JUNIORS EVENTS AND GUIDELINES

Juniors events are only for students who are 5-11 years old on Oct 1, 2024. Junior debate is for students ages 9-11.
Juniors can register using the Student Registration tab at the top of this webpage, just like Seniors.
Juniors may register for a maximum of three speech events plus debate.
There is no script submission for Juniors.
There will not be any finals for Juniors.
Juniors will check-in on Saturday 45 minutes before their first round.

There will be two rounds for the Juniors in the following Speech categories

(Click on each event for the corresponding guidelines.)

Juniors Apologetics Questions

1. Who is Jesus?

2. How does the Holy Spirit help us?

3. How do we see God in creation?

4. What is the fall?

5. Why did Jesus have to die?

6. Can a person do enough good things to get into heaven?

7. What is grace?

8. What is repentance?

9. What is sin?

10. What is the Bible?

11. Why must Jesus be truly human and truly God?

12. How many persons are there in God?

Bible Story Impromptu Topics

1. Healing of Naaman

2. Jonah

3. Noah's Ark

4. Christ is Born

5. Jesus Turns Water Into Wine

6. Jesus Calms the Storm

7. The Burning Bush

8. The Tomb is Empty

9. Jesus Walks on Water

10. Prodigal Son

11. Daniel in the Lion’s Den

12. Saul Becomes Paul

We will offer two rounds of debate for Juniors.

Resolved: Fiction is better than non-fiction.

One mentor is allowed per team. Prior to the tournament, each team should pick a mentor or contact the Junior Tournament director for help in finding one.
- - Junior Debate Guidelines and Helpful Hints:
    
    Juniors Debate Format:
    1st Affirmative Constructive - 3 minutes
    
    CX - 1 minute (2nd Negative Speaker cross-exams 1st Affirmative Speaker)
    1st Negative Constructive - 3 minutes
    CX - 1 minute (1st Affirmative Speaker cross-exams 1st Negative Speaker)
    2nd Affirmative Constructive - 3 minutes
    CX - 1 minute (1st Negative Speaker cross-exams 2nd Affirmative Speaker)
    2nd Negative Constructive - 3 minutes
    CX - 1 minute (2nd Affirmative Speaker cross-exams 2nd Negative Speaker)
    1st Negative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
    1st Affirmative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
    2nd Negative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
    2nd Affirmative Rebuttal - 3 minutes
    Each Team will have a total of 5 minutes of Prep time
    
    Juniors Debate Rules:
    
    A team consists of two junior competitors. The team must not switch partners during the tournament.
    
    There is an affirmative team and a negative team. The affirmative must uphold the resolution. The negative may negate the resolution and/or the affirmative's case.
    
    Each team has a total budget of 5 minutes of preparation time which may be used or discarded as desired by the teams. The five minutes cover both partners of the team (i.e. if the 1st negative speaker uses all 5 minutes for his/her 1st negative constructive, then no prep time is available for any other negative speech). A debater may take prep time before any speech except the 1st Affirmative Constructive. A debater may not take prep time before a cross examination.
    
    Evidence from a source must be publicly available. The evidence must be physically present on
    paper and be available to the opposing team and to the judge if requested.
    
    Debaters may not display props or visual aids to the judge.
    
    The judge will fill out a ballot that will be given to the junior debaters after the awards
    ceremony. On the ballot will be the decision about which team won the round as well as specific
    feedback for each speaker.
    
    No new arguments are allowed in the rebuttal speeches. (See helpful hints.)
    
    Juniors Debate Evidence Guidelines:
    
    Evidence may be an article, quote, or paragraph from a book, newspaper, or online source.
    
    You must include the entire paragraph that your evidence is found in to make sure appropriate context is included. However, you do not have to read the entire paragraph.
    
    NO MANIPULATION of the evidence (cutting out or adding words or moving around sentences) is allowed.
    
    The source (along with credentials) and date of when the evidence was published must be included in your citation and read aloud to judge and opponents when presenting the evidence.
    
    Helpful Hints & Explanations
    
    Debate is a competition between 2 teams, each supporting their side of the resolution. Affirmative is affirming the resolution (yes, the resolution is true). The negative team negates the resolution (no, the resolution isn’t true).
    
    Constructive Speech Purpose: Constructive speeches are used to introduce and build arguments in the round and/or to respond to previous speakers.
    
    Rebuttal Speech Purpose: Rebuttal speeches are used to respond to and extend existing lines of argumentation and to emphasize the most important issues in the round. No new arguments
    may be presented in rebuttal speeches. New evidence, examples, analysis, analogies, etc. that support previously introduced lines of argumentation, are permitted in rebuttal speeches.
    
    There will be two rounds of debate providing each team the opportunity to debate the resolution on both the Affirmative and Negative positions.
    
    An older student will be present with each team to make sure the junior competitors speak in the correct order.
    
    Each debate team member should bring 5-8 “cards” of evidence for both Affirmative and Negative sides of the resolutions.
    
    “Tag lines” are helpful titles for each piece of evidence to sum up what the main argument or point of the evidence is.
    
    Practice reading the evidence before the tournament to make sure you know how to pronounce the tricky words and understand what they mean
    
    Pens, notebooks/flowpads, sticky-notes, evidence, water, and a copy of these rules are allowed in the round.
    
    HAVE FUN! This is a learning experience for everyone and so make sure to relax and have fun!

Juniors Judges

Senior students who would like to judge Juniors speech events must have competed in at least one NITOC-modeled tournament as a Senior prior to Jewel of Truth.

Senior students who would like to judge Juniors debate must be at least a second-year debater or qualified to NITOC.

Sign-up sheets will be available throughout the tournament.

Juniors Judges need to arrive 10 minutes before each Juniors round in order to judge. At that time, they'll go through a short judges' orientation to prepare them.

2026 Jewel of Truth