University Novice Tournament
2020 — NSDA Campus, CO/US
University Novice Meet October 24 2019 
You are cordially invited to participate in the inaugural 2020 University Novice Tournament on October 24 2019. The tournament will be held virtually through tabroom.com and NSDA integrated video platform.
Tournament Highlights:
-A chance for schools to get used to Tabroom/NSDA classroom in a low stress environment
-Asynchronous format to facilitate participation for ALL students in Interp
-Live rounds for debate.
-3 preliminary rounds for a quick easy day. All events will run at the same time.
-Unfortunately no doubling because switching between virtual rooms will prove to be troublesome.
-Multiple team awards
Equity Statement:
University High School is passionately committed to fostering equity and inclusion within the Speech & Debate community. If there are barriers to participating in our tournament (like the entry fees, being new to the activity/lack of familiarity), please contact us.
Our program is a new one, and we are fortunate to have the support of our school community and the larger Colorado speech community. This activity will never grow to encompass the full range of schools and students if proactive steps are not taken. Please read our full equity and inclusion statement, along with our action steps, further into this invitation.
Events: We will host three rounds of novice competition in
Asynchronous Events (recorded prior to tournament day)
· Drama
· Humor
· Poetry
· Program Oral Interpretation
· Oratory
· Informative Speaking
· Duo Interp
Synchronous (live on the day of competition)
· Cross-Examination Debate (if enough teams sign up, please select backup) (Please provide 1 varsity judge per team entry to judge)
· Lincoln Douglas Debate
· Public Forum Debate
· Combined Extemporaneous Speaking
Debate Resolution: We will be using the 2020-2021 NSDA varsity topic as per Northern Colorado tradition
LD: Resolved: In a democracy, voting ought to be compulsory.
PF: Resolved: The United States federal government should enact the Medicare-For-All Act of 2019.
CX: Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing. Please limit to the approved list of novice cases.
Registration and Schedule: Registration will be held from 8:30-9:00am. Rounds will be begin at 9am with awards at 3pm (We will send out details about virtual hang out rooms for teams to utilize in the near future)
Schedule: (All times are in Mountain Time)
8:30-9:00am-registration
9:00-10:30am- Round 1 of all events. (Extra time has been allotted for the dealing of tech problems and to ensure each round is ready to occur)
11:00-12:30pm-Round 2-coaches meet and greet
12:30-1pmLunch, time to debrief with students
1:00-2:30-Round 3- University will be hosting an optional coach discussion centered on diversity and inclusion
3pm-Awards
Entries: Each school may enter a maximum of 5 entries in each event. You may add additional entries on to the waitlist and if room permits, I will add entries in as possible. Entries will be handled on a first-come, first served basis. Registration will occur online at www.tabroom.com.
Entry Fees: Fees are 6.00 dollars per student, 12.00 dollars for partnered events, based on the pre-registration numbers as of Wednesday, October 21. Please make checks payable to University Schools. Mailing address 6525 w 18th Street Greeley CO 80634
Registration: will be closed Wednesday, October 21. This is in order to buy online rooms from NSDA. Please double check with students that they will be there to ensure we do not have wasted rooms.
Student Judges: Each school is expected to provide 1 student judge per 5 interp/platform entries, and 1 student judge per 2 debate entries.
With an online tournament, please add your students as judges to be assigned via Tabroom. After novice season you can remove the students from your judges list.
For an increase in the conversation around equity and diversity for our speech community, all coaches and student judges will be asked to fill out the judges’ diversity training prior to receiving ballots.