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The National Debate Tournament one of the national championships for collegiate Policy Debate in the United States . The tournament is sponsored by the American Forensic Association with the Ford Motor Company Fund . Emory University won the 2007 NDT, beating out University Of Missouri–Kansas City in the finals.


HISTORY OF THE NDT

The National Debate Tournament (NDT) began in when it was assumed by the American Forensic Association in part because of the Vietnam War . Since then the tournament has moved to different member schools each year and only three schools have hosted it twice. [http://www.wfu.edu/organizations/NDT/Articles/ndtintro.html

In the first NDT, teams were nominated by committees from their district. This was soon replaced with district qualifying tournaments. At-large bids were offered beginning in 1968 and in 1971 the rules were amended to assign at large bids prior to district qualifying tournaments (to prevent at-large teams from knocking out teams in qualifiers) Until 1970, a school could only send one team to the NDT. When the rule was changed the tournament quickly grew to 74 teams. Since 1992, a limited number of schools, currently six, have been allowed to send a third team. Today, 78 two-person teams attend the NDT; 16 are selected in the first-round at-large process, 46 through the district selections, and 16 in the second-round at-large process.

Mutual Preference Judging (MPJ) is a relatively recent addition to the NDT. Under MPJ, each debate team ranks the judging pool according to their preferences and judges are selected such that both teams prefer the chosen judge equally (if possible). Attempts are made to place as many mutual "1"s (the highest rating) in rounds, with preference given to the teams with the best record.


TRADITIONS


  • "The Big Board": Started at the first NDT, complete results for each team are listed on the "Big Board" in the central area, horse-race style.

  • Orally announcing pairings: Started at the first NDT, the pairings for each round are read out loud to the contestants. The announcements are known for the unusual manner in which they are conveyed. For instance, the announcer might say, "The 51st National Debate Tournament, round the first." This is then followed by the "pairings" of opposing teams, judges, room numbers, and the expected start time. A poll conducted at the 2005 NDT showed strong support for continuing this tradition.

  • Cadet escorts: Cadets at the USMA escort debaters to their rounds and carry their tubs. Although this tradition was discontinued when the NDT moved from the USMA , it has reemerged at the regular season tournament hosted by the USMA.



EXTERNAL LINKS



Debate Topics



PAST CHAMPIONS

Official web page:
  • http://groups.wfu.edu/NDT/