On behalf of the Slovak Debate Association I would like to invite you to the international Bratislava Schools Debating Competition. The tournament will take place from 7th to 11th April 2011 in Slovakia's capital city (yep, you guessed it) Bratislava.
Tournament
We would like to provide an excellent opportunity for practice to teams going to WSDC in Dundee this summer, as well as invite schools and teams not going to WSDC. The tournament will take place in the Worlds format. This means that there will be points of information, no cross examinations and the speeches will be 8 minutes long.
There will be six preliminary rounds, four on two prepared motions, and two on impromptu motions. The top eight teams after the preliminary rounds will advance to the quarter-finals. Round 1 will be seeded randomly; subsequent rounds will be power-paired. The motions for the prepared debates will be announced in mid-February 2011.
Registration
There will be a team cap of 20 teams. We may be able to increase the cap significantly, but we need teams to register as soon as possible. The total number of teams from one country should not exceed 3. Teams exceeding this national cap will be put on a waiting list. Teams may be moved from the waiting list after registration closes on 4th March. When pulling teams from the waiting list, preference shall be given to a team from a country not present at the tournament over a 4th team. All 4th teams will be registered before registering a 5th team, etc. Teams and judges will be notified of their status once registration closes.
There will be an N-1 rule. This means that every country needs to send at least as many judges as the number of teams they're sending minus 1. (i.e. 1 team/1 judge or observer, 2 teams/1 judge, 3 teams/2 judges, etc.) In cases where this cannot be provided, the teams will have to pay an additional fee of 100 € to cover an extra judge from another country.
Every delegation is required to include a judge or an observer who will be at least 18 years old. This person will be responsible for the team and all the communication with the organizers on behalf of the team. Teams can consist of three to five members.
Fees
The registration fee for the tournament is set at 100 € for both debaters and judges. Observers will be required pay a fee of 130 €.
The registration fee covers breakfast, lunch and dinner from Friday to Sunday and breakfast on Monday. Standard breakfast is sandwiches – you can pay a fee of about 5 € per day at the hotel reception, if you prefer continental breakfast at the hotel. It also covers accommodation for four nights (Thursday to Monday) in Hotel Astra. Teams and judges are expected to arrive on Thursday (7th April) or Friday (8th April) morning and stay until after the Final debate on Monday (11th April).
The different types of fees are summed up bellow:
| Type of Payment | Cost |
| Registration fee – Debaters or Judges | 100 € |
| Registration fee – Observers | 130 € |
| N-1 fee (per team) – if there are fewer judges than N-1 teams from a country | 100 € |
| Registration fee for debaters or judges not requiring accommodation at the hotel | 50 € |
| Registration fee for observers not requiring accommodation at the hotel | 70 € |
How to proceed
To register teams please fill out this Teams online registration form by the end of registration. To register additional judges or observers please fill out this Judges/Observers online form. In case of further questions email us at bsdc@sda.sk. After the registration, the person identified as the head of the delegation will receive a confirmation email to make sure that all the data were noted correctly. This email will also include details on payment, which has to take place before registration closes.
If you have friends that would be interested in this tournament, please forward them this email or let them know through Facebook J. The more the merrier.
Hope to see you in Bratislava in April,
Branislav Fecko and Andrej Schulcz
