We are thrilled to invite you & your Lincoln-Douglas students to the the first ever Telegraph Spring Invitational VIRTUAL DEBATE Tournament, hosted by Telegraph Speech & Debate (TSD) on Saturday, April 13th. 

This is a revolutionary opportunity to be a part of a brand new community of online , resources, and coaching that will be accessible to virtually any student, any location in the world--provided that they have access to the internet, a working webcam and microphone. 

Your entry fee & participation enables you access to unique benefits, including but not limited to:

Networking with former nationally-competitive debaters on both the high school and college circuits.

Access to a pool of FREE resources and feedback from experts around the world in the speech and debate community.

Sample evidence packets with blocks for novices and beginning students; for students to compete with if they are not prepared.

Verbal and written feedback for each student and their coach, tailored to their specific needs and areas of improvement after each round.

Experience with 21st-century soft skills; communicating online in a conference setting.

National competition that might not otherwise be accessible due to financial hardship or structural inequalities.

A professional, competitive setting from the comfort and convenience of your own home/office/school, and at a fraction of the cost of typical national and regional tournaments!

TOURNAMENT LOGISTICS:

TOPIC: 

Resolved: The illegal use of drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminal justice.

SCHEDULE:

9:00 AM -  Rd 1

11:00 AM - Rd 2

Lunch

1:30 PM -  Rd 3

2:30 PM -  Rd 4
3:45 PM - Finals 

Awards - no ceremony; winner will receive free entry to next tournament. Top teams will have awards mailed to them.

FEES

$45 / entry

INDENDENT ENTRIES

Independent entries have to pay a $20 processing fee and a $20 No-Show Deposit.

The No-Show Deposit will be refunded if the students successfully show up for all their rounds.

This means that independent entries pay $85 upon registration, and receive $20 back if they show up to all of their rounds on time.

FINES 

Students will be fined $20 for no-shows. 

This is the minimum amount needed to refund their opponents and compensate the judges for their time. We will do our best to not issue these fines during the first tournament.

JUDGING

There are ZERO JUDGING REQUIREMENTS!

TSD will provide all judges. These judges will be highly-skilled, current and former competitors both in the high school and college circuits, as well as current coaches. 

For each round, a full 15 to 30-minute verbal RFD is required. Judges are also encouraged to have competitors do a Rebuttal Re-Do at the end of their rounds, after the ballot has been cast.

A document with feedback for each student will be sent to each student and their coach, with a summary of the main areas that need improvement, tailored to their specific needs.

Additionally, we at TSD believe that in forensics, education is a lateral exchange. Judges will also be ranked by the competitors. They will have the opportunity to receive awards for receiving good ratings for their helpfulness in order to incentivize and improve their feedback.

REGISTRATION: 

REGISTRATION FOR THE TOURNAMENT REQUIRES COMPLETING THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:

1) Registering your students on the tournament page: https://www.tabroom.com/index/tourn/index.mhtml?tourn_id=12735

2) Have students, guardians and additional coaches fill out these forms by April 10:

COACHES:

https://goo.gl/forms/3A6R1mwRdNLmch5m2

GUARDIANS:

(Should be filled out by two legal guardians per student, unless the student only has one):

https://goo.gl/forms/7kASC2XCvqEoQ88m2

COMPETITORS:

https://goo.gl/forms/rsy3RyGBLU90hk443

DEADLINES: 

You must add entries by  

Sun, April 7, 2019   9:00 PM

Your registration fees are frozen on   

Wed, April 10, 2019   6:00 PM

You can drop entries or change names online until   

Thu, April 11, 2019   6:00 PM

Judge entries and changes are due by   

Sat, April 13, 2019   8:00 PM

Nuisance fines in addition to regular fees for changes begin: 

Thu, April 11, 2019   6:00 PM

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact TSD at telegraphsd@gmail.com.