Welcome!

We hope you will join us on November 10-11, 2023 for another year of debate in Wisconsin's capital city. Our school has been renamed Vel Phillips Memorial HS, and is undergoing a serious renovation, but it is still the same Madison Memorial you may have visited in the past.

Due to construction and logistical constraints, our LD division will be held online this year. If teams wish to debate from Memorial space can be provided to do so with advanced notice.

We dedicate our tournament to Tony Chung (JMM '16). Tony's first tournament was the first-ever Badgerland, and he was instrumental in building up an incredibly successful multi-year cadre of JMM and Madison West debaters. He was a victim of a reckless driver accident in September 2020 and his death was true loss to all who knew and worked with him. We've subtitled our tournament the "Chung-vitational" because Tony was the type of guy who'd want himself celebrated rather than memorialized.

We are proud to be a Semis Gold PF Bid, and Finals LD Bid to the Tournament of Champions (We are listed as "Middleton" on the TOC calendar as we've traditionally partnered Memorial and Middleton's tournament as "Badgerland") with those events held over the full weekend.
In Varsity PF and LD, we will have 6 single-flighted prelim rounds, with the first two rounds on Friday evening, planning on all 4-2 or better entries breaking. Wisconsin entries with 3-3 records will be offered an additional round of debate during the first elim round to facilitate WSDT bids.


In addition to our bid-divisions, we offer a five-round, Saturday only competition in JV PF and JV LD (for debaters in their first two HS years and MS debaters), and a three-round, Saturday only Novice and Open Policy division.

Please forward any questions to Tim Scheffler at tscheffler@madison.k12.wi.us or 608-628-3114

Fees: PF $40/team, LD $30/entry, Saturday only events $15.
Checks should be made out to: Madison Debate c/o Tim Scheffler, 908 Arden Ln, Madison, WI 53711. If a w9 is needed please email Tim Scheffler, or if you wish to pay electronically, you may contact Tim to set up a paypal or venmo payment.

Judges: 1 judge per two entries or portion thereof. Commitments can be split across days. If you have extra judges available, we are VERY happy to reduce fees in exchange for the additional help. We ask for Judges to be obligated for the first full elimination round past the elimination of their school.

Tentative Schedule (Central Time)

VERY IMPORTANT: Our school is under construction this year. As a result we ask that you do not enter the building until school lets out because our traditional gathering spaces to accommodate early arrival have been turned into temporary classrooms or study halls. If you arrive early, building security may ask you to wait until the end of the day to enter.

We will endeavor to post rounds 20 min before the start time, provided judges submit their ballots in a timely fashion. Judges and debaters should report 5 min before the posted start time so rounds can begin on time or sooner.

Varsity PF
Friday
R1 4:30
R2 5:45
Light concessions will be sold, but we are attempting to end early enough so teams may either travel to lodgings or a team dinner more easily.

Saturday
R3 8:00
R4 9:30
R5 11:00
R6 1:30
1st Elim 3:00
Further Elims to proceed ASAP

Varsity LD
Friday
R1 5:00
R2 6:30

Saturday
R3 9:00
R4 10:30
R5 12:30
R6 3:00
1st Elim 4:30
Further Elims to proceed ASAP

Saturday only events:

All R1 8:30,
Lunch after R3 LD/PF, after R2 CX
Awards approximately 4 pm