Welcome to the 30th Annual Jack Howe Memorial Tournament!

Friends and Colleagues,

We hope that everyone has been keeping safe and healthy during the COVID-19 era. The faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the California State University, Long Beach would like to cordially invite you to attend the 30th** Annual Jack Howe Memorial, hosted by the CSULB “Beach Forensics” Program on Saturday, September 24–Monday September 26, 2022.  Please note that the 26^th is for Policy, Public Forum, and TOC LD only. As in past years, we will offer Parliamentary, Policy, Public Forum, Congressional, World School debate, and L-D Debate in addition to the TOC/ NIETOC Individual Events. We are also pleased to announce that we are offering qualifying bids to the Tournament of Champions in Policy, LD, Speech, Congress, and Public Forum debate! We also have NIETOC bids for Speech events that apply and the National Parli TOC. Thank you for all of the returning schools and welcome to all of the newcomers! GO BEACH!

All speech and debate rounds will be IN PERSON

All detailed tournament information can be accessed using the links on the right. Judges who are looking to get hired need to. All other forms needed for ALL participants are listed as well. 

Bid List:  

RETURNING TO IN-PERSON COMPETITION:

1. At the time this invitation is being published, mask-wearing on the CSULB campus is optional in outdoor spaces, but mandatory in classrooms. The tournament will provide KN95 face coverings and hand sanitizer, but in a limited quantity. Guests should review the campus policies in detail at https://www.csulb.edu/covid-19. It is strongly recommended that vulnerable populations wear KN95-grade face coverings.

2. Sanitary stations are be placed in high-traffic corridors on campus.

3. By registering for the 2022 Jack Howe Memorial Invitational, you are accepting the risk of becoming infected by COVID-19. The tournament will do everything possible to reduce the risk of infection, but we cannot guarantee you will avoid contracting COVID-19. We are unable to offer refunds to competitors/for judges that contract COVID-19 after registration closes. The following recommendations will help the tournament and its guests the week of competition:

         A.    Refrain from unnecessary human contact the week of the tournament and test regularly.

         B.    Obtain your own PCR/Anti-gen tests in advance of the tournament and test each morning for safety.

         C.    Regularly and rigorously wash your hands, carry hand sanitizer, and wear a medical-grade face covering.

         D.    Keep water nearby and remain hydrated.

4. There will be no hybrid divisions offered. All events will be fully in-person.

CHANGES FOR 2022:

1. ENTRY CAP: IN EACH DIVISION, SCHOOLS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE ABLE TO ADD 2 ENTRIES AND THE REST WILL BE WAIT-LISTED UNTIL JUDGES ARE ENTERED AND ALL TBAS ARE CLEARED, BUT THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN IMMEDIATELY.

2.  The NUGGET (Food Area) will NOT be open. Instead on SATURDAY ONLY you will have access to the food places in the Student Union until 6:00PM. On Sunday you would have to go to local area food options or the provided food trucks on SUNDAY ONLY.

3.     The library will have Starbucks drinks and other packaged items for purchase in the area where Starbucks once was housed. It is now called “Caffeine Lab”

There is also a convenience store next to the Book store that has a variety of items for consumption. PLEASE utilize these places during the tournament. They both will be open on Saturday 8AM- 5PM. Sunday will ONLY have the Caffeine Lab open from 8AM- 3PM.

4. Judges should be entered in only ONE pool for preliminary rounds. A judge in one pool cannot judge in another pool on Saturday. ALL judges must be 18 or older and hold a GED/high school diploma. If this becomes an issue we will apply nuisance fees.

5. Competitors must be in 6^th grade and above, approximate age 11.

6. If you are registering with a UDL, please notify the tournament with school names and participants in ONE document.

7.  We will not have JV Policy this year due to room shortages.

8.   Novice policy will be bound to only debate with the NDCA packet.

9.   LD will have FOUR divisions: TOC LD, CA Open LD, CA JV LD, and Novice LD. To participate in Novice LD, a student must be in their first year of competition and in middle school or 9^th grade. Any student in their second year of competition or in 10^th grade (and beyond) must register for CA JV LD or above. The California High School Speech Association guidelines will be used for Novice and CA Open LD.

10. We will offer a middle school division for Congress ONLY.

11. Monday Elimination rounds will be held at the Marriott Courtyard and Golden Sails Hotel. Further information will be disclosed at the day before.

