaters can judge for your school in PF and LD. Qualified judges in Pro Con Debate Challenge include anyone that has graduated high school.

• All judges must be qualified to judge Varsity level Debate for their assigned divisions. Qualified means to have judged 10 varsity rounds in Debate or be a coach at an entered program.

• Each school will need to provide one judge for every two entries or fraction thereof in LD and PF. In Congressional Debate, each school will need to provide one judge for up to six entries and a second judge for additional entries. In Pro Con Debate Challenge, each school will need to provide one judge. If schools are able to provide additional judges beyond their commitment, we will work to schedule rounds off for those judges during preliminary rounds. All judges are expected to be available for all rounds on Friday and Saturday.

• This year, we are requiring all judges to have a paradigm in Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum. Encourage your judges to post one early in the season and update it prior to strikes for the tournament. Feel free to use this template to copy and paste into your paradigm and answer the questions provided!

• Entries in Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum will be allowed judge strikes. Schools that have judges without a paradigm will not be afforded strikes.

• The tournament does not offer hired judges to meet quotas. All entries must be covered by qualified judges provided by the competing school. If you are having difficulty recruiting judges, contact Brian Rohman at bmrohma@ilstu.edu and he will work with you to find judges in the Bloomington-Normal area.

• Congress legislation will be posted on the ihsa.tabroom.com in early February.

• Each school will be allowed to submit THREE pieces of legislation to be considered for the docket, ONE from each of the following committees: public welfare, economics, or foreign affairs. Each author may only be allowed to submit one piece of legislation. Legislation MUST be submitted at ihsa.tabroom.com prior to 11:55 PM on January 31, 2024. Coaches will need to add an entry in Congressional Debate to their entry prior to being able to see the legislation tab open. All legislation must use these templates: Bill, Resolution, or Constitutional Amendment.

• Registration is now open at ihsa.tabroom.com! If you are planning to attend at all, please indicate so in Tabroom ASAP! This will help us know how many schools to expect and how many schools we need to recruit for ProCon Debate Challenge.

• Registration closes at midnight on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. Additions may be allowed after this point, drops are certainly OK, but entry fee obligations will be frozen after that date.

• You can make name changes on Tabroom through Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 3:00 PM.

• Make checks payable to University High School. Please mail your checks to: University High School, ℅ Debate Team, 601 Gregory Street, Normal, IL 61790-7100. If you need a W9, here it is! The W9 is for ISU, so if your business office needs to make the check out to ISU, that is fine, but please emphasize that the check must come to our address or we will not receive the payment. Checks should be mailed as close to the tournament date as possible and may be received after the tournament.

Tournament check-in will be on Thursday, March 14, 2024, from 6 to 9 p.m via ihsa.tabroom.com. Please reach out to the State Final Host if this is a concern.