Bluegrass Debate

BDC January Invitational Tournament
2023-01-21 07:30 - 17:30 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | University of Kentucky
The Bluegrass Debate Coalition cordially invites you to the BDC January Invitational to be held on Saturday, January 21st, 2023, which we will host on campus at the University of Kentucky. We will be offering all Senior Speech Events as well as debate events in Congressional Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, and Public Forum Debate. Divisions (such as novice, junior varsity, and varsity/open) in debate will be determined by attendance.
Learn more about the BDC January Invitational, here!
Please see here for the BDC January Invitational Invite
Additional information including tournament schedule and procedures are available on Tabroom. Please review all documents and ensure you/your team are in accordance with all KHSSL & NSDA rules, procedures, and eligibility requirements.
Official Schedule – All Events
CATEGORIES:
The BDC Debate Winter Invitational will be offering all Senior Speech Events (BRO, DEC, DRA, DUO, EXT, HUM, IMP, IP2, INF, ORA, POE, POI, PRO, STO) and debate events in Congressional Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, and Public Forum Debate.
TOURNAMENT TOPICS:
The BDC Debate Winter Invitational will use NSDA topics for the January/February area (outlined below).
For Congressional Debate, we will use the January NSDA legislation packet.
LD – Resolved: TBA
PF – Resolved: tBA
KHSSL & NSDA RULES, PROCEDURES & ELIGIBILITY:
The BDC Debate January Invitational will follow NSDA and KHSSL rules and procedures. Click here to review the KHSSL handbook, and click here to review the NSDA procedures manual.
JUDGES:
Schools must provide 1 judge for every 2 entries (or fraction thereof) in LD/PF and 1 judge for every 6 entries in IE and Congress. For example, a school with 3 PF teams must provide 2 judges to cover their entries OR a school with 7 entries in IE must provide 2 judges to cover their entries. While we may have judges available for hire ($30 per judge), we ask teams to reach out regarding hired judges as a last resort. Judge drops will result in a $50 fine.
All judges attending the BDC January Invitational are expected to be familiar with KHSSL rules and online balloting. Asynchronous training, as well as on site training during the event, will be available to judges.
PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE:
7:30am ————————————– Registration
8am —————————————– Round 1 – LD, PF, & Extemp Draw
8:30am ————————————– Round 1 – IE
9am —————————————– Congress Session 1
9:30am ————————————– Round 2 – LD, PF, & Extemp Draw
10am —————————————- Round 2 – IE
11am —————————————- Round 3 – LD, PF, & Extemp Draw
11:30am ————————————- Round 3 – IE & Congress Session 2
12:30pm ———————————— Lunch Break
2:30pm ————————————- Round 4 – LD, PF, & Extemp/Broadcasting Draw (Finals)
2:30pm ————————————- Congress Session 3
3pm —————————————– Finals – IE
5pm —————————————– Awards
FOOD:
Food will be available for purchase, including pizza, snacks, and drinks.
AWARDS:
We will be offering trophies for the top performers in each speech and debate event. Awards will be proportional to entries. In an event with 10 or less entries, the Top 4 students will receive awards. In an event with 11 or more entries, the Top 6 students will receive awards. Speaker awards may be offered, as well as a Top Novice Award, dependent on entries. A sweepstakes award will be awarded to the top 3 schools.

