Clarification of the CMSDL Medal Count

Not everyone is clear on how the Chicago Middle School Debate League Medal Count works. Maybe that’s because we’ve not adequately explained it.

The Medal Count translates each team award, given out at the Awards Ceremony of each tournament, into a “medal” (a virtual medal, no one gets an actual medal), like an Olympic medal (bronze, silver, gold, and we add platinum). Each medal has a certain point valuation, so that the CMSDL Medal Count tracks aggregated competitive results, by school, through the duration of the season.

Team awards translate into team medals in all three Divisions the same way, and as follows:

• 1st place – Platinum Medal
• 2nd place – Gold Medal
• 3rd & 4th place – Silver Medal
• 5th – 8th place – Bronze Medal
• 9th – 15th (when awarded) – ½ Bronze Medal

Awards are given at the Awards Ceremony to the 9th – 15th places when we have a very large Novice Division, as we have had in the Novice Division at several tournaments this year.

No more than 50% of the teams in any Division can be given an award. So, for example, if there are 15 teams in the JV Division at a tournament, 7 of them will receive an award (and therefore only 3 teams will earn a bronze medal, not 4).

Points are assigned to each medal, weighted by Division, as follows:

• Platinum – Varsity = 20 points, JV = 15 points, Novice = 10 points
• Gold – Varsity = 15 points, JV = 10 points, Novice = 7 points
• Silver – Varsity = 10 points, JV = 5 points, Novice = 3 points
• Bronze – Varsity = 5 points, JV = 3 Points, Novice = 2 points

Don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions.