Create Tournament
Set up a new debate tournament from scratch
Navigate to Create Tournament
From the home page, click the "Create Tournament" button in the top navigation bar, or from your dashboard.
Fill in Tournament Details
Provide the basic information for your tournament:
Tournament Name — The display name for your tournament (e.g. "Oxford IV 2026").
Slug — A URL-friendly identifier auto-generated from the name (e.g. oxford-iv-2026). You can customise this.
Format — Choose your debate format: British Parliamentary (BP), Worlds, Australs, or Asian Parliamentary.
Preliminary Rounds — The number of preliminary (in-round) rounds for the tournament.
Additional Settings
Configure the remaining tournament details:
Start & End Date — Set the tournament dates. These are displayed on the public tournament page.
Location — Where the tournament will take place.
Registration — Enable or disable open registration. When enabled, debaters and judges can register themselves for the tournament.
Create
Click "Create Tournament" to finalise. You'll be redirected to your tournament's admin panel where you can start adding participants, setting up rounds, and managing the tournament.
Tip: You can change all tournament settings later from the Admin Panel > Settings tab.
Adding Participants
Add debaters and judges to your tournament
There are two ways to add participants: inviting them manually from the Admin Panel, or enabling self-registration so participants can sign up themselves.
Method 1: Add from Admin Panel
Open Participants Management
In the Admin Panel, navigate to the Participants tab.
Click "Add Participants"
This opens a modal where you can add participants by email. Select the role (Debater or Judge) first.
Enter Email Addresses
You can add participants in two ways:
Manual Entry — Type or paste email addresses, separated by commas or new lines. Each email must belong to an existing Tabulous account.
CSV Upload — Upload a CSV file containing email addresses to add participants in bulk.
Review & Accept
After importing, participants will appear with a Pending status. You can accept or reject them individually, or accept all at once from the Participants table.
Method 2: Self-Registration
Enable Registration
In Admin Panel > Settings, turn on Open Registration. This adds a "Register" button to your tournament's public page.
Participants Register Themselves
Participants visit your tournament page, click "Register", choose their role (debater or judge), and submit. They must have a Tabulous account.
Approve Registrations
Registrations appear as Pending in the Participants tab. Review and accept them to confirm their spot in the tournament.
Managing Participants
From the Participants tab you can also:
Add Institutions — Create institutions (e.g. university names) and assign participants to them.
Add Break Categories — Create categories like ESL or Novice to track eligibility for specific breaks.
Set Judge Scores — Assign ability scores to judges, which are used during adjudicator allocation.
Withdraw Participants — Mark participants as withdrawn so they are excluded from future draws without being removed entirely.
Tip: You can use the Test tab in the Add Participants modal to quickly generate test debaters and judges for trying out the platform.
Adding Institutions
Create institutions and assign participants to them
Institutions represent the universities, schools, or clubs that participants belong to. They are used for institutional conflicts during adjudicator allocation and for display on the team and speaker tabs.
Creating Institutions
Open Institutions Management
In the Admin Panel, navigate to the Institutions tab.
Add Institutions
You can add institutions in two ways:
One at a time — Type the institution name into the input field and click "Add".
Bulk Import — Click "Bulk Import" to add multiple institutions at once by pasting a list of names.
Assigning Participants to Institutions
Go to Participants
Navigate to the Participants tab in the Admin Panel.
Set Institution per Participant
Each participant row has an institution dropdown. Select the institution they belong to. This links them for conflict tracking and display purposes.
Tip: Institutions are also available via the "Add Institutions" button on the Participants page for quick access without switching tabs.
Adding Break Categories
Define eligibility categories for elimination round breaks
Break categories let you track which participants are eligible for specific elimination round breaks. Common examples include Open, ESL (English as a Second Language), and Novice.
Creating Break Categories
Open the Add Break Categories Modal
In the Admin Panel, go to the Participants tab and click "Add Break Categories".
Enter a Category Name
Type the category name (e.g. "Open", "ESL", "Novice") and click "Create". Repeat for each category you need.
Assigning Categories to Participants
Go to Participants
Navigate to the Participants tab in the Admin Panel.
Set Categories per Participant
Each participant row has a categories column. Click it to assign one or more break categories to that participant. A participant can belong to multiple categories (e.g. both Open and ESL).
How Break Categories Are Used
Breaks Management — In the Breaks tab, you can manage which teams and judges advance to elimination rounds for each category.
Break Rounds — When creating elimination rounds, you link them to a break category. The draw will only include teams and judges that are eligible for that category.
Results — Break categories also determine which teams appear on category-specific results pages (e.g. ESL break results).
