NHSEB Divisional Playoffs

About

Due to the National High School Ethics Bowl’s prodigious growth across the country, the NHSEB Executive Committee has designed a new Divisional Playoff system to replace NHSEB’s previous Regional Playoffs. Starting in 2022-2023, the country’s existing Regional Competitions will be sorted into four geographic Divisions. Each of these Divisions has been assigned to a host institution responsible for conducting Divisional Playoffs in partnership with the Parr Center in order to set the team roster for the 2023 National Championship.

Divisional Bids, Format, and Rules

For the first implementation year, winners of NHSEB Regional Competitions will be paired for head-to-head, single-elimination Divisional Playoff matches. In the event that a winning team is unavailable for the Divisional Playoff Match as scheduled, the Divisional Organizer will extend an invitation for Divisional Competition to the second-place finisher in the relevant Regional Competition. The winner of each match will be invited to compete at the 2023 NHSEB National Championship at UNC-Chapel Hill. Teams will be seated for the 2023 Divisional Playoffs using a bid system which is responsive to the overall size of each respective Division (in terms of numbers of participating Regional Competitions and participating schools).

These bids will total 46, such that the winners of the head-to-head matchups comprise 22 of the 24 teams on the National Championship Roster. 2 remaining bids to the NHSEB Championship will be held as “wild card” bids by the NHSEB Executive Committee, and awarded to runner-up Divisional Playoff teams in the two largest Divisional events (in terms of their number of participating schools).

NHSEB Divisional Playoffs will be conducted online, using the Parr Center’s NHSEBOne competition platform and the 2022-2023 Regional Case Set. Specific rules have been approved by the NHSEB Executive Committee exclusively for online Divisional Playoff events. They are detailed in full in the 2022-2023 Rules Manual. Teams may gather in the same physical location for competition, but all students and coaches should join matches from their own device, and follow all stated rules and guidelines during their Divisional Playoff events. Otherwise, all Divisional Playoff events will utilize the same rules and regulations as the National Championship.