Dear Friends,
On behalf of the Brigham Young University Speech and Debate Team, the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, the College of Humanities, and the Honors Program, it is our pleasure to invite you to attend the 2008 Crossroads of the West Invitational, here in beautiful Provo, Utah, November 21 and 22, 2008.
We will offer seven preliminary rounds of both open and novice division NPDA parliamentary debate, advancing all teams with winning records to elimination rounds. We will recognize an appropriate number of individual speakers in each division of debate. We will offer four preliminary rounds, with appropriate elimination rounds, of NFA Lincoln-Douglas Debate. We will offer two preliminary rounds of all AFA-NIET individual events, with finals. We will honor a nationally-recognized director with our annual Coach of the Year award, and, of course, there will be accommodations for food throughout the tournament.
We hope you can join us for the 2008 Crossroads of the West. If you have any questions, please contact crossroads@byudebate.com.
Very truly yours,
The BYU Speech and Debate Team
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The 2008 Crossroads of the West Invitational: Brigham Young University
Parliamentary Debate
We will be offering Open and Novice divisions of NPDA debate as entries warrant. We will offer seven preliminary rounds, advancing all teams with a winning record (4-3 of better) to elimination rounds. Open division is open to any competitors, while Novice division is limited to competitors in their first two years of college debate experience. Times will be 7-8-8-8-4-5 with 20 minutes preparation time before each round. There will be centralized topic announcement for all preliminary rounds except round seven. Round seven (the last preliminary round) will be a flip-for-sides debate.
The Crossroads of the West Invitational topic areas will be nominated and voted on by schools attending the tournament. Each school planning on attending should submit two topic areas no later than three weeks prior to the tournament (so nominations this year will be due November 1st). Starting on Monday November 3rd, participating schools will be able to rank the nominated topic areas though Friday November 7th. The top 12 topic areas will be chosen and each topic area will be used to construct a resolution for the tournament. Those rankings will be posted on the morning of November 8th. Thus, participants will co-create and know beforehand the topic areas two weeks before the tournament.
To review the procedure is:
- -Nov. 1: Each participating school submits two topic areas for consideration.
- -Nov. 3: Each participating school is able to rank all the submitted topic areas.
- -Nov. 7: Ranking of submitted topic areas ends at midnight (pacific time).
- -Nov. 21-22: Resolutions constructed based on those topic areas are debated at the tournament.
Assuming the majority of teams meet judging commitments, the tournament will utilize mutual preference judging for open division debate teams, and strikes for novice division teams.
One judge covers two debate teams. You are encouraged to bring extra judges (who will be paid to judge beyond their commitment) or volunteer to judge extra rounds to help ensure the quality of the judging pool and the ability to ensure mutually preferred judging.
Individual Events
Pattern A: Extemp, Inform, Prose, Dramatic Interp, Communication Analysis, NFA LD
Pattern B: Impromptu, Poetry, Duo, ADS, POI, Persuasion, NFA LD
(NFA LD will occur during IEs. Competitors may not enter both LD and individual events.)
The Crossroads of the West will adhere to AFA-NIET descriptions and rules for these events.
One judge covers six individual events entries per pattern, and two LDers. We cannot guarantee that there will be enough extra judges to cover contestants that do not cover their commitment. We urge you to (1) cover your commitment, and (2) offer to judge extra rounds. Judges who judge beyond their commitment, and hired judges, will be paid for their services.
Fees:
Fees for the Crossroads of the West are as follows: $30 per parliamentary debate team, $15 per NFA-LD entry, and $5 per individual events slot.
Uncovered fees, which are assessed in additional to regular fees, are $75 per uncovered debate team, $5 per uncovered IE slot, and $20 per uncovered NFA-LD entry. We would most certainly rather use your judges than take your money.
Also, being from a low budget team we are happy to work with schools that have problems with paying entry fees even if it means having them completely waived. Not being able to afford the fees is no reason not to come.
Lodging:
We are pleased to announce an excellent rate of 75.00 a night at the Provo Hampton Inn located at 1511 South 40 East. Reservations can be made by calling (801) 377-6396. This rate includes a hot breakfast as well as access to fitness rooms as well as their jacuzzi. Who doesn't like a jacuzzi?
Getting Here:
For teams wishing to fly, it is best to schedule flights into the Salt Lake International Airport (SLC). We will be running a shuttle service on Thursday night from the airport to the University for teams that do not wish to rent cars.
Another option is to take Amtrak who has direct service to Provo, UT.
Coach of the Year Award:
The BYU Speech and Debate team is still very much in a rebuilding phase and has experience gracious acts from many members of the debate community that allow low-budget teams, such as ourselves, to have a chance to compete on the national circuit. Out of sheer gratitude, we would like to recognize one such coach, individual or program during our awards ceremony.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Thursday, November 20:
6:00 – 10:00 PM: Registration
Friday, November 21
Saturday, October 4:
8:00 AM Round One Parliamentary Debate
9:30 AM Round Two Parliamentary Debate
11:00 AM Round One Pattern A, Round One LD
12:30 PM Lunch
1:30 PM Round Two Pattern A, Round Two LD
3:00 PM Round Three Parliamentary Debate
4:30 PM Round Four Parliamentary Debate
6:00 PM Round Five Parliamentary Debate
7:30 PM Finals Pattern A, Round Three LD
Saturday, November 22:
8:00 AM Round One Pattern B, Round Four LD
9:30 AM Round Six Parliamentary Debate
11:00 AM Round Seven Parliamentary Debate
12:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM Round Two Pattern B, Elim 1 LD
2:30 PM Parliamentary Debate Elim 1
4:00 PM Parliamentary Debate Elim 2
5:30 PM Finals Pattern B, Elim 2 LD
7:00 PM Parliamentary Debate Elim 3
8:30 PM Awards, with further parliamentary debate elims to follow
9:00 Elim 3 LD (if necessary)
10:00 Parliamentary Debate Elim 4
11:00 Parliamentary Debate Elim 5(if necessary)