Dear Participants, Judges, Volunteers, and Coaches, 

​The DSABC is pleased to invite you to attend the Lower Mainland South Regional Debate Qualifier.

 

Event Information:

Date of event: Saturday, January 17th, 2026

Location: Online (Zoom)​

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Top students from this tournament will advance to the Law Foundation Cup (tentatively scheduled for February 27th-28th).

Fees (non-refundable): $40 per team.

Payments must be made online by the Stage 2 registration deadline of December 17th at 11:59 PM. Any schools failing to make payment by this time will forfeit their position to the next participant on the waitlist. Cash/Cheques are not accepted. Please do not pay until your Stage 1 Registration has been confirmed.

 

Registration Forms:

Team Requests (Stage 1 Registration)

This is open until December 5th at 11:59 PM. Stage 2 registration will be sent to schools directly. Stage 2 will be sent out on a rolling basis and will close on December 17th at 11:59 PM. Please only submit one form per school. Schools may request up to 8 teams (up to 5 teams in one category). Further requests will be put on the waitlist. 
Team Registration Form​​

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Attendance Requirements:

DSABC policy requires that debaters must have attended at least one debate competition over the past year to be eligible to compete in Regionals. Pizza debates with a minimum of 2 rounds can be included. Schools are responsible for ensuring that this requirement has been met. If a team is unable to meet this requirement, please reach out to both our LMS Regional Coordinator Stephanie Yu (dsabclms@gmail.com) and our Public Speaking Coordinator Anna Saint (speech@bcdebate.ca).

Judging Expectations:

• Each team must provide at least one judge for the duration of the tournament. Teams that do not supply a judge may be disqualified from the tournament.

• Experienced Grade 12s can be used as Junior judges for this event.

• Otherwise, judges must be above the age of 18, fluent in English, comfortable using technology unassisted, and comfortable with following fast-paced speeches using moderate to high-level vocabulary.​

• All judges will be required to disclose all real and perceived conflicts of interest on a clash/scratch form sent to them ahead of the event.

 

Tournament Format:

• Senior Debaters (Grades 10, 11, 12)

  • 2 rounds of unbracketed prepared debate in Cross-Examination Style

  • 2 rounds of bracketed impromptu debate in Canadian National Debate Format

  • Impromptu Senior Final in Canadian National Debate Format for the top 2 teams

• Junior Debaters (Grades 7,8,9)

  • 2 rounds of unbracketed prepared debate in Cross-Examination Style 

  • 2 rounds of bracketed impromptu debate in Canadian National Debate Format

  • Novice award qualification will be discussed at the upcoming AGM. Updated criteria will be added to this invite after that point.

 

Prepared Rounds 

Prepared rounds will be conducted in Cross-Examination Style.

Please be aware that Cross-Examination Speaking times will be discussed at the upcoming AGM. If any changes occur, updated rules will be reflected on the invite and clarified in Stage 2 Communications.
Junior Motion: to be released once stage 1 registration is complete. 

Senior Motion: to be released once stage 1 registration is complete. 

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Impromptu Rounds
All impromptu rounds will have different topics with 30 minutes of preparation time prior to each round. Topics will be relevant to local or national politics, current events and policy discussions, and/or prevalent social or moral issues.

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Advancement and Qualification

• Students may compete in categories above their grade level but not below.

• All categories will advance to the BC Debate Provincial Championship (Law Foundation Cup) in teams based on their win/loss record and average speaker score

  • Students in Grades 7, 8, and 9 who compete in the Junior category are eligible for qualification to the Junior Debate Nationals from the Law Foundation Cup.

  • Students in Grade 10, 11 and 12 who compete in the Senior category are eligible for qualification to the Senior Debate Nationals from the Law Foundation Cup

 

Chaperone Policy

• All students are required to have a school-approved "chaperone" online at all times. The DSABC accepts no liability for any student left unsupervised at any DSABC-sponsored event, whether online or in-person.

• A chaperone can be a coach, teacher sponsor or parent/guardian who is authorized by their child’s school and is willing to take on all chaperone related responsibilities.

• Senior students are not considered chaperones. 

• All adults acting as chaperones are expected to uphold the DSABC Code of Ethics.

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Tentative Schedule (subject to change):

Saturday, January 28th, 2023

8:30-8:50: Registration
9:00 - 10:00: Debater and Judge’s Briefing
10:00 - 11:00: Prepared Round 1

11:00-11:30: Break
11:30 - 12:30: Prepared Round 2
12:30 - 1:15: Lunch Break
1:15: Round 3 Impromptu Motion Released
1:45 - 3:00: Round 3
3:15: Round 4 Impromptu Motion Released
3:45 - 5:00: Round 4
5:00 - 5:30: Break
5:30: Senior Finalists Announced + Prep Time Begins
6:00 - 7:00: Senior Finals
7:15 - 7:45: Awards and Qualifiers

 

For any further questions about this event, please contact both our LMS Regional Coordinator Stephanie Yu (dsabclms@gmail.com) and our Public Speaking Coordinator Anna Saint (speech@bcdebate.ca).

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