HANDBOOK OF TOURNAMENT PROCEDURES
2023 Revision
I. TOURNAMENT PROCEDURES
A. General
The rules and procedures set forth in this Handbook are meant to supplement the rules in the By-laws of the New York State Forensic League. Rules and Procedures apply to both Regional Tournaments and the State Championship Tournament, unless otherwise clarified.
B. Judging
At the Regional Tournaments, judges must be at least juniors or seniors in high school in their third year of forensics who have accrued a minimum of six (6) rounds of previous tournament judging experiences. These student judges may be used in Junior Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking and Declamation, Novice and Intermediate Lincoln-Douglas, Novice and Intermediate Policy Debate and Novice and Intermediate Public Forum Debate. Only adults with a minimum of six (6) rounds of previous tournament judging experience may be used in the remaining categories. The decision to allow students to judge is up to the individual Regional Directors.
At the State Championship Tournament, only adults with a minimum of six (6) rounds of previous judging experience may be used as judges in all categories. At no time shall a high school student be used as a judge.
Reasonable attempts shall be made by the Tournament Committee or Regional Director to limit a judge to rating speech contestants or debaters once in a tournament.
At no time may a judge rate a contestant or team:
from his/her own school,
the school by which the judge has been hired,
a school which the judge attended,
a school where the judge has coached or taught within the last five years.
Other questions of judge suitability will be ruled upon by the Tournament Committee or Regional Director, taking into consideration procedures B.3 and B.4 above.
At the State Championship Tournament, judges are expected to be available for the entire tournament. Judges who fail to report for assigned rounds will be liable to fines. The following fines are in effect:
Judges who miss a preliminary round will be fined $25.00
Judges who miss an elimination round will be fined $50.00
Judges who leave the Tournament early and fail to fulfill their commitments will be fined $250.00
Schools that drop judges before the beginning of the Tournament will be fined $200.00 with the possibility that a requisite number of students be dropped from the Tournament.
The State Coordinator shall inform all schools of any fines incurred. Schools must resolve all fines before they may compete in a future State Championship Tournament.
C. Speech
General
The number of rounds shall be set by the Tournament Committee or Regional Director(s).
Scheduling of all preliminary rounds shall be done by the Tournament Committee and/or Regional Director(s) prior to registration in a manner that assures random competition with minimal amounts of same school and repeat competition.
Scheduling should attempt to make each contestant speak in positions from round to round.
Contestant placement in the Regional Tournament shall be first by total ranks. Ties in ranks shall be broken by adding total number of first ranks, then the total number of second ranks, etc. If this is does not break the tie, total rating points shall be used. Lastly, judge preference in any rounds of head-to-head competition shall be used.
The number of judges in all rounds shall be determined by the Tournament Committee or Regional Director.
Punishment for speaker tardiness shall be set by the Tournament Committee or Regional Director.
No speeches shall be recorded by audio or video.
In speech events, with the exception of Extemporaneous Speaking, the contestant shall use the same material from round to round of competition (in Oral Interpretation, the same prose and the same poetry selections shall be used throughout the contest).
State Championship Tournament
A number of preliminary rounds set by the Tournament committee shall be scheduled so as to provide inter-regional competition between different geographic areas of New York State. (Currently that number is five.) There will be one judge in each preliminary round.
Before determining which contestants shall advance to the first elimination round, the “worst” rank received by each contestant in a preliminary round shall be dropped and shall never be used again during the tournament.
The remaining ranks from preliminary rounds shall be totaled, and those speakers with the lowest total ranks shall advance to the first elimination round. Ties in ranks shall be broken using reciprocals. If ties are still unbreakable, all tied speakers will advance.
Advancing to later elims is cumulative of 4 best prelim scores and all elims, with the second tiebreak being performance in elims, followed by reciprocals.
All Quarterfinal and semifinal elimination rounds will be snaked based on seed with allowances made to move seeds to minimize students from the same school competing against each other. Swaps will be made based on moving students of similar seed to preserve, as best possible, the total strength of each elim.
Champions are determined by the total of all scores (minus worst prelim), then by rank in finals, finally by judge preference in finals.
D. Debate
General
The number of rounds shall be set by the Tournament Committee or Regional Director.
Rounds will be paired as directed by the Tournament Committee or Regional Director.
A debater or debate team winning by forfeit or receiving a bye shall receive the average of the other points received during the tournament. A debater or team losing by forfeit shall receive no points.
In all elimination rounds, sides will be determined by a coin flip unless debaters or teams have met previously where side constraint applies.
The number of judges in all rounds shall be determined by the Tournament Committee or Regional Director.
