Invitation

Dear Colleague:

We are excited to extend to you and your students an invitation to the Alpharetta High School Speech and Debate Treasure Hunt to be held January 21st, 2017.  We will offer the following events:  Two-person Novice, JV, and Varsity policy debate, Novice and Varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate, Novice and Varsity public forum, extemporaneous speaking, impromptu, dramatic interpretation, humorous interpretation, duo interpretation, POI, and original oratory.  We request that you follow the Georgia Forensic Coaches Association resolution stating that, "a novice debater should be a student who is debating his/her first national high school resolution in high school tournaments."

There will be four preliminary rounds of debate and individual events.  All students will debate preliminary rounds and then proceed to break rounds depending on their records and the number of entries within each division.  Please take time to look at the tentative schedule enclosed in this packet. 

There are many hotels in the Alpharetta area.  We've included contact information for local options.  Please feel free to search for other options in the area, around North Point Mall or GA 400.  The hotels we've included are easily accessible off GA 400 at either exit 9, 10, or 11. 

Our team and parent booster clubs are working diligently to provide a quality tournament.  Our coaches'/judges' hospitality room and concession stand will include meals for vegetarians.  We hope to see you in January. 

Sincerely,

Lauren Donnenfeld, Sarah Stoffle and Adam Smiley

Forensics Coaches, Alpharetta High School                           

Tentative Schedule 

Saturday, January 21^st – POLICY, LD, PF SCHEDULE

7:00-8:00          Registration, breakfast in Cafeteria

8:30                  Round I, **forfeit at 8:50

10:30                Round II

12:30-1:30        Lunch Served in Cafeteria

1:30                  Round III

4:00                  Round IV

6:45                  Awards assembly.  Debate awards will be given out in the Cafeteria.

7:15                  Varsity Elimination Rounds if Necessary 

IE Schedule – Saturday, January 21^st

7:00 - 8:00      Registration, breakfast in Cafeteria

9:00                 Round I

10:30               Round II

11:45-12:30     Lunch served on Campus

12:30                Round III

2:00                  Round IV

3:30                  FINALS

5:30                 Awards Assembly.  Speech awards will be given out in the Auditorium.

Registration (coaches only please) will take place near the cafeteria.

Emergency telephone numbers in effect during tournament hours are 404-200-6075.

Events/Fees

**We have a limited amount of classroom space available; please register early to ensure that we have space for you and your squad!**

Eligiblity:  All entries must participate on behalf of the high school they currently attend or are districted to attend (if a middle school student).  Hybrid entries must receive approval from the tab room and the coaches from both schools.  Hybrid entries and entries that are maverick for any rounds will be eligible to compete but may not compete in elimination rounds or earn any team awards.  All students competing must be accompanied by a school approved adult chaperone. 

POLICY DEBATE:  Currently, there is no limit on the amount of teams you may enter in each policy division; however, we reserve the right to limit entries in each division as necessary.   Double entries are not permitted. 

All Divisions: two-person switch-side debate using the 8-3-5 format with 8 minutes of prep time.  We will begin power matching after round 2. 

We fully endorse the GFCA rules for the novice division, and expect that anyone competing in novice will follow these rules.  The only affirmatives that may be run are the Affs posted on the GFCA novice debate website.  The affirmatives must advocate the exact plan text included with each of these affirmatives.  On the negative, teams may run the disadvantages from the GFCA novice website.  Teams may run any topicality violation.  However, teams may not run any specification arguments, counterplans, or critiques in the novice division.  Judges should disregard any argument made in the debate round that does not conform to these rules.   Please ensure that any judges that you provide for the novice division understand these rules and expectations.  Any questions should be directed to the tournament director.

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE:  We will have a novice division and a Varsity Division.  They will both use the Varsity Topic.  There is no limit on the amount of entries allowed.  Double entries are not permitted.  We will use the NFL January/February topic.  Format will be 6-3-7-3-4-6-3 with 3 minutes of prep.

PUBLIC FORUM: We will have a novice division and a Varsity Division.  There is no limit on the number of entries. We will follow NFL rules and the January/February Public Forum topic.  Double entries are not permitted.

INDIVIDUAL EVENTS:  There is no limit on the amount of entries allowed.  Students may double enter but triple entries are not permitted.  NFL rules will be followed in all events. One note card may be used in extemporaneous and the preparation time will be 30 minutes. 

ENTRY FEES & DEADLINES:  Entry deadline is 4:00pm, Monday, January 16th.  Fees will be assessed at that time.  We encourage you to sign up early, as we have limited classroom space.

All checks should be made payable to Alpharetta High School.  If you are mailing in your check (this is not required, we are happy to take it in person at registration), please mail it to:

Alpharetta High School

c/o Adam Smiley

3595 Webb Bridge Rd.

Alpharetta, GA 30005

Please include an e-mail address where you can receive confirmation of your registration.  Please email smiley@fultonschools.org  or call in all name corrections at (404) 200-6075 before this time.

JUDGING OBLIGATIONS: While current students with more than one year of debate experience can judge in novice divisions (and we encourage schools to do so), all judges covering a varsity obligation must be out of high school.  No judge should be in any division that they would be eligible to compete in.  ANY SCHOOL FOUND TO BE USING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO COVER A VARSITY OBLIGATION WILL HAVE TO DROP THE APPROPRIATE NUMBER OF ENTRIES TO ALLOW THE TOURNAMENT TO RUN AND WILL NOT BE WELCOME AT OUR TOURNAMENT NEXT YEAR

Judge obligations extend one round past the round in which that school's team(s) were eliminated. As a courtesy to those participating in elimination rounds, anyone (guest and hired judges included) who must leave early should notify the tournament director ASAP. 

We encourage you to provide your own quality judges. Please notify us as soon as possible of your judging needs.  Please ensure that any judges provided for the novice divisions are made aware of what can and cannot be run in the novice division.  As we have separate pools for Varsity, JV and novice, novice or JV judges cannot cover the varsity division.

Safe Space:

The tournament reserves to right to disqualify any participants that are deemed to engage in behavior that undermines the ability of all competitors to feel safe at the tournament.

Accommodations

There is no official tournament hotel.  The following is a list of a variety of hotels that are close to the school.  

La Quinta Inn & Suites – Alpharetta

1350 North Point Drive, Alpharetta, GA 30022

(770) 754-7800

Hampton Inn – Alpharetta

10740 Westside Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30201

(770) 640-5511

Staybridge Suites – Alpharetta

3980 North Point Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30005

(770) 569-7200

Extended Stay America – Alpharetta

3329 Old Milton Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30005

(800) 398-7829

Extended Stay America – Alpharetta

1950 Rock Mill Road, Alpharetta, GA 30022

(770) 475-2676

Hilton Garden Inn – Northpoint

10975 Georgia Lane, Alpharetta, GA 30022

(678) 566-3900

Homewood Suites – Alpharetta

10775 Davis Drive, Alpharetta, GA 30004

(770) 998-1622

Residence Inn – Northpoint

1325 North Point Drive, Alpharetta, GA 30022

(770) 587-1151

Towneplace Suites – Alpharetta

7925 Westside Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30004

(770) 664-1300