NPTE Qualifying Rules

NPTE Qualifying Rules. 1

Article I: Tournament of Excellence Rankings. 1

Section 1. Eligibility to Earn Points. 1

Section 2. Qualifying tournaments must meet all of the following criteria: 3

Section 3. Submission of Results. 4

Section 4. Point Calculation. 4

Section 5. Teams shall be ranked as a unit. 5

Section 6. Teams shall be ranked on the basis of: 5

Article II. Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence Bids. 6

Section 1. Eligibility to Participate at the NPTE. 6

Section 2. First Round Bids. 7

Section 3. Second Round Bids. 7

Section 4. At-Large Bids and Half Points. 8

Section 5: Opportunity Bids. 10

Section 6. Alternates. 11

Section 7. 64 Team Maximum. 11

Section 8. School Judging Requirements. 11

Section 9. Fees. 12

The 2010 changes are highlighted in gray.

Article I: Tournament of Excellence Rankings

Section 1. Eligibility to Earn Points

A. Any team competing at a tournament for at least 50% of the preliminary rounds shall count for points and the determination of bonus points at that tournament so long as they either represent a college or, if not representing a college (e.g. they are part of a non-college affiliated club), are enrolled in a college.

B. Students in a non-college affiliated club must send documentation of their enrollment in a college to the NPTE President or to the tournament director in order for their points to be counted.

C. One solo (maverick) debater per school or club may accrue half points for their results at the tournament.

D. One hybrid team per school may accrue points as would any other team (even if ineligible for the NPTE) unless the NPTE board allows more hybrid teams from a school per Section 1, C, 4 of the Eligibility bylaws.

E. Note that even if a team earns points, students not enrolled may not count those points for the purposes of receiving an NPTE bid and that students that transfer schools may not count those points accrued at their first two tournaments for the purposes of receiving an NPTE bid as explained in Article II Section 1, C.

Note, even though a team earns points, that does not mean that those points count toward a bid. Read: Section 1. Eligibility to Participate at the NPTE. 6

Section 2. Qualifying tournaments must meet all of the following criteria:

A. Must be an open division with at least

1. 4 preliminary rounds

2. 8 teams with no more than 40% of the teams being from one school

3. at least two elimination rounds (with the second elimination round constructed based on the results of the first elimination round)

4. a minimum of 3-judge panels in all elimination rounds.

B. Must not use undergraduate students with remaining competitive eligibility for judges in more than 10% of the rounds.

C. Must be tournaments where the following is true:

1. Performance at other tournaments may not be used as criteria for invitation or attendance.

2. Membership in groups other than forensics associations may not be required for invitation or attendance.

3. Invitation or attendance at the tournament may not be restricted on the basis of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability status, and/or military/veteran status.

D. Must not use "pre-seeding" (based on performance at other non-open tournaments) for the purpose of protecting highly-ranked teams from hitting each other during preliminary rounds in open division. If used at all, use of "pre-seeding" must be limited to those rounds which would otherwise be randomly pre-set. Any combination of pre-seeded, randomly pre-set, and/or "power-protected" rounds must not exceed one-half of the preliminary rounds at the tournament.

E. Debates at the tournament must

1. be two person versus two person debates (except if a few teams are "mavericks" or three person teams where only two people debate at one time).

2. use a resolution announced no sooner than shortly before the debate occurs.

3. not use the same resolution in more than two rounds during a tournament.

4. not use quoted evidence as the basis for argument.

5. result in a win or loss.

F. NPTE Points shall not count for points at the fourth and further NPTE point counting tournaments held at one school. Regional and state tournaments shall not count as tournaments held at the school.

Section 3. Submission of Results.

A. Results from qualifying tournaments may be submitted by any person, including tournament directors, competing teams, or other forensics organizations. To be registered in the NPTE database, results must include preliminary round win/loss records for all teams competing in open division at the tournament as well as all elimination round win/loss results. Elimination round panel "split" results are not required.

B. Results must be submitted at least two days before the deadline for bids to be assured of being included in calculations of such bids.

C. Results received too late for use in issuing first-round bids shall be included when issuing second-round bids.

D. Results received too late for use in issuing second-round bids shall be included when issuing at-large bids and final NPTE rankings.

E. Results submitted after the deadline for sending in results for at-large rankings will not count including for seeding at the NPTE.

