Junior Debating Rulebook

[1] Tournament Format

  • Junior debating tournaments are held in the Junior Asian Parliamentary format.
  • Each team must deliver three 4-minute substantive speeches and a 3-minute reply speech to summarise the debate.
  • Each team will consist of the following members: 
    • Proposition will consist of "Prime Minister" or "First Proposition Speaker", "Deputy Prime Minister" or "Second Proposition Speaker", "Government Whip" or "Third Proposition Speaker", and "Government Reply" or "Fourth Proposition Speaker"
    • Opposition will consist of "Leader of Opposition" or "First Opposition Speaker", "Deputy Leader of Opposition" or "Second Opposition Speaker", "Opposition Whip" or "Third Opposition Speaker", and "Opposition Reply" or "Fourth Opposition Speaker"
  • The speakers of the team will deliver their speeches in the following order: 
    • Prime Minister
    • Leader of Opposition
    • Deputy Prime Minister
    • Deputy Leader of Opposition
    • Government Whip
    • Opposition Whip
    • Opposition Reply
    • Government Reply
  • There will be no preparation time between the delivery of substantive and reply speeches. 

 

[2] Team Composition

  • Teams can be composed of either three (3) or four (4) speakers. 
  • If a team has four speakers, one speaker must be a designated Reply Speaker. 
  • If a team only has three members, the Reply Speaker must be chosen from either the first or second speaker. 

 

[3] Iron Person Policy

  • Should a member of a team be absent during a round, the present members of that team can attend the debate as an "iron-person" team, subject to the following: 
    • In judging an iron-person team, the Adjudication Panel shall treat the team as if they were an ordinary team, and fill out the ballot accordingly (indicating that the team was an iron-person team on the ballot).
    • The results of a debate in the Preliminary Rounds that includes an iron-person team shall be entered into the tab as follows:
      • The team in question shall receive the team points earned during that round, and
      • Both speaker scores shall be awarded to that team
      • The speaker who iron-personed should get the higher of the two speaker points, and the speaker who did not speak for the round should get the lowest speaker point allowed by the constitution.
  • Teams can only attend as an iron-person team once during the preliminary rounds to be eligible to break. 
  • Teams cannot attend the outrounds as an iron-person team.

 

[4] The motion

  • The motion should be unambiguously worded.
  • The speakers should debate the motion in the spirit of the motion and the tournament.

 

[5] Preparation

  • Teams have a total of 30 minutes to prepare their speeches after the motion is released. During the preparation time, communication is only allowed between team members. The use of online resources is prohibited. 
  • Teams will receive the motions for prepared rounds after the registration deadline. Teams must prepare for both sides of the motion using any means at their disposal. During the tournament proper, teams will be given 15 minutes to finalize their speeches after the match-ups for the prepared round are released. During this time, teams may communicate with their coaches, teachers, and parents, as well as consult online resources. After the 15 minutes is over, only physical preparation materials will be allowed and teams will no longer be permitted to talk to anyone outside their team.

 

[6] Points of Information

  • Points of Information (questions directed to the person speaking) may be asked between the first-minute mark and the three-minute mark of the members’ speeches. 
  • A speaker may choose to accept or decline points of information.

 

[6] Speaker Scores

  • A speaker score range of 65 - 85 will be used the tournament.

 

[7] Preliminary Rounds

  • The tournament will have five (5) preliminary rounds.

 

[8] Break Categories

  • The tournament will have two break categories: (1) Open Break and (2) 10-and-Under Break. 
  • The Open Break will be composed of the overall top 8 teams.
  • The 10-and-Under Break will be composed of the top 4 10-and-Under teams outside of the Open Break ranking. 

 

[9] Eligibility Criteria

  • A participant must be between 7-13 years old in order to be eligible to compete in the tournament.  
  • For a team to be eligible to break into the 10-and-Under category, all members must be 10 years old or under. They must not cross their 11th birthday during the day of the tournament.
  • For a speaker to be eligible to receive a 10-and-Under category award, they must be 10 years old or under. They must not cross their 11th Birthday during the day of the tournament.
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