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Rules to Enter the District National Qualifier Tournament
Rules to Enter the District National Qualifier Tournament
The NMSDA District National Qualifier Tournament ("District" or "Nat Quals") is held to determine who will compete at the NSDA National Tournament. The top 2 competitors in each event in Speech and Debate will qualify to attend the National Competition held in June.
In order to compete, students must be in High School (REQUIRED TO COMPETE)
Have a minimum of 25 NSDA merit points, at least 10 of which must be from competition. (REQUIRED TO COMPETE)
Must have paid the $200 team dues to the boosters!!
Turned in your Tournament APS Permission Packet or you will not be able to compete/attend.
Student and, at least, 1 parent must attend the LCHS District National Qualifier Tournament Interest Meeting on March 4 @ 7:00pm in the Library. This includes any qualifiers from the District Congress Tournament and those who desire to be considered alternates for Congress. Exceptions must be approved by the Head Coach prior to the meeting.
While students may compete at multiple events at the Qualifier Tournament, No student may qualify for the National Tournament in more than one event.
Fill out and submit a Single Entry Letter of Intent indicating, should they qualify in more than one event, the order of preference for which event they would like to compete at Nationals.
All students who enter the National Qualifier Tournament MUST plan to attend Nationals. An approximately 1-week grace period following Nat Quals will be given to confirm the entry.
All students who enter BQ, due to the heavy judge burden, must also plan to provide a judge for Nationals.
All qualifying students from La Cueva High School will prepare the event they qualified in AND a supplemental event to be entered if they do not break into elimination rounds. Please refer to our Supplementals Page for more information regarding events available.
All qualifying students from La Cueva High School will need to assist with finding judges to cover our qualifying judge burden within that week time period. If we cannot cover the judge burden, some entries will have to be dropped.
All qualifying students must have required fees paid prior to the tournament. Any adaptation requests to the payment schedule must go through the Boosters.
Any competitor who withdraws after committing to attend Nationals will forfeit entry in the following year's National Qualifier and potentially any further entry during their HS career, per the LCHS coaches' rules.
ENTRY LIMITS - 34 total LCHS Team entries allowed
ENTRY LIMITS - 34 total LCHS Team entries allowed
The following entry limits will be enforced at this tournament:
A total of four entries into each event, per school, is the limit set by the NSDA. BQ will also have a limit of four students per school.
Schools also have a limit on their TOTAL entries, as determined by a formula based on how many students/points are on the school's NSDA roster, La Cueva's limit is 34.
Congress: House entry limits are determined by number of students/points on a school's NSDA roster, varies by school. Senate entry limit is two per school.
Any student may enter congress and TWO speech & debate events, provided they adhere to the following:
Students may not enter any two main-debate events (no overlapping entries in LD, CX, or PF).
Students may not enter BOTH USX and IX.
If a student enters either both duo and PF, or both duo and policy, their partner for both events must be the same student.
Students may enter BQ as a third event for the weekend of March 20-21, as long as they adhere to the below:
BQ will run during speech events, so students doing BQ may not enter two speech events, nor enter extemp.
Examples of OK entries for a student (keeping in mind that ANY student in any of these scenarios may also be entered in congress):
BQ, Oratory and LD
BQ, Duo
BQ, policy, info
Examples of NOT-allowed entries:
BQ and extemp (no BQ and extemp)
BQ, oratory, DI (no BQ and two speech events)
2026 District National Qualifier Interest Meeting Slides - coming after March 4
2026 District National Qualifier Interest Meeting Slides - coming after March 4
Signup & Information Links
Signup & Information Links
Student Sign up - DUE: March 9th - Please note, some signups may have to be dropped due to both team & entry limits (34 Team entries total, 4 entries/speech event, 4 entries/debate event)
La Cueva Application for NM World Schools Team - DUE: March 11th
Single Entry Letter of Intent - - MUST be filled out by every student who enters District, indicating, if they qualify in two or more events, which order they would prefer to competing in.
FEES - Due Midnight, Monday, March 9, 2026
FEES - Due Midnight, Monday, March 9, 2026
(includes $5 payment to help cover lunch)
$15 - single entry
$25 - double entry
$35 - triple entry
Fees are non-refundable after March 13th at Noon.
Details
Details
BRING A REFILLABLE WATER BOTTLE!
Everyone will be responsible for getting to & from the NM District National Qualifier Tournament, arrive at least 30 minutes before your event starts.
Meals: The Boosters will provide Friday Dinner & Saturday lunch at the tournament.
Speech
Speech
Dramatic Interpretation
Humorous Interpretation
Duo Interpretation
Program Oral Interpretation
Informative
Original Oratory
US Extemporaneous
International Extemporaneous
Debate
Debate
Big Question
Lincoln-Douglas
Policy
Public Forum
*1-2 NM World Schools Teams will be created based on an application process, application is linked above.
Schedule:
Schedule:
Friday March 20:
Friday March 20:
10:00–10:30 Team check in
11:00 Debate 1 + BQ 1
1:00 Extemp Draw
1:30 Speech 1 + BQ 2
3:00 Debate 2
4:30 Extemp Draw
5:00 Speech 2 + BQ 3
6:30 Debate 3
Saturday March 21:
Saturday March 21:
8:00 Debate 4
9:30 Extemp Draw
10:00 Speech 3 + BQ 4
11:15 Debate Elim 1
12:45 Extemp Draw
1:15 Speech Finals + BQ elim 1
2:00 Debate Elim 2 + BQ elim 2
*4:00 Debate Elim 3 + BQ elim 3 (ONLY IF NEEDED)
*4:00 or ASAP Awards in Music Building
*Awards may be at 5:00 if the tournament needs a third debate elim round
Speech Citation Rules
Speech Citation Rules
The following need to be turned into Mrs. Eames by Feb 21st in pdf format - please see links below for rules regarding scripts:
Interps (HI, DI, Duo): pdf of full book with sections used highlighted
POI: Works Cited in MLA format for pieces used
Public Address (OO and Info): full script of student-written speech with Works Cited page in MLA format
RESULTS!
RESULTS!
2024 National Qualifiers
2024 National Qualifiers
Dramatic Interpretation
Zoe
Big Question Debate
Maya, Sophia, Aditi
Riya (@ Last Chance Qualifier)
Public Forum Debate
Tanay & Ryan
Policy Debate
Daniel & Jackson
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Aanya
World Schools Debate
Ishya, Kumail, & Nora
Supplemental Events
Mikaela & Sithara
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