Welcome to the 12th Annual Georgiana Hays Invitational!

The Prospect High School Speech and Debate Team cordially invites you to the 12th annual Georgiana Hays Debate Invitational at Prospect High School, Saratoga. Georgiana Hays was an English teacher and debate coach who led Prospect’s debate program to nationals twice during her tenure. At a tournament hosting some of the finest debaters in the nation, it is only fitting that her name should grace the trophy.

The Hays Invitational will be held on Saturday, 5/18, 2024. Students will have the opportunity to compete in Parliamentary, Lincoln Douglas, and Public Forum. Speech events will include Impromptu, Declamation, Humorous and Dramatic interp. Additionally, middle school and homeschooled students are more than welcome to attend.

General

BE ON TIME! Check-in will be at 7:30 A.M. for all events. The tournament will be hosted at Prospect High School, which is located at 18900 Prospect Rd, Saratoga, CA 95070.

If there are any issues with the round (e.g., tech issues, a missing judge, a missing opponent, etc.) please email prospectdebate@gmail.com or head to the in-person tabroom (hosted at the library) where you checked in. Prospect debaters and volunteers will be wearing either maroon or navy merch with the team name embossed, and these people can help you find your rooms.

The first two rounds are pre-set. Rounds 3-5 will be power-matched.

The top two teams and speakers in each division will receive awards.

The only competitors eligible for the novice division are those that are either in their first calendar year of any kind of debate/speech OR who are in 7th grade or under.

Parliamentary

Parliamentary will loosely follow CHSSA rules. Points of Information are permitted (at speaker’s discretion) in the constructive speeches except during the first and last minute of each speech. Points of Order are allowed in the final speeches. The speaking times are 7PM-8LO-8MG-8MO-4LO-5PM. Laptops may be used during prep, but no prep in-round. There will be no coach prep allowed. Parliamentary will have 20 minutes of prep time prior to each round.

Lincoln-Douglas

LD will follow NSDA rules and use the NSDA March/April resolution in all divisions. Email chains can be started at the agreement of both competitors and judges but are not required. The speaking times are 6A1-7N1/NR1-3CX1-4AR1-6NR2-3AR3. Total prep time provided to all debaters is 4 minutes.

Protests and evidence challenges may be brought up to the tournament directors via email at prospectdebate@gmail.com. Please only contact the directors if the problem remains unresolved despite discussions between competitors and the judge.

All competitors must be in their respective rooms within 5 minutes of the round start time or else there will be a forfeit.

Public Forum

PF will follow NSDA rules and use the NSDA April resolution (UN Security Council) in all divisions. Email chains can be started at the agreement of both competitors and judges but are not required. PF will use the NSDA speech times.

Protests and evidence challenges may be brought up to the tournament directors via email at prospectdebate@gmail.com. Please only contact the directors if the problem remains unresolved despite discussions between competitors and the judge.

All competitors must be in their respective rooms within 5 minutes of the round start time or else there will be a forfeit.

Speech

Georgiana Hays will offer HI, DI, Declamation, and Impromptu.

Judges

During online registration, schools will be required to register their judges by name. One corresponding judge will be required every two teams, rounding up. That means that if you have three entries, you are still obligated to bring two judges.

Judges must attend roll-call prior to the start of the tournament. Failure to do so may result in a $50 fine PER ROUND.

Judges must have/create personal Tabroom accounts before the tournament and have personal devices that can connect to the internet. We will be doing e-ballots.

We will not be providing hired judges for any division.

Judges may use the contact option on NSDA Campus regarding missing competitors.

Judges must judge one round beyond the elimination of your last competitor/team in that event.

Judges in NOVICE DIVISIONS ONLY may be high schoolers that are juniors or seniors and can demonstrate extensive debate experience.

The judging obligation is 1 judge per 2 entries for debate events and rounds up (e.g. if you have 3 entries you owe 2 judges)

The judging obligation is 1 judge per 3 entries for speech events and rounds up (e.g. if you have 4 entries you owe 3 judges)

Fees:

Parliamentary Debate

Parli → $50 per team(team of 2 debaters)

Lincoln Douglas

LD → $45 per debater

Speech / IE

ALL IE events, Novice & Varsity → $20 per entry

Public Forum

PF→ $50 per team(team of 2 debaters)

Please make checks out to:

Prospect High School

Attn: James Kopp (Banker)

18900 Prospect Rd

Saratoga, CA 95070

All checks must be received the Wednesday before the day of the tournament, 5/17

If you have any questions, please email prospectdebate@gmail.com.

SCHEDULE

7:45-8:00 Registration and Checkin

8:15 Parli Topic

8:30 PF/LD/Parli Round 1

9:30 Speech R1

10:30 Parli Topic

10:45 PF/LD/Parli R2

11:45 Speech R2

11:45 - 1:15 Lunch served

12:45 Parli Topic

1:00 PF/LD/Parli R3

2:00 Speech R3

3:00 Parli Topic

3:15 PF/LD/Parli R4

4:15 Speech Finals

5:15 Parli Topic

5:30 PF/LD/Parli R5

7:00Awards