F. We will count and post the results that are sent to us. We will not change points already posted for a team unless there is clear proof that the results for that team were incorrect. We will not change points after the at-large bid deadline for any reason.

Section 4. Point Calculation

Points will be awarded for a team's performance at a tournament in open division as follows:

A. 50% preliminary round win record: 2 points

B. 50.1-60% preliminary round win record: 2.5 points

(3-2, 4-3)

C. 60.1-75% preliminary round win record: 3 points

(3-1, 4-2, 5-2, 5-3, 6-2)

D. 75.1-99.9% preliminary round win record: 3.5 points

(4-1, 5-1, 6-1, 7-1)

E. 100% preliminary round win record: 4 points

F. Advanced to elims or a winning record: 1 point. However, teams that advance that 1) are not in the top half of teams, 2) do not have a winning record, or 3) are not 8th of 15 teams, 15th or 16th of 29 to 31 teams, 30th, 31st, or 32nd of 58 to 63 teams; shall not earn this point.

G. Each elimination round win: 1 point. However:

1. Teams that advance that 1) are not in the top half of teams, 2) do not have a winning record, or 3) are not 8th of 15 teams, 15th or 16th of 29 to 31 teams, 30th, 31st, or 32nd of 58 to 63 teams; shall not earn elimination round points.

2. Teams shall not be able to earn more than 6 elimination round points but shall be able to win tournament winner bonus.

3. After losing an elimination round, teams shall not be able to earn further NPTE points.

H. Tournament winner: 1 point shall be awarded to the team that wins the final round between two teams of a tournament.

1. If there is no final round with two teams due to a close out, the higher seeded team based on preliminary rounds shall be given this 1 point as well as the final round win point.

2. If there is no final round with two teams and no close-out, no tournament winner point nor any final round win point shall be given.

I. Bonus Points:

1. Bonus points are awarded to any team with a 50% or better preliminary record in open division at the tournament.

2. For each team over 20 teams in the open division, points will be increased by .1 points up to 1 point.

3. For each team in the open division whose school is located 400 or more driving miles from the tournament location, points will be increased by .1 points up to 1 point. For teams representing clubs, the college in which these students are enrolled shall determine the school location.

4. Hybrid Teams: The partner furthest from the tournament shall be used to determine the 400+ mile bonus point.

5. Maverick (solo debaters) shall count for bonus point teams and the 400+ mile bonus points.

6. 4 preliminary round tournaments will receive 50% of these bonus points.

Section 5. Teams shall be ranked as a unit.

Teams that are split up stop accumulating points, although individual members may begin accumulating points as members of new teams.

Section 6. Teams shall be ranked on the basis of:

A. Their points from their top 5 tournaments.

B. Ties will be broken by the following steps:

1. by comparing each team's preliminary round win percentages from all recorded tournaments,

2. by comparing win percentage of each team's top 5 tournaments,

3. by random numbers, if necessary.

Article II. Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence Bids

Section 1. Eligibility to Participate at the NPTE.

A. Eligibility requirements for the NPTE:

1. Each student must be permitted to represent the school at the NPTE by their school's registrar or equivalent, and

2. Each student:

(a) must be enrolled in at least one credit or course at the school the student will represent at the NPTE during the Spring semester of the relevant academic year

OR

(b) must have graduated at the end of the Fall semester of the relevant academic year.

B. Verification of Eligibility.

1. The NPTE President or his or her designee must receive by the due date for at-large bid requests (exceptions only with the President’s approval) a signed statement from the team's school's registrar or equivalent indicating that:

(a) each student is permitted to represent the school at the NPTE and

(b) for each semester that points were earned or that is required for eligibility for the NPTE, that the student was in fact enrolled, or did in fact graduate.

(c) In the event that a student was not eligible to earn points during a semester, such points shall not count toward an NPTE bid. If, as a result, the team with this student would not have earned their first or second round bid because of insufficient points, their bid shall be removed and such a team shall be eligible with their lowered points only via the at-large or alternates process.

2. The verification should separately state the semesters during which the student was enrolled, and should indicate (if applicable) the date on which the student graduated.

3. The NPTE board shall have sole discretion to determine the validity of any document purporting to be a statement from a university registrar as required by this section. In making its determination, the board may consider all relevant evidence, including but not limited to whether the school in question has submitted false documents to the NPTE in the past.