Punishment for debater or team tardiness shall be set by the Tournament Committee or Regional Director.
State Championship Tournament
At all levels, debaters shall be prepared to debate both sides of the assigned resolution in alternating rounds of competition.
The first two rounds of all levels of debate will be randomly pre-set by the Tournament Committee as to provide competition between different geographic regions of New York State. (Only one round of team debate.)
In any level of debate in which a school has thirty percent or more of the entries, the school’s coach will be asked to designate three debaters or teams who will not meet others from their own school during the preliminary rounds. Other debaters or teams from the school (s) may be scheduled to debate others from their school as the rules of the Tournament are applied.
There shall be five preliminary rounds in all levels of debate. Each debater will have two rounds on each side (with side constraints for rounds two and four). Sides for round 5 will be determined by coin flip.
Rounds three , four, and five will be bracketed within record with constraints on side, on previous meeting, and on same school, if applicable. The highest debater or team in each bracket will meet the lowest debater or team in the bracket; the second highest debater or team will meet the next to lowest debater or team, etc. If there is an odd number in a bracket, the middle card in the next lowest bracket will be pulled up and placed at the appropriate point level.
The number of elimination rounds in a category of debate shall be set by the Tournament Committee with considerations given to the number of entries in the category, time available in the Tournament, and the level and type of debate competition. Seeding will be based upon the following criteria: record, adjusted points, total points, opp wins, judge variance, coin toss.
Traditional bracketing methods will be used. In a full bracketed round, the top seed will meet the lowest seed; the second top seed the second lowest seed, and so on. If the first elimination round is a partial bracket, then some debaters will be byed into the next round. Of those not byed in, the top seed with meet the lowest seed, etc.
During the elimination rounds, the winner will always maintain or adopt low seed numbers.
Judges from schools with debaters or teams in the Semi-Final rounds shall not judge in the rounds of the level or type of debate in which their debaters or teams are still competing.
Once the seeding is determined, it shall not be changed, even if this should mean that debaters from the same school must meet.
In the event that debaters from the same school must meet in an elimination round, the coach will decide which debater or team will advance. If the only remaining debaters are form the same school, the elimination rounds will not continue. The level of debate will be declared a “close out,” and the remaining debaters will be declared co-champions.
II. RULES OF SPEECH
A. General
The rules of each speech event shall be defined by the Regional Directors and may not necessarily follow those of either the National Catholic Forensic League (for OI and DEC) or the National Speech and Debate Association (for all other events).
In all speech events except Extemporaneous Speaking, the maximum time is ten minutes which includes any introductory and transitional narration used; for Extemporaneous Speaking, the maximum time is seven minutes. There is no minimum speaking time for any event.
In all speech events, contestants are to be allowed a thirty-second overtime “grace” period for which no penalty should be assessed. If a contestant goes beyond this thirty-second period, he or she may not be ranked first in the round. No other penalties for overtime shall be imposed. (Please note: no penalty for overtime can be imposed if the passage of time was not indicated to the student.)
No ties in ranks may be given in a round.
In all speech events except Extemporaneous Speaking, a student may not present a selection or use a cutting from a source used by him or her in a tournament in any previous academic year.
In general, a judge’s decision should be based upon:
Effectiveness of message construction/interpretation. This includes all matters pertaining, in original events, to speech structure and organization, analysis, use of evidence and/or argumentation. In oral interpretation, this includes all matters pertaining to cutting, characterization, and the appropriateness of the speaker’s overall approach to the literature being presented.
Effectiveness of delivery. This includes all matters pertaining to oral presentation: poise, quality and use of voice, emphasis and variety, facial and bodily expressiveness, ability to adapt to the circumstances of environment and/or audience.
In general, a judge’s decision should not be based upon:
Partiality. The judge should not be influenced by the reputation of the speaker, his/her school or coach.
Personal opinion or conviction with regard to topic. The judge should not base his/her decisions upon whether or not he/she agrees or disagrees with the speaker.
Personal preference with regard to message content or choice of literature. The judge should not base his/her decisions upon whether or not he/she likes or dislikes the material being presented.
Personal preference on speaking style. No particular style of message construction, interpretation or delivery is to be set up as the one correct style to which all contestants must conform. Rather, each contestant is to be judged on the effectiveness of his/her own approach and is free to choose and develop whatever style he/she feels is most appropriate to the particular message and/or material he/she is presenting.
The judge should not give oral critique during the tournament nor reveal any decisions. All feedback should be presented on the ballots.
