Debate to Educate and The Mars Society Present: Mars or Bust! International Junior World School Styles. $1000 in CASH PRIZES!
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Check out our Format Guide.
Don’t have a team? Fill out this form, and we will try to match you with competitors to compete with!
For questions or concerns, please email debatetoeducate@gmail.com
The Mars Society is the world’s largest and most influential space advocacy organization dedicated to the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars. Established in 1998, the group works to educate the public, the media and the government on the benefits of exploring Mars and creating new branches of human civilization on the Red Planet.
From September 30th/October 1st, The Mars Society and Debate to Educate will pair up for a one time only spectacular event! Teams from all over the world will debate some of the most crucial scientific questions of our time, competing for a chance to perform virtually in a final round at the Mars Society Convention in front of an audience of some of the greatest minds in the field of space exploration! We will be offering $1000 in cash prizes (minimum), to be distributed amongst the top 2 teams in each division.
We will match competitors in ANY time zone, so that all debaters may compete at a reasonable time between Saturday, September 30th and Sunday, October 1st. Check out our schedule to see how!
Our tournament will be practicing World School Styles. All debates will be in English. Each team may consist of 3-5 debaters, and will compete in 3 rounds, with the possibility to compete in a final. All teams must provide a judge. Any team that does not provide a judge will be required to pay a $60 missing judge fee.
Teams are not required to be from the same school. We will be hosting both Middle School and High School students!
Middle school teams must have an average age of under 15 years old. Each speaker should speak for 4-7 minutes in order to avoid time penalties. Each speaker is required to accept a minimum of 2 POIs.
High school teams must have an average age of under 19 years old. Each speaker should speak for 7 minutes in order to avoid time penalties. Each speaker is required to accept a minimum of 2 POIs.
All motions will be prepared and announced at the time of the round. Our motions for the tournament are as follows:
1. This House Believes there is life on Mars
2. This House Believes Mars would best be explored through robots (as opposed to humans).
3. This house believes the settlement of Mars should be led by private companies, and not by governments.
4. This house believes the first human mission to Mars should be a no-return mission.
5. This house believes humans should attempt to terraform Mars.
We are asking for a donation of $50 per team whenever possible, though our first goal is accessibility. If your team will require a fee waiver to participate, simply email debatetoeducate@gmail.com, and we will accommodate you!
We will be awarding $1000 in cash prizes. Additionally, our prize pool will increase for every team that pays the $50 entrance fee. Below are the minimum prize distributions:
High School First Place: $400
High School Second Place: $200
Middle School First Place: $300
Middle School Second Place: $100