4. In the event that a school submits false verification, the NPTE board reserves the right to disqualify a team, to revoke a disqualified team's results at the NPTE or in the NPTE rankings, and to bar that school from future attendance at the NPTE.

C. Points that may not count toward bids for the NPTE

1. Students who transfer from a school where they competed at an interscholastic tournament in any form of debate during the spring previous to their transfer (Dec. 26-Aug. 14) may not count their first two NPTE point counting tournaments at their new school in the fall semester (Aug. 15-Dec. 25) immediately after they transfer for the purposes of receiving an NPTE bid except if they transfer from a two year to a four year school, as part of a program recognized at the previous school, or due to military service.

2. Students may not transfer points earned at previous schools for the purposes of receiving an NPTE bid unless those points were earned at a two year school and the student is now competing at a four year school, the student shifted schools as part of a program recognized at the previous school, or due to military service.

3. If a team is composed of one eligible and one ineligible debater, the eligible debater shall earn half that team's points; the ineligible debater shall earn no points.

4. Teams (with both debaters representing the same school) may count hybrid and maverick half points they earned during the season toward an NPTE bid. However, mavericks (single debaters) may not count points toward an NPTE bid. Hybrid teams (with each debater representing a different school) may not count points toward an NPTE bid unless:

a. One or more of the debaters is from a school that does not normally do NPDA/NPTE style debate and should demonstrate that an attempt has been made to find a partner there anyway.

b. Neither of the debaters can have qualified for the NPTE in a previous year unless the program in which that debater qualified has been ended.

c. The team must register as a hybrid when the team begins to compete together. Failure to notify us before points are entered for a tournament will nullify the results of that tournament for points.

d. The team needs final approval of 3/5 of the NPTE Board even if the first three criteria are met.

e. The team can debate both of its own schools at the tournament, since it counts as a "special school." Thus hybrid XY can debate X and Y.

5. We expect coaches to inform the NPTE board of any transfers to their school that are not normally permitted without loss of points or eligibility under NPTE eligibility rules by December 1 for transfers in the fall (Aug.-Dec.) and February 1 for transfers in the spring (Jan.-Apr.). The Vice-President shall post notice of this expectation each semester before these dates.

6. Any challenges to a team's eligibility to count points toward participation at the NPTE must be made by January 10 for issuance of first round bids or by February 1 for issuance of second round and at-large bids. Anyone can make such a challenge by e-mailing the Vice President. Challenges made after these deadlines shall have no effect on points nor on participation at the NPTE.

D. No debater may participate in more than 4 NPTEs and may not have done any form of intercollegiate debating for more than 5 years (10 semesters with a semester counting if a student went to two or more tournaments). Students who were competing in debate in college in 2000, 2001, 2002, or 2003 may ask the board for exceptions.

E. Teams must be from member schools. Member fees may be paid at registration at the tournament.

F. Teams competing at the NPTE shall be composed of the debaters who earned their bid at the time bids were issued. However, if an event occurs after the at-large bid submissions are due preventing one of the two debaters from competing (such as a serious illness or a debater is no longer competing), the other debater may be paired with another debater from the same school.

1. The school must email a justification for the change to the NPTE President within 24 hours of becoming aware that one of the two debaters cannot compete.

2. The NPTE board must approve by at least 60% vote, the justification as being an event consistent with this bylaw.

3. Seeking a more competitive team does not count as an event and is not a reason for permitting a team change.

4. If this newly formed team has more NPTE points than the alternates, this team may compete at the NPTE and shall be seeded as would any other team based on the two individuals actually competing at the NPTE.

5. If this newly formed team has less points than other alternates, they can be placed in as an alternate.

6. If a school informs us that it is dropping a team after the at-large bids have been announced and provides no replacement team within the 24 hour time limit, the school shall have forfeited their bid other than they may submit a bid for a team with one of the two original debaters and that team shall be placed among alternates who have not already been given an actual bid.

Section 2. First Round Bids.

A. First Round Bids will be issued by the President to the top 24 teams on the NPTE ranking list on Wednesday, 3 weeks before the Second round bid announcement date but shall be adjusted a week later if needed to assure that this announcement occurs after the Martin Luther King Holiday.

B. No more than 5 teams from one school may receive a first round or second round bid to the NPTE. In the event that more than 5 teams from one school receive enough points for a first round bid, only the top 5 ranked teams from that school receive a bid. The remaining bid(s) will be left open for the second round bids.

