Stoa team policy rules

The following is a basic overview of Stoa Team Policy debate rules. It should be noted that these rules are paraphrased from the original, and are intended solely for general information. Anyone who is competing in Stoa Team Policy debate should make themselves fully familiar with the official rules, which may be found on the Stoa website here.

Competitors
A team policy round should consist of two debate teams, each composed of two debaters. Team partnerships must remain static for the duration of any given tournament. Debaters that qualify to an invitational tournament must compete with the same partner that they qualified with or surrender their slot.

Structure
Each team in a TP round will be assigned to either the affirmative position or the negative position. It is the duty of the affirmative team to uphold the resolution, and the duty of the negative to negate the resolution. The judge(s) should decide the round based on which team better upholds their side of the resolution.

The round may not begin until the judge or judges are all present. When possible, timers will be provided, but are not required for the round to take place.

Speeches
Speeches follow the order given in the general Team Policy article: four eight-minute constructive speeches, separated by three-minute cross-examinations; and four five-minute rebuttal speeches.

Use of time
The time for each speech begins when the speaker starts speaking. Speakers are not required to fill their speaking time, but the time thus lost is discarded and cannot be used in another speech. Once time has expired, a speaker may finish a sentence, but should not start a new argument. Judges are allowed to discard anything said after the time has expired.

Prep time
Each team receives a total of five minutes of preparation time, which may be used before speeches or discarded as the teams desire. Prep time, if used, is started when a speaker returns to the table after his/her speech. Time is taken from the team which has the next speech. Prep time may not be used before cross examinations.

Team interaction
A debater at the podium may not receive verbal prompting or written material from their partner. Debaters may discreetly interact with their partners when at the table. Interaction should be quiet and not distracting when a member of the other team is speaking.

Evidence
Evidence is material presented in the round from publicly available sources. Citations should also be publicly available. A citation must contain enough information to locate the material through publicly available means.

Quotes used should be consistent with the context of the material quoted. If a quote contains ellipses or strikethroughs, the complete quote should be in the room.

All evidence used must be on paper, in the room. It is the duty of the team who presented a given piece of evidence to defend that evidence.

Debaters may not offer evidence to the judge during the round, but evidence must be available for the scrutiny of the other team and, if the judge requests it at the end of the round, the judge.

Debaters may not display any props or other visual aids to the judge during the round.

Timers
If a timer is in the round, it is his/her job to help the debaters self-manage their time by providing both hand signals and verbal cues during speeches and preparation time.

Judges
The judge may use anything that occurred during the round to come to a decision. If both teams require disciplinary action, a double loss may be incurred. If the judge has doubts about some aspect of the round, s/he may contact the tournament director. In the event of a rule infraction, Stoa considers the judge to be the first line of defense.