Tip: Every tournament should have at least an "Open" break category. This is the main break that all teams are eligible for.
Creating Teams
Pair debaters into teams before generating draws
Teams must be created before you can generate a draw. You can create them automatically or manually from the Teams tab in the Admin Panel.
Method 1: Auto-Create Teams
Go to the Teams Tab
In the Admin Panel, navigate to the Teams tab.
Click "Auto-Create Teams"
This automatically pairs all accepted debaters who are not yet in a team:
BP and other formats — Teams of 2 members.
Worlds, Australs, and Asians — Teams of 3 members.
Partner preferences — Debaters with mutual partner preferences are paired together first (2-member teams only).
Method 2: Create Manually
Enter a Team Name
In the Teams tab, type a name for the team in the "Team Name" field.
Select Participants
Choose the debaters you want to assign to this team from the list of available (unteamed) participants.
Create the Team
Click "Create Team". The team will appear in the teams list below. You can edit or delete teams at any time.
Tip: You can use Auto-Create first to pair most debaters, then manually adjust any specific teams afterwards.
Creating Rounds
Set up preliminary and elimination rounds with motions
Rounds are created from the Draws tab in the Admin Panel. Each round contains one or more motions and can be either a preliminary round or a break (elimination) round.
Adding a Round
Open the Draws Tab
In the Admin Panel, navigate to the Draws tab and click "+ Add Round".
Enter Round Details
Fill in the round information:
Round Name — A label for the round (e.g. "Round 1", "Open Finals").
Motion — The debate motion text. Select a motion type prefix (THBT, THW, THS, etc.) and enter the motion wording.
Infoslide — Optional background information provided to debaters before the round (e.g. definitions, context).
Topics — Tag the motion with topic categories (e.g. "Criminal Justice", "Economics") for tracking and analysis.
Add Multiple Motions (Optional)
You can add more than one motion per round. This is useful for prepared rounds or tournaments that release multiple motions for debaters to choose from.
Create the Round
Click "Create Round". The round will appear as a card in the Draws tab. From there you can generate the draw, publish it, and manage ballots.
Break Rounds
Elimination rounds work the same way, with one additional step:
When creating a break round, link it to a break category (e.g. Open, ESL). The draw will then only include teams and judges that have been marked as eligible for that break in the Breaks tab.
Round Lifecycle
Generate Draw — Allocate teams, judges, and rooms to the round.
Publish — Make the draw visible to all participants.
Complete — Mark the round as finished once all ballots have been submitted and verified.
Tip: You can control motion visibility separately from the draw. Use the motions toggle on the round card to release motions to participants at the right time.
Adding Rooms
Set up debate rooms for venue allocation
Rooms represent the physical or virtual venues where debates take place. They are managed from the Rooms tab within the Draws page in the Admin Panel.
Open Rooms Management
In the Admin Panel, go to the Draws tab and click the Rooms sub-tab.
Add Rooms
Click "+ Add Room" and enter a room name (e.g. "Room 101", "Main Hall"). Repeat for each room you need.
Room Assignment
Rooms are automatically assigned to debates when you generate a draw with the "Assign Rooms" option enabled. You can also assign or change rooms manually from the draw view.
Tip: Add at least as many rooms as you have debates per round. For BP tournaments, you need one room for every 4 teams.
Generating Draws
Allocate teams, judges, and rooms to each round
Open the Generate Draw Modal
In the Draws tab, find the round card and click "Generate Draw".
Choose What to Assign
Toggle which steps to include in the draw:
Assign Teams — Allocate teams to rooms and positions using the draw algorithm.
Assign Adjudicators — Allocate judges to rooms based on ability scores, feedback, and conflict avoidance.
Assign Rooms — Assign venue rooms to each debate.
Select Participants
Review the participating teams and judges. You can deselect specific teams or judges to exclude them from this round. Use "Remove Unavailable" to exclude participants marked as unavailable, or "Remove Absent" to exclude those who haven't checked in.
Generate
Click "Generate Draw". The algorithm will create the draw, which you can review and manually adjust before publishing.
Assignment Settings
Feedback Weight — Controls how much feedback scores influence judge allocation vs. their base ability score (0% = ability only, 100% = feedback only).
Min. Feedback Score for Chair — Judges with average feedback below this threshold won't be assigned as chair or panellist.
No Panellists — Only assign one chair judge per room, skip panel distribution.
History & Conflict Penalties — Control how strongly the algorithm avoids assigning judges to teams they've judged before or have conflicts with.
Tip: After generating, you can manually swap teams, judges, and rooms in the draw view before publishing.
Ballots
Score submission and result entry for each debate
Ballots are how debate results are recorded. After a draw is published, judges submit ballots with team rankings and speaker scores.