C. Teams must accept their bid in writing to the President two days before second round bids are announced. In doing so, they agree to pay for those teams' entry fees even if they wind up not attending the tournament for any reason.

Section 3. Second Round Bids

A. Second round bids will be issued by the President on Wednesday, 3 weeks before the At large bid announcement date.

B. Such invitations will be offered in NPTE ranking order to the 24 highest ranked teams that did not receive first round bids.

C. No more than 5 teams from one school may receive a first round or second round bid to the NPTE. In the event that more than 5 teams from one school would receive a first or second round bid, only the highest ranking non-first round teams from that school receive a second round bid so that the school receives only a total of 5 bids, first or second round. The remaining bid(s) will be left open for the at-large bids.

D. Teams that were offered a first-round bid and did not accept such a bid will not be offered a second-round bid.

E. Teams must accept their bid in writing to the President two days before At large bids are announced. In doing so, they agree to pay for those teams' entry fees even if they wind up not attending the tournament for any reason.

Section 4. At-Large Bids and Half Points

A. Deadlines and what to submit

1. Requests for At Large Bids must be submitted to the President by Monday, 19 days before the Saturday on which the NPTE occurs.

2. Requests for At Large Bids must include:
--First and last names of the debaters
--All of their former partners during the current year
--Academic eligibility forms.

2. At large bids will be issued by the President on Wednesday, 17 days before the Saturday on which the NPTE occurs.

B. Teams requesting At-large bids may include in their request the following elements which may be considered by the board in relation to Opportunity Bids:

1. Factors that limited debaters' ability to earn points, including institutional factors (i.e. budget limitations, geographic isolation from parliamentary debate tournaments) as well as personal factors (i.e. financial constraints requiring employment in addition to school, active-duty military service, verifiable family emergency during the course of the current school year, high academic load, time-intensive extracurricular community service).

2. Cumulative GPA or class standing for each debater.

3. A brief statement from each debater arguing why the Board should give their bid consideration in the context of the opportunity bids.

4. Two brief letters of recommendation addressing the debaters' academic and argumentative abilities. Neither letter may be written by any member of the debaters' school debate coaching staff. At least one letter should be written by a person not associated with parliamentary debate.

C. Eligibility for At-Large Bids

1. Teams that do not qualify for the NPTE under any other method or who did not accept their first round bid may be considered for an at-large bid to the NPTE.

2. Teams may not receive at-large bids that would give a school more than 5 total bids to the NPTE. However, if needed to fill 64 slots, sixth teams from a school may be given a bid, then seventh teams, etc.

3. Teams requesting at-large bids must guarantee that they will attend the NPTE if selected, provide judges for all teams attending the NPTE from their school, and pay all applicable entry fees if selected even if they wind up not attending for any reason.

D. Teams requesting at-large bids will be ranked on the basis of NPTE points acquired with this provision for "Half-points":

- Every team with points from FIVE tournaments receives only their natural NPTE points (even if they didn't break at one or more of those tournaments).

- Every team with points from FOUR tournaments can have added one-half of the ONE best tournament result with UP TO TWO different partners for each individual team member.

- Every team with points from THREE tournaments can have added one-half of the TWO best tournament results with UP TO TWO different partners for each individual team member.

- Every team with points from TWO tournaments can have added one-half of the THREE best tournament results with UP TO TWO different partners for each individual team member.

- Every team with points from ONE tournament can have added one-half of the FOUR best tournament results with UP TO TWO different partners for each individual team member.

- Teams with points from ZERO tournaments may not add half-points except in unusual circumstances as approved by the NPTE board.

- Teams requesting at-large bids must identify any half-point partners in their bid request.

- Teams with points from ZERO tournaments may not add half-points except in unusual circumstances as approved by the NPTE board.

--Ties in ranking shall be broken on the basis of "natural" NPTE points, points earned by the team actually coming to the NPTE.

--Example of Half Points:
Mary and John have attended three tournaments together and earned 6, 4.8, and 4 points at these tournaments (for a total of 14.8 natural NPTE points). Mary attended four other tournaments with another partner earning 7, 5, 4, and 2 points. She can add half the value of her top two tournaments because she and John only attended three tournaments. So, she earns 7 + 5 = 12 divided by 2 = 6 points. John attended one other tournament with another partner earning 5 points. He can add 2.5 points (half the value of 5 points).
So, their total points are 14.8 + 6 + 2.5 = 23.3 points with 14.8 natural NPTE points for tie breaking purposes.

