Hallmark Tournament Opens the DKC Season at Lincoln Prep

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DEBATE-Kansas City’s (DKC) competitive season began with the Hallmark Sponsored Tournament at Lincoln Preparatory Academy on Monday, October 17th, 2016. For the fifth straight year tournament entries grew. Just over 170 debaters from twelve different schools competed in either policy debate or student congress. Hallmark began sponsoring the season-opening tournament in 2012 and since that time the tournament has more than tripled in size.

“Hallmark is proud to support DEBATE-KC and the incredible students that compete at tournaments. The skills they learn in debate, like critical-thinking and creativity, help them get ahead and stay there,” said Cora Storbeck, Vice President of the Hallmark Corporate Foundation.

The Hallmark tournament had robust participation in both policy debate and student congress. These two events help students learn to ground arguments in research and improve their public speaking skills. Policy debate is a two-on-two event with constructive and rebuttal speeches delivered by each debater. Student congress mimics the floor debate in the US Congress and uses Robert’s Rules of Order to govern speaking opportunities.

“For the last four years the Hallmark Tournament has grown student participation and it shows demand for debate in Kansas City is high. We need more sponsors like Hallmark so we can make sure ever aspiring debater has access to the resources they need to compete and win,” said Gabe Cook, DKC’s Executive Director.

The tournament itself went remarkably smooth and everything from round one to the awards ceremony ran on-time. DKC had generous support from volunteer judges and the Lincoln Prep facilities and staff created an excellent atmosphere. Lincoln Prep’s new head coach Julian Vizitei did a remarkable hosting his first tournament. The winners list is below.