B. Speech Events
Speech events will follow NCFL or NSDA guidelines as appropriate with the following additional information:
Extemporaneous Speaking
Topics shall be phrased as questions and be supplied by the Regional Directors. Topics will be from popular news magazines and New York State issues of the three months prior to the Tournament. Each round of Extemporaneous Speaking should exclude topics available for use in any previous round of the Tournament.
The event shall be divided between Junior Varsity and Varsity divisions. Only freshman and sophomore students (ninth and tenth grades) may be entered in the Junior Varsity division.
As soon as a topic has been chosen, the contestant shall withdraw to the preparation area and prepare the speech without reference to prepared notes, speeches. These are not permitted in the preparation room. Contestants may consult magazines, newspapers, books, pamphlets and annotated bibliographies. Violations of these rules are to be reported by the preparation room chairperson to the Tournament Committee or Regional Director. The Tournament Committee or Regional Director shall determine the appropriate penalty based upon the severity and nature of the violation.
Speakers may use a computer to store information and retrieve information from the internet. They may not, however, communicate with anyone outside of the prep room nor use AI to compose any portion of the speech. Any speaker who communicates with someone outside the round or using AI will be disqualified from the tournament. Speakers may not plug into outlets in the Prep Room during active prep.
The preparation room may be occupied during the Tournament only by Extemporaneous Speaking contestants and the designated supervisors. Other event contestants, judges, and friends will be permitted entry into the preparation room only in an emergency and with the approval of the supervisors.
During the speech, Junior Varsity contestants are limited to speaking notes with no more than 50 words on one piece of paper or 3x5” index card. Effective use of the note card should not be penalized. Varsity contestants may not utilize notes during the speech.
The Interpretation Events
Speakers who are double entered may not use the same material in both events. The phrase “same material” refers not to the same piece of literature, but actual lines from the literature. Therefore, no lines that appear in one event may appear in the other event.
Oral Interpretation of Prose and Poetry
A given round will feature either all poetry or all prose selections. During the Tournament, there will be alternating rounds of prose and poetry with the order selected by the Tournament Committee or Regional Director.
The event shall be divided between Junior Varsity and Varsity divisions. Only freshman and sophomore students (ninth and tenth grades) may be entered in the Junior Varsity division.
III. RULES OF DEBATE
Debate events will follow NCFL guidelines as appropriate with the following additional information:
In Lincoln Douglas, each debater shall be entitled to four minutes of preparation time during each debate. In Public Forum, each team shall be entitled to three minutes of preparation time.
Debaters may use a computer to store information and retrieve information from the internet. They may not, however, communicate with anyone outside of the debate round. This is inclusive of shared Google Docs with any new information added by an outside person after the round has begun. Any debater who communicates with someone outside the round will be disqualified from the tournament. There is no guarantee of power outlets in a round.
Observers in elimination rounds may not use electronic devices during the round.
The judge should not give oral critique during the tournament nor reveal any debate decisions in the preliminary rounds. After elimination rounds, the chair of the judge panel must announce the winner, but judges shall not give oral critiques. All feedback should be provided on the ballot.
Debaters should have original source material available (in paper or electronically) for any evidence read within the round. A debater is entitled to see a copy of any evidence read by the opponent during the round. However, judges ought not read evidence unless a competitor in the round requests them to do so.
IV. RULES OF STUDENT CONGRESS
The New York State Student Congress shall follow the rules below and Robert’s Rules of Order.
The Congress shall include three preliminary sessions of not less than two hours each. The event will culminate in a semifinal and final session of nominated legislators.
The Congress shall be divided into chambers of equal and reasonable size in order to encourage maximum senatorial participation.
The Congress shall simulate the United States Congress and shall consider legislative matters pertinent to the Federal level of Government.
There will be no committee sessions.
Any bills to be debated at the Student Congress must be submitted the director of the Congress event by the announced date. Schools may submit two pieces of legislation, one for use in preliminary rounds and the other for consideration for elimination rounds.
All bills submitted will be posted on the League’s website: www.nysfl.org. Coaches of students participating in Student Congress are responsible for downloading the bills for their Congress persons from the computer site.
The Tournament Director shall act as the Director of the Congress or will appoint a Director of Congress. The Director of Congress shall appoint persons to serve as parliamentarians and will assign judges to each chamber and each session. The parliamentarian shall also serve as a judge.
The duties of the parliamentarian shall be to:
Guide the group in case a student officer becomes too deeply involved in parliamentary rules, to correct gross errors in procedure, and to record actions taken. Ordinarily, the parliamentarian should remain in the background; but he/she should step forward firmly when necessary. The presiding officer is in charge, and members of the Congress should not be permitted to argue with him/her. The purpose of the Congress is to debate legislation, and it is the parliamentarian’s duty to see that this gets done.