HOTEL OPTIONS: We have two options for hotels:

COURTYARD MARRIOT HOTEL AIRPORT ($170 per room per night plus tax.) HERE

3841 N Lakewood Blvd,
Long Beach, CA 90808
Hotel: (562) 429-5803

OR

GOLDEN SAILS HOTEL ( EX-BEST WESTERN) ($119.00 per room per night plus tax)

6285 E. Pacific Highway
Long Beach, CA 90803
Direct:  (562)594-0210  Ask for Vicki and Jack Howe rate
Hotel:  (562) 596-1631, ext. 294
www.goldensailshotel.com TAKE OUR VIRTUAL TOUR! https://youtu.be/wmYSOpGS2m8

PARKING ON CAMPUS: Visitors may purchase parking and then park in General (G) Lots including the three parking structures or in Short-Term parking spaces. Visitors may also choose to purchase parking in Employee (E) Lots after 5:30 p.m. and all day on weekends. Please visit the campus map to view all available parking locations CSULB uses the License Plate Recognition (LPR), a paperless permitting system. Your license plate number is needed when purchasing parking. Please have your license plate information with you prior to leaving your vehicle. For more information click HERE

DOUBLE ENTRY POLICY: The following policies are in place for double entries this

year:

The following policies are in place for double entries this year:

1. Entries are not allowed to double enter in two limited prep events (e.g., Impromptu, or Extemporaneous Speaking).

2. Debate events across the board CANNOT double enter in speech events. 

3. Speech-only entries may double enter in up to two speech events.

4. Worlds is Sunday only, but you can change the team make-up if persons in other events did not advance.

ENTERING STUDENTS IN NOVICE DIVISIONS:  

1. For Students That Competed In Middle School: A high school freshman [or beyond] that competed in an event at more than five total tournaments in middle school cannot register for that event as a novice. A high school freshman [or beyond] that competed in an event at less than six total tournaments in middle school may register as a novice for that event.

2. General Definition For Novice: A “novice” constitutes a student that has competed in less than one complete competition season. “One complete competition season” would include either five [or more] tournaments in one semester AND/OR at least one tournament in two semesters. E.G. A high school sophomore that competed in LD at five tournaments in the fall of the previous year would not be a novice, nor would a high school sophomore that competed in one tournament in the fall and the spring of the previous year.

3. First-Time Entries In New Debate Events: A student who has no more than one complete competition season [or less] of Congress, LD, or PF but has not competed in other debate events may enter as a novice in policy debate. A student who has one complete competition season of policy debate [or more], however, may not enter Congress, LD, Parli, or PF as a novice.

4. First-Time Entries In New Speech Events: A student who has competed in no more than one complete competition season [or less] of debate events, but has not competed in any speech events, may enter as a novice in speech events. A student who has competed in no more than one complete competition season [or less] of speech events, but has not competed in any debate events, may enter as a novice in debate events.

JUDGE OBLIGATION POLICY: Judges in debate are obligated to stay and judge the first elimination round on Sunday OR one round past any round in which their students are actively competing, whichever is later​. ​Judges in TOC LD, Public Forum, and Policy who have entries that competed in the last elimination round on Sunday Night are obligated for the first elimination round on Monday Morning. Speech and Congress judges are obligated for all rounds at the tournament.

Congress judges are separate from speech judges. Please provide one judge per five entries (with a max of three judges). Please rate each judge on how well they would serve as a parliamentarian, and please provide one capable parliamentarian if you are brining two or three judges. Furthermore, TOC LD, Open Public Forum, and Open Policy will now occur over three days (e.g., Saturday, 9/24 to Monday, 9/26). Judges in these events are obligated for all three days at the tournament if their program has entries competing on that day.

OTHER POLICIES:

1.     ALL Chaperone and Liability forms must be filled out at registration. Chaperone forms are for all folks that are above the age of 18 that come along with your group. Liability forms are for every single individual, regardless of age, in your group. You can find more details about this in the 'Judging Information' page. A link to the form can be found on the Right side of this page. Please turn these forms in before the tournament by scanning them into one document or on the night of registration. Send them to DevenJackHowe@gmail.com. This will make the registration process go faster.

2.     NO TEAM is to set up shop on or around ANY memorial or statue on campus: there will be penalties for doing so. People will be asked to immediately leave that area and clean it up if witnessed. If you decide to set up shop on any area on campus, ESPECIALLY the union and outdoor spaces, we should not have to walk around and see mounds of trash on your tables or spaces. PLEASE constantly clear your trash when finished. It doesn’t look proper to other visitors to the campus on that day or general staff that are around. We have had problems with people disposing their trash in the past. We would like to not have to be the enforcers, but WE WILL. If we see that people have mounds of trash on the property, we will ask you to dispose of it immediately. If you need extra bags to dispose of your trash, please let us know and we will take it to the nearest dump.

