SPANISH UNIVERSITIES DEBATING LEAGUE.

LIGA NACIONAL DE DEBATE UNIVERSITARIO (L.N.D.U.)

The Championships.

The Spanish Debating League has three parts:

-          Preliminary Round: All the participating teams come together in a Spanish city that hosts the competition (a different one each edition). The procedure of this round depends on the number of teams, the only condition is that each team has to participate at least in two debates

The best eight teams classify for the quarterfinals, and awards for best Oratory and Investigation Works are given.

-          Quarterfinals and Semi-finals. Both rounds have place as eliminatory in two matches (back and forth). Each team has to host one debate and do another as visitor.

The team which gets a higher score in both debates will go through the next round.

-          Final. It’s a unique debate, which is not scored numerically, but in a win-loss way.

Each round has a topic.

Debate format.

The debate consists of two teams of four people. Each team will have two speakers, who can perform in the order they decide.

The topic is given by the Organisation as a question, and one team will defend the proposition (For, F), and the other must attack it (Against, A). The positions are decided by chance, 10 minutes before the beginning of the debate.

It is also decided by chance which team does the first speech.

The structure of the debate is as follows (e.g., : F begins)

-          For (F) Constructive: 8 minutes.

-          Against (A) Cross examination (optional): 1 minute.

-          A Constructive: 8 minutes.

-          F Cross examination (optional): 1 minute.

-          F Rebuttal: 5 minutes.

-          A Rebuttal: 5 minutes.

-          F Rebuttal: 5 minutes.

-          A Rebuttal: 5 minutes.

-          F Rebuttal: 5 minutes.

-          A Rebuttal: 5 minutes.

-          A Conclusions: 3 minutes

-          F Conclusions: 3 minutes.

In the Preliminary Round, each team will have a rebuttal less, so debates will last 44 minutes instead of 54.

The last minute of the speech will be announced with a visual sign. Speakers who keep on with their performance once the time is over will be penalised.

Points of information are allowed in the Rebuttal turns, but not in Constructives neither in Conclusions. Debaters must raise their hands, and the speaker will accept or refuse the interruption.

How are the debates assessed.

Each team will be assessed in two aspects:  

-          Oratory: Judges will give a score between 0 an 10 to the performance of the team in the debate, considering content and manner. This score means the 80% of the final score.

-          Research: Each team has to present a dossier with all the information gathered in the preparation of the debate. This will be scored also between 0 and 10, and will provide the 20% left for the final mark.