NFL District Tournament - National Qualifying

National Qualifying

In debate events (Policy, PFD, and LD), qualifiers are determined by a double-elimination tournament which runs until the number of debaters left in the tournament is the same as the number of qualifying slots.

Speaking events may be run in different ways:

• In one form, several power-protected preliminary rounds are followed by semifinal and final rounds. The total scores over the course of the tournament (including the semifinal and final rounds, which have more judges than the earlier rounds) determine the national qualifiers from the final round. "Power-protected" means that the competitors in each round (after the first, which is paired randomly) are selected such that a gradient of low-scoring and high-scoring students are included in each round (in other words, the top competitors at any point in the tournament are "protected" from competing against one another).
• Another form roughly represents the double-elimination style of the debate tournaments. Instead of wins and losses, competitors are awarded "ups" (for being in the top half of the room) and "downs" (for being in the bottom half of the room). Competitors are eliminated after two downs. Once the number of competitors is sufficiently small to fit into one room (usually 6), a final round is held and the appropriate number qualify to nationals.

In Student Congress, the district tournament is often held separately from the speech and debate competitions. The competition and scoring can be carried out in many different formats depending on each district committee's preferences.