Valley Junior High Mid America Cup: Rules and Procedures

UPDATE: We will be using the APRIL NSDA Public Forum topic in all divisions.

Rules and Procedures

DATE

The Junior High Mid America Cup will take place on Friday-Saturday, March 27-28, 2026.

DEADLINES

Online entries, judge entries, and judge hire requests are all due no later than Friday, March 20, 2026.

SCHEDULE

See the separate “schedule” tab on our Tabroom page for specific times.

DIVISIONS

We will offer three divisions:

Experienced junior high: any debaters in grades 5-8 who have a year or more of experience, or those with less experience who wish to debate in a more challenging pool. (That is, there is no restriction against newer teams in the “experienced” section.)

Novice junior high: any debaters in grades 5-8 who are in their first year of organized debate competition.

Saturday-Only: an open division for any debaters grades 5-8; this division will start and finish on Saturday, March 28, 2026.

ADULT SUPERVISION

Every entry must provide the name and contact information for a responsible adult who will be available for communication with the tournament throughout the event.

• Adult can be a teacher, coach, parent, or other adult mentor.

• Adult must be reachable by phone at all times during the tournament.

• Any teams found to violate this rule – by submitting the name of a minor rather than an adult, or by submitting the name of someone who is not readily available, will be removed from the competition. Refunds will not be given.

ENTRIES AND PROGRAMS

The Junior High Mid America Cup accepts entries from:

• Schools

• Clubs or other co-educational programs

• Independents

• Hybrid teams (one debater from each of two distinct programs)

In all cases, however, a responsible adult must be available by cell phone throughout the event. That person must be aware of and assume responsibility for all entries under their name.

JUDGING

Entries must provide one judge for every two entries or fraction thereof.

1 entry = 1 judge owed

2 entries = 1 judge owed

3 entries = 2 judges owed

4 entries = 2 judges owed

5 entries = 3 judges owed…

… and so forth. If you have questions about judge requirements, please feel free to contact the tournament managers.

Judges can be any adult. They should at a minimum be familiar with the basic rules and time structure of Public Forum debate. New judges should be encouraged to:

• Evaluate only the arguments as made in the round, avoiding inserting themselves into the debate

• Pitch their feedback on the ballot to younger debaters who we hope will remain in the activity. Constructive feedback is absolutely essential for these students, but it should be articulated in terms of how students can improve moving forward, and avoid any cutting, sarcastic, or belittling comments.

HIRED JUDGING

We will have hired judges available from the tournament. A judge to cover ONE PF TEAM for the two-day divisions costs $150. To cover one team for the Saturday-only division the cost is $75.

Note: If you need to hire a judge to cover two teams for the two-day divisions, the cost is $300. Each judge hire covers just one PF pair of debaters.

AWARDS

We will provide (by mail) handsome awards for all teams that advance to elimination rounds. Teams must provide a mailing address at which they would like to receive their awards as part of their registration. The instructions page for submitting this information is linked on our main Tabroom page.