Welcome to the website for the 2022-2023 West Des Moines Valley Mid America Cup. We host varsity/open divisions in Lincoln-Douglas, Policy, and Public Forum debate. We are also offering, once again, the Sophomore Throw-Down LD round robin, open to excellent competitors in their second year (sophomore year) of high school.

The MAC offers TOC bids at the octofinals level in Lincoln-Douglas and at the semifinals level in Policy and Public Forum. Our tournament will use the relevant NSDA topics in all divisions and except where noted will enforce NSDA rules.

Registration opens on Monday, August 7. The Sophomore Throw-Down will take place on Friday, September 22. The tournament proper will take place Saturday-Monday, September 23-25, with quarterfinals - finals taking place on Monday.

New This Year:We will actually require payment before any entries are accepted. This has been nominally our rule forever, but in the past we have not enforced it; as a result, I have spent far too much time tracking folks down after the tournament to try to recoup payment. So this year, all entries will be waitlisted until payment is received. (Information on how to pay online will be posted separately.)

We will host three divisions: Varsity LD, Varsity Policy, and Varsity Public Forum.

• Varsity LD will be in-person only.

• Varsity Policy and Public Forum will be hybrid. We welcome teams to join us in West Des Moines, or, if it works better for your budget and logistics, we welcome CX and PF teams to compete online. The hybrid division will be fully integrated, meaning that there will be rounds that are fully in-person, half in-person, and fully online, as well as rounds with in-person and online judges.

The Sophomore Throw-Down

As we return to in-person LD competition, we are resuming the Sophomore Throw-Down. You are invited (beginning on Monday, August 7) to nominate your top sophomore debater to compete. We will accept up to 16 entries. The Throw-Down has historically brought together some of the nation's best rising varsity debaters for competitive and collegial rounds including great food and lovely awards.

I'll be posting more details and updating the page over the course of the next week as we get ready for registration to open. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to email Dave McGinnis (that's me!) at mcginnisd@wdmcs.org

Judging Notes

In Policy and Public Forum, teams owe three rounds per entry; one "full" judge covers two entries.

In Lincoln-Douglas, which will be double-flighted, the round requirements per entry are:

1 entry ..... 3 rounds

2 entries ..... 4 rounds

3 entries ..... 6 rounds

4 entries ..... 9 rounds

5 entries ..... 10 rounds

6 entries ..... 12 rounds

... and so forth.