Jr Provincial Debating Championships

Junior High Provincial Debating Championships Grades 8 and 9

February 18, 2022

Dear Debate Coaches:

Balmoral Hall School invites you to the 2022 Junior High Provincial Debating Championships for Grade 8 and Grade 9 students, hosted virtually on Zoom.

Date: Sunday, March 13th, 2022

Location: Virtually on Zoom. A link to the Zoom meeting and tournament homepage will be provided closer to the tournament.

Time: 11 AM to 5 PM

There will be three impromptu rounds of parliamentary debate. The topic for each round will be announced 30 minutes prior to the debate. Preparation time will be 25 minutes long, with the government teams sharing the definition during the first 10 minutes of preparation. Speaking times will be a maximum of 6 minutes for constructive speeches and 3 minutes for rebuttals. There is no minimum time. Heckling is not allowed. There will NOT be a novice category at this tournament.

The top results of the tournament will be presented at approximately 6:00 PM.

Schools may send a maximum of 3 teams to the Manitoba Junior Provincials at Balmoral Hall, plus 1 extra team for each MSDA tournament they have held or will hold this year. Depending upon numbers, it may be possible to send additional teams. If you would like to do so, please indicate this on the registration document. We will respond regarding the potential of sending additional teams by March 10th.

Schools are required to bring one judge per team. If you are bringing student judges, they must be experienced debaters in grade 11 or 12, as we do not have a novice category. Experienced Grade 10 debaters are permitted to judge with prior approval from the tournament organizer. If you are able to bring additional judges, please let me know so I can ensure there are an adequate number of judges for the tournament. Copies of the rules are available on the Manitoba Speech and Debate Association website. https://sites.google.com/site/manitobadebate/resources-for-debaters-and-coaches/rules-and-scoresheets/parliamentary-debate-rules

The top teams in this competition will represent Manitoba at the Junior National Debate Championships, subject to the rule that no school can send more than 1 team until all schools with teams in the top half of the tournament are sending 1 team. After that, any remaining places will be filled by teams based solely on their rank in the tournament regardless of school.

Please complete your registration by accessing the following link and completing the form. The deadline for registration is March 3rd. Please email me if you have any questions, or phone me at 784-1600 ext 637. We look forward to seeing you, virtually, at the 2022 Junior High Provincial Debating Championships.

School Registration due by March 3rd: https://forms.gle/To7TXeo888ScGGBi9 Judge Registration due by March 3rd: https://forms.gle/sQtCDCjZSZowehtR8

Sincerely,

Carissa Balcaen,

Balmoral Hall School Speech & Debate Program Coordinator cbalcaen@balmoralhall.ca