There are three preliminary rounds. The first two rounds are randomly preset. The third round is power-matched to assure that the best teams are most likely to advance. Team sides in round three are determined by joint preference or coin flip before the topic is announced.
PLUM aims to provide the most debating opportunity to the most students.
The best two teams from each school earn points toward season sweepstakes awards to be presented at the final PLUM tournament. To keep costs low, we seek out volunteer judges from nearby school faculties and from the community. All judges are considered clean for elimination rounds. We would like entries to arrive at the host school by 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to the tournament, although late entries and changes can be accepted prior to Monday at 5 p.m. The host school will try hard to accommodate all entries, but reserves the right to limit entries to provide effective scheduling in extreme circumstances.