Section 5: Opportunity Bids

A. Deadlines and Submissions

1. Teams interested in requesting opportunity bids must forward their request to the NPTE President by Monday, 19 days before the Saturday on which the NPTE occurs.

2. Opportunity bids will be announced by the President at the same time as the At-large bids.

B. Teams requesting opportunity bids should include in their request the following elements:

1. Debaters’ first and last names.

2. Debaters’ academic eligibility forms.

3. Identification of all points earned by the debaters as part of any team.

4. Factors that limited debaters' ability to earn points, including institutional factors (i.e. budget limitations, geographic isolation from parliamentary debate tournaments) as well as personal factors (i.e. financial constraints requiring employment in addition to school, active-duty military service, verifiable family emergency during the course of the current school year, high academic load, time-intensive extracurricular community service).

5. For factors other than death and serious medical or family issues, those requesting opportunity bids should also include:

a. Cumulative GPA or class standing for each debater.

b. A brief statement from each debater arguing why the Board should grant an opportunity bid.

c. Two brief letters of recommendation addressing the debaters' academic and argumentative abilities. Neither letter may be written by any member of the debaters' school debate coaching staff. At least one letter should be written by a person not associated with parliamentary debate.

C. Eligibility

1. Teams that do not qualify for first-round or second-round bids and where neither debater has attended 5 or more qualifying tournaments may be considered for opportunity bids.

2. Debaters ineligible to earn NPTE points at any point during the current academic year shall also not be eligible for opportunity bids. Debaters who received a waiver from ineligibility due to transfer shall also not be eligible for opportunity bids except in the case of a normal transfer from a two-year to a four-year school not requiring a special waiver by vote of the Board.

3. Opportunity bids will count against caps on total number of teams from a single school. If this team cap is hit, opportunity bids will take priority over at-large bids.

4. Teams requesting opportunity bids must guarantee that they will attend the NPTE if selected, provide judges for all teams attending the NPTE from their school, and pay all applicable entry fees if selected even if they wind up not attending for any reason.

D. Board Action on Opportunity Bids

1. A maximum of 5 opportunity bids may be granted by the Board. No opportunity bids must be granted by the Board.

2. Opportunity bids may be extended to requesting teams by majority vote of the Board. If more than 5 opportunity bids individually receive majority support, Board members will each rank all such bids and opportunity bids will be extended to the 3 receiving the lowest cumulative ranks.

3. Opportunity bids will be seeded for the first round of the NPTE based on multiplying by five their average points at a tournament.

4. Teams receiving opportunity bids may, upon approval by an additional vote of a majority of the Board, receive a waiver or reduction of all NPTE entry and food fees. Judging requirements may not be waived.

Section 6. Alternates.

After the at-large bids are announced, the NPTE President should request that at-large teams not qualifying indicate if they will be available as replacement teams in case a qualified team will not attend. The NPTE President should, as soon as possible, notify the top two seeded replacement teams who indicated they will be available, that they may be contacted to participate. The NPTE President should request contact information from these teams. If a qualified team will not attend, the NPTE President should make all reasonable efforts to immediately contact (via email and/or phone) the highest ranked remaining replacement team so that they may participate in the tournament.

Section 7. 64 Team Maximum.

Bids of all types will only be issued to a maximum tournament size of 64 teams.

Section 8. School Judging Requirements.

Teams participating in the NPTE must provide 1 qualified judge per team. Schools may hire at most one judge but must communicate that by the second round acceptance deadline. Schools with at-large teams may not hire judges. Exceptions to this policy must be specifically approved by the Board. Request for exceptions must be communicated to the President no later than 2 weeks prior to the starting date for the NPTE. Teams that arrive without the required judges may be denied entrance to the tournament.

Section 9. Fees.

NPTE entry, membership, and hired judge fees shall be established by the President with the approval of the Board of Trustees annually and published both on the NPTE web site and in all NPTE invitations.

A. Fees charged to teams for hiring a judge will be set to pay for NPTE provided food, transportation (low priced plane ticket, auto rental, and/or car gas costs), the cost of half of an NPTE hotel room, and regular judge wages.

B. Hired judge pay shall be set by the President.

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