3.     FLIGHTING ROUNDS: Please inform your students and judges that competitors that are flight 2 should be allowed to be in the room to watch the first flight. Inform your students on the process of flighting so they do not panic or cause any delays because of confusion. Several events will be flighted.

 4.     ALL TROPHIES must be picked up by a representative before Monday, because we will NOT ship trophies unless a documented departure time or flight was necessary for folks.

 5.     JUDGE/ COMPETITOR NO SHOW: If a judge or competitor has not shown up within 5 minutes of start time, please alert the tournament via the helpline number so that we can route that information to the tab room. PLEASE make sure that all of your debaters and teams know this number to report issues.

6.     STRICTLY ENFORCED - NO PERSONAL CHECKS ACCEPTED! We strongly PREFER electronic payments and cash payments. DO NOT send cash by mail. DO NOT send checks to the school AT ALL unless you notify us prior. We will accept all other forms of payment at the time of early or regular registration. E-payments by credit card will have a $2.75 service charge. All payments (including fines accrued during the tournament) must be paid in full before the elimination rounds on Sunday. PLEASE make sure to do this to prevent any disqualifications.

PAY HERE: https://commerce.cashnet.com/CSULB-CLA-JHMT 

The online pay system functions as a shopping cart process. This means you will add the mandatory school fee, add the rest of the entry fees, and check out. 

 7.     Early Registration/Registration will be held on Friday, September 23 At the Marriott Courtyard (HOST HOTEL) in the front desk area. Please have forms, payment, and any other questions ready to go.

8.     ALL people who intend on participating (competitors and judges) MUST have an active and confirmed TABROOM.COM account.

9.     All judges that need to have training should watch: NSDA Judge training. If you have further questions, we will have a Zoom based question room assigned.

DOFs: It is your responsibility to train judges for this and every tournament. Especially with the issues relating to Covid-19, we are trusting you to bring qualified adults who can judge and create a safe environment for our students. Please make sure they watch the judge training from NSDA.  If a judge or competitor has not shown up within 5 minutes please alert the tournament via text message to the helpline number/Campus mechanism so that we can route that information to the tab room. PLEASE make sure that all your debaters and teams know this number to report issues. That number is:  TBA (TEXT ONLY - DO NOT CALL)

10.  This year we will adopt the CHSSA Harassment and Discrimination Policy with some specific additions.

Harassment and Discrimination Policy

The California High School Speech Association is committed to providing its participants, judges, coaches, and members the opportunity to pursue excellence in their endeavors. This opportunity can exist only when each member of our community is assured an atmosphere of mutual respect. CHSSA is committed to maintaining an environment that is free from all forms of harassment and discrimination. Accordingly, all forms of harassment and discrimination are prohibited, whether committed by participants, judges, coaches, or observers. CHSSA is committed to the enforcement of this policy. Individuals who are found to have violated this policy will be subject to the full range of sanctions, up to and including removal from the tournament premises and prosecution by authorities. Any individual or group of individuals who believes they have been a victim of harassment and/or discrimination should report it to the Help Desk or appropriate authority immediately.

The addition and specificity that we add to what all forms of harassment and discrimination includes but not limited to bullying and harassment on social media of ALL kinds or within a round, zoom bombing, use of racial, ethnic, ableist, religious, gendered, and sexual slurs, and other inappropriate comments or “advancements” from or to ANY participant. All judges’ web cameras should ALWAYS be at eye level and on while judging. If any violations to these additions occur, the violator will be asked to no longer judge or be disqualified. I take this very seriously DO NOT take your chances. 

We will be bringing back the following features of the Jack Howe:

Sweepstakes calculation. We will use a percentile system to calculate the top debate program and the top IE program; we will use an "equalization" system to determine the top overall school. This new sweepstakes calculation system is a result of persistent errors in calculation that have resulted from the system we have used to calculate sweepstakes in the past.

Over $10,000 in scholarships to students who win first place speaker/team in a senior division event. Each top-place finisher will receive a renewable $800 scholarship to attend CSULB (upon acceptance) and compete on our nationally ranked forensics team, where they will be required to compete for a year. This scholarship is only renewable based on grades, competition, work ethic, and need.  

For general tournament inquiries, tournament registration, fees, and administration please email Deven Cooper (DevenJackHowe@gmail.com);

Please keep in mind that wearing masks are not a political statement. WEAR ONE PLEASE 

All our best,

Directors of Forensics

CSU Long Beach