BDC Winter Invitational Tournament
2022-12-10 08:00 - 17:30 (America/Kentucky/Louisville)
The Bluegrass Debate Coalition cordially invites you to the BDC Winter Invitational to be held on Saturday, December 10th, 2022, which we will host on campus at the University of Kentucky. We will be offering Congressional Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, and Public Forum Debate. Divisions (such as novice, junior varsity, and varsity/open) will be determined by attendance.
Learn more about the BDC Winter Invitational, here!
Please see here for the BDC Debate Winter Invitational Invite
Additional information including tournament schedule and procedures are available on Tabroom. Please review all documents and ensure you/your team are in accordance with all KHSSL & NSDA rules, procedures, and eligibility requirements.
Official Schedule – All Events
CATEGORIES:
The BDC Debate Winter Invitational will be offering debate only events in Congressional Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, and Public Forum Debate.
TOURNAMENT TOPICS:
The BDC Debate Winter Invitational will use NSDA topics for the November/December area (outlined below).
For Congressional Debate, we will use the December NSDA legislation packet.
LD – Resolved: The People’s Republic of China ought to prioritize environmental protection over economic growth.
PF – Resolved: The United States’ strategy of Great Power Competition produces more benefits than harms.
KHSSL & NSDA RULES, PROCEDURES & ELIGIBILITY:
The BDC Debate Winter Invitational will follow NSDA and KHSSL rules and procedures. Click here to review the KHSSL handbook, and click here to review the NSDA procedures manual.
JUDGES:
Schools must provide 1 judge for every 2 entries (or fraction thereof) in LD/PF and 1 judge for every 6 entries in Congress. For example, a school with 3 PF teams must provide 2 judges to cover their entries. While we may have judges available for hire ($30 per judge), we ask teams to reach out regarding hired judges as a last resort. Judge drops will result in a $50 fine. All judges attending the BDC Debate Winter Invitational are expected to be familiar with KHSSL rules and online balloting. Asynchronous training, as well as on site training during the event, will be available to judges.
PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE:
8am ——– Registration
9am ——– Round 1 – LD, PF, & Congress Session 1
10:30am — Round 2 – LD & PF
11am ——- Congress Session 2
12pm —— Round 3 – LD & PF
1:30pm —- Lunch (All Events)
2pm ——- Round 4 – LD, PF, & Congress Session 3
3:30pm — Round 5 – LD & PF
5:00pm —- Awards
FOOD:
Food will be available for purchase, including pizza, snacks, and drinks.
AWARDS:
We will be offering trophies for the top debaters in each event. Awards will be proportional to entries. In an event with 10 or less entries, the Top 4 students will receive awards. n an event with 11 or more entries, the Top 6 students will receive awards. Speaker awards may be offered, as well as a Top Novice Award, dependent on entries. A sweepstakes plaque will be awarded to the top school.

BDC's "Youth Leadership Conference" (Middle & High School Debate+)
2022-05-07 09:00 - 19:00 (America/Kentucky/Louisville)
As part of the Bluegrass Debate Coalition’s After School Learning Program, the BDC frequently hosts speech and debate events, mostly online, this time in-person, to further debate education for our students. The BDC’s “Youth Leadership Conference“ (hosted at UK) is designed to be a fun way for middle school, and high school students to experience public speaking and debate in a low-stress, yet highly rewarding environment. We are offering this competition to all middle school and high school students residing in Kentucky. Some high school mentors and judges will be awarded a letter of appreciation and service hours recognizing them for their volunteerism.
There is no cost to attend (& Free Food too)! [Learn More…]
Important: Elementary students are allowed to compete in the middle school division. If enough elementary students enroll, we may recognize the top teams for a separate award (this decision would be the day of the event, so any such award would have to be delivered on a later date). We would like to recognize the top elementary team(s) as part of the celebration.= at the end.

BDC's "Regional Championship (Fayette County)" (Elementary Debate)
2022-03-12 09:00 - 17:00 (America/Kentucky/Louisville)
As part of the Bluegrass Debate Coalition’s After School Learning Program, the BDC frequently hosts speech and debate events, mostly online, this time in-person, to further debate education for our students. The BDC’s “Regional Championship“ event (at UK) is designed to be a fun way for elementary, middle school, and high school students to experience public speaking and debate in a low-stress, yet highly rewarding environment. We are offering this competition to all elementary students who reside in Kentucky. Middle school and high school mentors and judges will be awarded a latter of appreciation and service hours recognizing them for their volunteerism.
There is no cost to attend (& Free Food too)! [Learn More…]

