How To Participate

Work with your debate coach or English teacher to put your team together. Go online to www.bickelbrewer/debate and register your team by October 14, 2009.

 

Prepare a Qualifying Round essay on the 2009–10 IPPF topic: "Resolved: The United Nations should substantially increase humanitarian assistance for persons living in poverty."

 

Essays are limited to 2,800 words and may be written from an affirmative or negative perspective. Participating teams can be comprised of any number of students. Only one essay is allowed per high school. Submit your essay by 2 p.m. CST on Wednesday, October 28, 2009, to Sarah Marshala at sem@bickelbrewer.com or call (214) 653-4035 for additional information.

 

Entries are divided into 8 regions, and then reviewed by members of the NYU Speech & Debate Team.  The best essay from each region advances to the Elimination Rounds, along with the next 24 top cases.  These top 32 teams will be announced on Wednesday, November 4, 2009, and continue in a written debate tournament.  Individual matches begin immediately, with one school affirming the resolution and the other negating it.

 

All submissions are reviewed by a panel of judges. Schools are labeled as “School A” (affirmative) and “School B” (negative) for each round to remain anonymous before the panel during the entire debate process. Winning teams advance to the next round. The process continues until the final eight teams are determined.