How Ballots Work
Judges Receive Ballots
Once the draw is published, judges can see their assigned room and access their ballot from the tournament page.
Enter Results
Judges rank the teams (1st through 4th in BP, or winning/losing side in other formats) and enter individual speaker scores for each debater.
Submit the Ballot
The judge submits their completed ballot. It appears in the admin's Ballots tab for review.
Managing Ballots (Admin)
Ballot Status — View which ballots are still in Draft and which are Completed for each round.
Edit Ballots — Admins can view and edit any ballot, including correcting scores or entering results on behalf of a judge.
Confirm Ballots — Once all ballots for a round are submitted and verified, complete the round to lock in results and update standings.
Conflicts
Prevent biased adjudication by declaring judge-debater conflicts
Conflicts ensure that judges are not assigned to rooms containing debaters they have a personal or institutional connection with. Manage conflicts from the Conflicts tab in the Admin Panel.
Select Judges
In the Add Conflicts form, select one or more judges from the judges list. You can use "Select All" for bulk operations.
Select Debaters or Teams
Select the debaters or teams to conflict with. Selecting a team automatically adds all its members. Conflicts are created for every combination of selected judges and debaters.
Add Conflicts
Click "Add Conflicts". The draw algorithm will avoid placing conflicted judges in rooms with those debaters.
Tip: Institutional conflicts are handled automatically based on institution assignments. You only need to manually add personal conflicts (e.g. a judge who coaches a debater).
Feedback
Collect and use participant feedback on judges
The feedback system lets participants rate their judges after each round. Feedback scores can then influence judge allocation in later rounds. Manage feedback from the Feedback tab in the Admin Panel.
Setting Up Feedback
Create Feedback Metrics
Define the questions participants will answer. Each metric has a prompt and a response type:
Numeric — A score within a range (e.g. 1–10).
Dropdown / Multi-Select — Choose from predefined options.
Yes/No, Checkbox, Text — Simple response types for qualitative feedback.
Participants Submit Feedback
After each round, debaters can submit feedback on their judges through the tournament page. Feedback forms use the metrics you configured.
Using Feedback
Judge Overview — View average feedback scores and feedback count per judge in the Feedback tab.
Draw Allocation — Use the feedback weight slider when generating draws to factor feedback into judge placement. Higher-rated judges are prioritised for higher-stakes rooms.
Breaks Management
Manage which teams and judges advance to elimination rounds
After preliminary rounds are complete, use the Breaks tab in the Admin Panel to decide which teams and judges advance to elimination (break) rounds.
Select a Break Category
Choose the break category you want to manage (e.g. Open, ESL, Novice).
Add Teams to the Break
On the Teams sub-tab, teams are sorted by points and speaker scores. Click "Add to Break" next to each team that qualifies. The badge shows how many teams are currently breaking.
Add Judges to the Break
Switch to the Judges sub-tab to select which judges will adjudicate elimination rounds for this category.
Tip: Make sure to add both teams and judges to the break before generating a break round draw. The Generate Draw modal will only show break-eligible participants.
Results & Standings
View tournament rankings and results
Results are automatically calculated from completed ballots. They are displayed on the tournament's public pages, accessible to all participants.
Public Results Pages
Team Tab — Shows team rankings sorted by total points, with speaker scores as a tiebreaker. Includes per-round breakdowns.
Speaker Tab — Shows individual speaker rankings sorted by total speaker scores across all rounds.
Standings — Overall tournament standings combining team performance data.
Results — Final tournament results page with break outcomes and elimination round results.
Tip: Results update automatically as ballots are completed. Make sure to complete each round before generating the next draw so standings are up to date.
Availability
Mark participants as unavailable for specific rounds
The Availability tab in the Admin Panel shows a grid of all participants and rounds. Use it to mark participants who cannot attend specific rounds.
Open Availability Management
In the Admin Panel, navigate to the Availability tab.
Toggle Availability
Each cell shows Available or Unavailable. Click to toggle. You can filter by role to show only debaters or judges.
Effect on Draws
When generating a draw, use the "Remove Unavailable" button to automatically exclude participants marked as unavailable for that round.
Adding Admins
Invite other users to help manage your tournament
Open Admins Management
In the Admin Panel, navigate to the Admins tab.
Search for a User
Type the email address of the user you want to add. They must already have a Tabulous account.
Add as Admin
Click "Add Admin". The user will immediately have full access to the tournament's Admin Panel and can manage all aspects of the tournament.
Tip: The tournament creator is the "Host" admin and cannot be removed. Other admins can be removed at any time by the host.