BDC's "Winter Invitational" (ES, MS & HS)
2022-02-19 13:00 - 17:30 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | NSDA Classroom
As part of the After School Learning Program, the Bluegrass Debate Coalition frequently hosts speech and debate events, mostly online, sometimes in-person, to further debate education throughout the Commonwealth. We are offering this event for elementary, middle school, and high school students. We do need help with the judging! There is no cost for Kentucky students to attend this event.
The BDC “Winter Invitational“ is an online event offering “elementary debate” following NSDA guidelines. After four rounds, the teams with the best preliminary records, individuals with the best overall speaking points, will be recognized as tournament champions – there will not be a final round (no elimination rounds).
IMPORTANT: Our partners on the West Coast were not able to get enough turn out from their middle school and high school students. We decided to continue with elementary debate — no charge to any of the participants. Tabroom.com is no longer necessary. Open to all, we are only limited by the number of judges available to volunteer that day. Please sign up and we will send you more detailed information.
[Learn More…]

Wilson Wyatt Debate League #5 (MS & HS)
2022-02-12 07:30 - 17:30 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | NSDA Classroom
The “Wilson Wyatt Debate League” is offering an online event featuring Lincoln Douglas (LD) and Public Forum (PF) debates (following NSDA guidelines). After five preliminary rounds, and two elimination rounds, the top four ranked teams, and top 10 ranked individuals will be recognized as tournament champions. There is a small cost for BDC students to attend this event. Please contact the BDC for more information. [Learn More…]

BDC's "Guest Lecture Series" (NATO & Turkey)
2022-02-02 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | Zoom
Image: Free Domain – Turkish Flag (Downloaded January 2022)

About the Guest Lecture (Register Here!)
Forum Public Forum students debating using the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), the February 2022 topic is… “Resolved: On balance, Turkey’s membership is beneficial to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization“. Dr. Clayton Thyne, a Professor at the University of Kentucky, will offer their subject matter expertise on the topic. Dr. Thyne will provide a detailed lecture, followed by a short interview with the BDC director, along with a Q&A for students to ask questions and discuss their research and arguments with a subject matter expert. The BDC Guest Lecture Series is hosted live via Zoom and made available to the public via YouTube.
There is no cost to attend!
[Learn More…]

BDC's "Winter Classic" (ES, MS, & HS)
2022-01-31 00:00 - 23:59 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | Zoom
As part of the After School Learning Program, the Bluegrass Debate Coalition frequently hosts speech and debate events, mostly online, sometimes in-person, to further debate education for our students. We are offering this to the elementary, middle school, and high school students who are enrolled in our after-school debate program. There is no cost to attend!

The BDC’s “Winter Classic“ event is an innovative approach to hosting online speech and debate contests. Competitors from across the Commonwealth of Kentucky will signup for online debates that will take place over the entire month of January (2022). Debaters will meet online, after school, once or twice per week, or possibly meet over a weekend. Special judges and volunteers will host these debates using Zoom. Teams with the best records may be invited to participate in a final round.
[Learn More…]

Wilson Wyatt Debate League #4 (Only for MS & HS)
2022-01-29 07:30 UTC | NSDA Classroom

BDC's "New Year's Resolution" (ES, MS & HS)
2022-01-07 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | Zoom
As part of the After School Learning Program, the Bluegrass Debate Coalition frequently hosts speech and debate events, mostly online, sometimes in-person, to further debate education for our students. The BDC’s “New Year’s Resolution“ event (using Zoom) is designed to be a fun way for elementary and middle school students to experience public speaking and debate in a low-stress, yet highly rewarding environment. We are offering this to all elementary and middle school students who are currently enrolled in our after-school program. There is no cost to attend! [Learn More…]

BDC's "Guest Lecture Series" (Drug Legalization)
2022-01-05 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | Zoom
Image: iStock (Downloaded on December 12, 2021)

About the Guest Lecture (Register Here!)

For Public Forum students debating using the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), the January 2022 topic is “Resolved: The United States federal government should legalize all illicit drugs..” Our guest lecturer, Dr. Caroline Weber, a professor at the University of Kentucky, will be offering their subject matter expertise. Dr. Weber will provide a presentation related to the topic, followed up with a Q&A for students and audience members to ask questions. The BDC Guest Lecture Series will be hosted via Zoom on Wednesday, January 5th, at 6:00 PM. This event is free and is open to the public – all are welcome – students, parents, teachers, etc.

