9th Annual Union Forensic Society Invitational

Speech and Debate Tournament

Location

Online

Dates

February 12-13, 2021

Director

Ricinda Spatz

spatz.ricinda@unionps.org

(918) 770-1532

Website

http://union.tabroom.com

Deadlines

• Entries are due by 8:00 PM Tuesday, February 9, 2021.

• Judges are due by 8:00 PM Wednesday, February 10, 2021.

• Video submissions are due by 4:00 PM Wednesday, February 10, 2021

• Changes to your entry after 4:00 PM Thursday, February 11, 2021 must be done by email.

Event Rules 

• OSSAA: http://www.ossaa.com/manual.aspx?aa=SPE

• NSDA: https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/HS-Unified-Manual_2020-2021.pdf

Important Note for Out of State Schools 

• Please email the tournament director as soon as you plan to attend. There is paperwork to file with the OSSAA.

• Out of state schools may only enter Championship Division and/or Novice Division.

Important Notes for All Schools

• The Union Forensic Society Invitational is a qualifying bid tournament for the NIETOC and TOC Extemp. Top 3 in Championship US and International Extemp will receive a bid for TOC Extemp. Top finishers in Championship HI, DI, DUO, Duet, OO, INF, POI, and both extemp events will receive a bid to the NIETOC (number of bids varies based on entries). For more information visit the tournament’s websites: http://nietoc.com/ http://sites.northwestern.edu/tocextemp/

• Championship and Novice divisions will use NSDA rules (unless there is no NSDA rule set for that event, then use OSSAA event rules). All qualifying divisions will use OSSAA rules.

• Any school with an outstanding balance from last year must pay that balance before entries from that school will be accepted.

• All adds after the entry deadline are accepted at tournament director’s discretion.

Entry Fees 

• Championship Division

  • $20 per policy debate or public forum entry

  • $10 per Lincoln Douglas entry

  • $12 per duet or duo entry

  • $6 each for all other entries

• All other Divisions

  • $10 per policy debate or public forum entry

  • $5 per Lincoln Douglas entry

  • $6 per duet or duo entry

  • $3 each for all other entries

Nuisance Fees 

• $25 per missing judge per day

• $5 for an add or drop after 4:00 PM Tuesday, Feb 9, 2021

• $25 for an unreported drop

Cross Entry Limitations 

• Competitors may not enter more than one debate event.

• In qualifying division:

  • Competitors may not enter more than 3 events.

  • Competitors may not enter both extemps.

• Competitors in novice division may not be entered in any other division.

• Oklahoma schools can enter an asynchronous speech competitor in Qualifying and Champs division if they have not previously qualified

Judge Requirements 

• 1 judge per 2 CX entries or portion thereof per day of the event.

• 1 judge per 4 LD/PF entries or portion thereof per day of the event.

• 1 judge per 12 speech/acting entries or portion thereof per day of the event.

• 1 judge per 12 extemp entries or portion thereof per day of the event. Must be available for synchronous rounds

Championship Debate Judges 

• Judges assigned to judge these Champ CX, LD, or PF may not be assigned to judge speech events.

• All judges are expected to be present for all preliminary rounds and 1 elimination round after their school has been eliminated. Missing judge fees may be assessed if this requirement is not met.

All Other Judges 

• DO NOT enter a single person more than once. Judges may count toward the requirement for both debate and speech. The invoice generated by tabroom.com will not immediately reflect this. Invoices will be adjusted after the tournament and schools will be notified when they are accurate.

• If a judge is for debate, then enter that person in the most appropriate category (CX or LD/PF).

• If a judge counts toward both debate and speech, then enter that person as a debate judge in the most appropriate category (CX or LD/PF).

• All non-debate judges should be entered in the speech judge group.

• Every judge is assumed to be available for all time slots unless otherwise specified. You may specify “No Friday” or “No Saturday” on tabroom.com to indicate when a judge is unavailable (click on the green button next to the judge’s name).

• High school students with at least 150 NSDA points are welcome to judge in the novice division.

• Please use judge notes to convey the following information, if a judge:

  • can only judge novice;

  • is conflicted with another school or entry;

  • has partial availability on one or both days;

  • would prefer only debate;

  • would prefer or not prefer one form of debate;

  • would prefer or not prefer to judge extemp, oratory, and/or acting;

Championship Debate Divisions (CX, LD, and PF) 

• There will be 3 preliminary rounds.

• We will use NSDA event rules except policy debate teams will receive 8 minutes of prep time. (note to Oklahoma schools: this means no 3-person teams in CX)

Championship Speech Division 

• We will use NSDA event rules for all NSDA main events (DI, DUO, HI, INF, IX, OO, POI, USX).

• For all other events (DA, MO, PO, PR, SO), we will use OSSAA rules with the following exceptions:

  • No event will be limited by grade level.

  • NSDA overtime rules will be used.

Novice Division 

• Competitors in the novice division may not cross enter in any other division.

• A novice competitor is defined as a person in their first year of competition or a person who has not yet reached 9th grade. For a team entry to be a valid novice entry all persons on the team must be eligible for novice status. Anyone found ineligible for novice will be immediately disqualified.

• These events: CX, LD, PF, Extemp, Interp (combined HI and DI), will use NSDA event rules, except:

  • Policy debate teams will receive 8 minutes of prep time.

  • 3-person teams will be allowed in policy debate.

• These events: PO, PR, MO, and Duet Acting (combined HD and DD) will use OSSAA event rules, except:

  • No event will be limited by grade level.

  • NSDA overtime rules will be used.

• Oratory will allow speeches that would qualify as an OO or and SO under OSSAA event rules, except:

  • No event will be limited by grade level.

  • NSDA overtime rules will be used.

Debate Topics 

• CX will use the 2020-2021 NFHS topic in all divisions: 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.

• LD will use the January/February 2021 NSDA topic in all divisions: Resolved: States ought to ban lethal autonomous weapons.

• PF will use the February 2021 NSDA topic in all divisions: Resolved: On balance, the benefits of urbanization in West Africa outweigh the harms.

Sweepstakes 

• Sweepstakes awards for all divisions will be calculated based on the sweepstakes formula in the OSSAA manual.

• All non-OSSAA individual events will be calculated as individual events.

• Duo Interp will be calculated as a duet acting event.

• The Grand Champion will be the school that earns the most points across all divisions.