See that a seating chart and roll are established.
An agenda for each chamber will be constructed collaboratively using a Google Document that all speakers in that chamber have equal access to. No discussion of docket outside of that document is acceptable. Debate on a bill will be limited to 1/3 of the session time. At the end of 1/3 of the time, an immediate vote will be taken, unless in the opinion of the parliamentarian, the debate still has more worthwhile debate. If the Parliamentarian has judged that the debate has become repetitive, the rules may not be suspended to add additional time.
The author of the bill or resolution, or someone appointed by him/her, shall be recognized to open the debate, but thereafter he/she shall take his/her chances with the rest of the members for further speaking opportunity. He/she does not have special privilege to close the debate.
Members shall claim the floor in debate only if they wish to oppose the views of the preceding speaker so that debate will alternate. If no one wishes to speak on the opposing side of the legislation, the chair will entertain a second speaker on the same side. After the third speaker on the same side, an immediate vote shall be taken, with no possibility to suspend the rules and continue one-sided debate.
A member may speak more than once on the same question.
All speeches are limited to three minutes in length. A member may not yield any portion of his/her speaking time to another except for a question. For the authorship speech and the first opposing speech, there will be a mandatory 2- minute question period. For all other speeches, there will be a mandatory 1- minute question period. The rules may not be suspended to allow more questioning. The chamber may choose to allow direct questioning.
Debaters may use a computer to store information and retrieve information from the internet. They may not; however, communicate with anyone outside of the debate round. Any debater who communicates with someone outside the round will be disqualified from the tournament. Debaters may not use power outlets in the chamber
Amendments must be in writing and state exactly the words to be added or stricken. They will be considered only if they receive a second from one-third of the members.
Judges will write and individual ballot for each senator who has played an active role (delivered at least one speech) in the chamber group.
At the close of each session, each judge (without consultation with any other judge and/or parliamentarian) will list on the summary ballot, in rank order, the top 8 speakers from that session (best receiving the “1,” etc.) All non-listed speakers will receive a rank of 9.At the end of the preliminary sessions of Student Congress, each student’s best and worst rank and rating will be dropped. and shall not be used again during the tournament. The Parliamentarian shall rank all the speakers in the chamber. Speakers ranked below 8 will receive a rank of 9. S. Speakers will advance to elimination rounds based on the total ranks from all judges, less the best and worst scores. In case of a tie, the Parliamentarian’s rankings will count as the tie breaker.
Once students advance to the Semifinals, their preliminary scores shall be discarded.
At the close of the Supersession, each judge in the session (without consultation with any other judge and/or parliamentarian) will list on the summary ballot, in rank order, the top 8 speakers from that session in the manner described above. Supersession ranks will be totaled. The speaker with the lowest total wins the contest, etc. Ties in ranks shall be broken by reciprocals.
V. AWARDS AT THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
A. Speech
Awards will be presented to any student in elimination rounds.
Team awards will be given to the top five schools overall. To determine school placement, the top six students, with no more than two from any one of the three groups of events: 1) rhetorical/memorized interpretative events (declamation, dramatic and humorous interpretation), 2) student generated/constructed original events (extemporaneous speaking and original oratory), and 3) interpretative reading events (oral interpretation and duo interpretation) ranks will be scored.
At the end of four preliminary rounds, the “worst” rank received by each student is dropped and is never used again throughout the contest. Each of the remaining ranks is given a sweepstakes score. A first rank earns five points, a second earns four points, a third earns three points, a fourth earns two points, and any lower ranks receives one point. At the end of each elimination round, the student’s placement in the round will be determined by totaling the ranks of the three judges in the round. That rank will earn the speaker an additional sweepstakes score. (Quarter-final rounds will not be counted).
Should ties occur between schools, they shall be broken by totaling their number of first ranks. (If ties still exist, the total number of second ranks should be determined, etc.)
The first place Speech Sweepstakes award shall be called the Sister Raimonde Memorial Award.
B. Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum Debate
Awards will be presented to participants in all elimination rounds in each division.
Team awards will be given to the top five schools overall. To determine school placement, the winning ballots of each school’s top five students (no more than two from any one of the three divisions) will be totaled. Ties will be broken by comparing final placement of individual winners. The school’s which “go the farthest” or “place the highest” of those tied will win ties.
C. Student Congress
Awards will be presented to each participant in the Semifinal and Final Session of Congress.
Team awards will be given to the top five schools overall.