October 1, 2009

Friends and Colleagues,

           The University of Georgia Debate Union is pleased to invite you to the Thirteenth Annual Bulldog Debates that will be held in Athens, Georgia, on March 5^th through March 7, 2010. We wish to make this year’s Bulldog Debates an enjoyable and educational experience. Last year, our tournament drew more than 70 teams from six states. We are a TOC Qualifier in policy debate at the Semi-Final level.

            There will be six (6) preliminary rounds of open and novice, switch-side debate. The national policy resolution will be used in both varsity and novice team debate (Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase social services for persons living in poverty in the United States.). Entry fees will be $50.00 per team. We expect to have a very small pool of hired judges available. Many of our students will be traveling to college tournaments of their own during our tournament and their judging will be limited.

            We will have distinct Varsity and Novice policy debate divisions. Coaches will still be able to enter novice teams in the varsity division if they choose to do so. Such a decision will preclude a team from receiving awards designated for the novice division.

            We look forward to seeing old friends and welcoming new ones to our campus. Please call us if we can provide you with any additional information. We hope to adhere to the tentative schedule listed below. With the change in date, the size of the entry may result in an amendment of this schedule when we get closer to the tournament date.

Sincerely,

Edward M. Panetta, Ph.D.

Director of Debate

Email: epanetta@uga.edu

Mary Mosley-Jensen

Tournament Director  

Email: marye.mosley@gmail.com

GEORGIA ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENT FOR IN-STATE PARTICIPANTS:

ANY GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL THAT IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL ASSOCIATION (GHSA) WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO COMPETE

(This rule does not apply to out-of-state invitees).

Tournament Details

FEES AND REGISTRATION

Registration for the Bulldog Debate Tournament will be handled through our Joy of Tournaments website . All entries and fees will be managed through the website as well. Final registration fees will be assessed as of Monday March 1, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. Schools that register, but do not show, will be billed. Check-in and fee payment will be held between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on March 5, 2010 in Phi Kappa Hall at the University of Georgia. If a team has not checked in by 3:30, either in person or by phone, on March 5, 2010 they will not be paired for Round 1.

CHANGES

Because alterations to teams’ original entries have the habit of occurring, we request that you record changes to entries on the Joy of Tournaments website promptly. The registration website may be accessed from the link above as well as from the UGA Debate Team website. If the registration period has ended, please notify Mary Mosley-Jensen of your changes as soon as possible. Mary may be reached at 901-830-5548. You may also notify us of any changes via fax at 706-542-3245. We can also be reached via email at marye.mosley@gmail.com. Please do not contact the tournament director unless the registration period on the Joy of Tournaments website has expired.

TEAM LIMITS

Presently, we are limiting entries from one school to six teams in varsity and four teams in novice. If it is logistically possible, we will to remove this cap. Please add your teams to the wait list on the registration website, and we will inform you when we make final decisions about entry limits. If there is room for additional teams, schools on the waiting list will be notified after 4:00 p.m. on February 26, 2010. We define a policy debate team as two individuals debating together. Individuals who must debate alone because of last-minute changes will not be eligible to qualify for elimination rounds.

AWARDS

Permanent trophies will be presented to all teams reaching the elimination rounds. Speaker awards will be given on the basis of the number of entries.

JUDGES

Each school is responsible for providing three rounds of judging for every two debaters in the tournament, or six rounds for every four debaters entered. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE NOT PERMITTED AS JUDGES. The University of Georgia has a limited number of hired judges available at a fee of $20.00 per round for team debate. Schools needing to hire judges are encouraged to register early. All judging fees will be assessed as of February 26, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. Schools needing to hire judges after February 28 will be placed on a waiting list. When we exhaust the available supply of UGA judges we will attempt to match schools with interest judges. Schools will be expected to pay these contracted judges directly.

TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS QUALIFIER

Based upon last year’s tournament, the 2008 Bulldog Debates will be a TOC Qualifier. Teams in the semi-final rounds should qualify for the TOC to be held at the University of Kentucky in May of 2010.   Qualifying teams will need to report their entry before leaving Athens.  We must have that information to the TOC by March 8^th.

HOUSING

This year we have secured a block of rooms at the Georgia Center the Conference facility that is found on the UGA campus.

The rooms are double-double rooms and the block is reserved for Friday and Saturday night.

The rate on the rooms is $99.00.  You can contact the hotel at 706-542-2654. We moved the block here, in part, due to the fact that the Holiday Inn properties could only offer us converted smoking rooms for your students.  Georgia Debate used the GA Center for a team meeting in the fall and found the facilities to be first rate. The Georgia Center will release unreserved rooms from our block after February 5th. Make your reservations now; it is always easier to cancel later.

Here is a list of other area hotels listed in the order of proximity to campus. We have not made any arrangements with these hotels.

Best Western-Colonial Inn, 170 N. Milledge Ave. 706-546-7311

Comfort Inn, 3980 Atlanta Hwy. 1-800-228-5150 or 706-227-9700

Courtyard, 166 Finley Street 706-369-7000

Foundry Inn, 295 E. Dougherty Street 706-425-9700

Hampton Inn, 2220 W. Broad Street 706-546-8122

Hilton Garden Inn, 390 E. Washington Street 706-353-6800

Howard Johnson Inn, 2465 W. Broad Street 1-800-456-4656 or 706-548-1111

Holiday Inn, 197 E. Broad Street 706-549-4433

Holiday Inn Express, 513 W. Broad Street 706-546-8122

Microtel Inn, 1050 Ultimate Drive (Atlanta Hwy.) 706-548-5676

DIRECTIONS

Athens is 66 miles east of Atlanta. From the South and West take Highway 316 from Interstate 85 North from Atlanta. Highway 316 will become Epps Bridge Road at Athens Loop Route 10. Continue going straight on what is now Epps Bridge Road which will become Atlanta Highway/Broad Street as you come off the Epps Bridge ramp. At the edge of downtown Athens take a right onto South Lumpkin Street . The Journalism building is located at the corner of Baldwin Street and Sanford Drive.

Tentative Schedule