There is no cost to attend!
[Learn More…]

Wilson Wyatt Debate League #3 (ES, MS & HS)
2021-12-11 07:30 - 17:30 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | NSDA Classroom
Register Here! or Volunteer Here!
The “Wilson Wyatt Debate League” is offering an online event featuring Lincoln Douglas (LD) and Public Forum (PF) debates (following NSDA guidelines). After five preliminary rounds, and two elimination rounds, the top four ranked teams, and top 10 ranked individuals will be recognized as tournament champions.
There is a small cost for BDC students to attend this event. Please contact the BDC for more information.
https://www.tabroom.com/index/tourn/index.mhtml?tourn_id=21608

DEBATE TOPICS (Nov-Dec 2021):
PF: Increased United States federal regulation of cryptocurrency transactions and/or assets will produce more benefits than harms.
LD: A just government ought to recognize an unconditional right of workers to strike.

This event will have prizes!
There will be trophies (and/or medallions) for the “Top 4” debate teams and the “Top 10” speakers.
[Learn More…]

Wilson Wyatt Debate League #2 (ES, MS & HS)
2021-11-20 07:30 - 17:30 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | NSDA Classroom

BDC's "Guest Lecture Series" (Cryptocurrency)
2021-11-03 18:00 - 19:00 UTC | Zoom
About the Guest Lecture (Register Here!)

For Public Forum students debating using the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), the November/December resolution is “Resolved: Increased United States federal regulation of cryptocurrency transactions and/or assets will produce more benefits than harms.” Our Guest Lecturer, Shane Hadden, a Professor at the University of Kentucky, will be offering their subject matter expertise. Professor Michael Hadden will be providing a presentation related to the topic, followed up with a Q+A for students to ask any questions they may have. The Guest Lecture will be hosted via Zoom on Wednesday, November 3rd, at 6:00 PM. All are welcome – students, parents, teachers, etc.

There is no cost to attend!
[Learn More…]

BDC's "Fall Classic" (ES & MS)
2021-11-01 00:00 - 2021-11-30 23:59 UTC | Zoom
Register Here! or Volunteer Here!
As part of the After School Learning Program, the Bluegrass Debate Coalition frequently hosts speech and debate events, mostly online, sometimes in-person, to further debate education for our students. We are offering this to the middle school students who are enrolled in our after-school debate classes. There is no cost to attend!

The “BDC Fall Classic” event is an innovative approach to hosting online speech and debate contests. Competitors from across the Commonwealth of Kentucky will signup for online debates that will take place over the entire month of November (2021). Debaters will meet online, after school, once or twice per week, or possibly meet over a weekend. Special judges and volunteers will host these debates using Zoom. Teams with the best records may be invited to participate in a final round.
[Learn More…]

BDC's "All Hallows Eve" (Elementary)
2021-10-29 16:00 - 19:00 UTC | Zoom
Register Here! or Volunteer Here!
As part of the After School Learning Program, the Bluegrass Debate Coalition frequently hosts speech and debate events, mostly online, sometimes in-person, to further debate education for our students. The “BDC’s All Hallows Eve” event (using Zoom) is designed to be a fun way for elementary students to experience public speaking and debating in a low-stress, low-anxiety environment. We are offering this to the elementary students who are currently enrolled in our after-school classes.
There is no cost to attend!
[Learn More…]

BDC's "Guest Lecture Series" (NATO & The Baltics)
2021-10-06 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Kentucky/Louisville) | Zoom
About the Guest Lecture:

For Public Forum students debating using the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), the November/December resolution is Resolved: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization should substantially increase its defense commitments to the Baltic states.” Our Guest Lecturer, Dr. Clayton Thyne, a Professor at the University of Kentucky, will be offering their subject matter expertise. Dr. Thyne will be providing a presentation related to the topic, followed up with a Q&A for students to ask any questions they may have. The Guest Lecture was hosted via Zoom.

There was no cost to attend!
[Learn More…]
