Chesapeake District Qualifier

for the 2019 National Tournament

Chesapeake District Newsletter #5 (2/17)

NATIONAL SPEECH & DEBATE ASSOCIATION / CHESAPEAKE DISTRICT NEWSLETTER #5

2/17/2019

Dear colleagues,

Registration for the Chesapeake District Tournament, which will take place on Sunday February 24^th at Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson, is currently open and will close 8:00 PM on THURSDAY.  Registration fees will also freeze at this time.  Thirteen schools are registered so far, and we hope that you and your students are able to join us!

CONGRESS LEGISLATION:  Congress legislation is now uploaded to the tournament web page:  http://chesapeake.tabroom.com.  Look for the green box marked “congress legislation” under “invite and packets”.

ENTRIES:  All eligible students from NSDA member schools are welcome to compete at the District tournament, INCLUDING students that are not able to attend NSDA Nationals in June.  If a student qualifies and is unable to attend, the qualification will pass to the next student in line.  The number of qualifiers we can bring to nationals is dependent on the number of entries in each event, so it is helpful for schools to bring as many entries as permitted. 

CRITIQUE SHEETS:  Since the committee wishes to stress the educational value of the activity, judges will fill out critique sheets for all students in all events!

REGISTRATION FEES DUE AT THE TOURNAMENT:  All registration fees MUST be paid at registration the morning of February 24th.  Any outstanding balance that your school has with NSDA also needs to be paid at this time.  Checks should be made payable to “Chesapeake NSDA District”.  The NSDA leaves no room for late payments … please plan ahead!  If your school does not have a check prepared in advance, you will need to write a personal check and get reimbursed by your school.  We can not include any unpaid schools on schematics or the NSDA will disqualify our results!

WEATHER PLANNING:  Forecasts are calling for wintry weather in the area on Wednesday and Thursday.  Please be sure to take whatever steps are needed to ensure that you have the information to complete registration by the Thursday 8 PM deadline, and that your students have the relevant information in advance of potential school cancellations.  We will continue to monitor forecasts, but with Friday and Saturday expected to be in the 40’s and Sunday potentially in the 50’s, the tournament will proceed as planned. 

RULES:  As previously announced, debate will follow the traditional double-elimination method to determine the qualifiers.  Speech will be using the NSDA pilot rules:  there will be three preliminary rounds in all events, and if there are more than seven entries in a category, a fourth and final round of at least four entries will be held.  Congress will be using the NSDA pilot rules:  we will hold two rounds, with the qualifiers being determined by ranks from the scorers and parliamentarian.  We will NOT be using the pilot internet rules.  Connectivity during rounds and during extemp prep remains off-limits.  For general rules of the tournament and for debate rules visit https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/High-School-Unified-Manual-2018-2019.pdf and for speech and congress rules visit https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/District-Tournament-Pilot-Manual-2018-2019.pdf

We look forward to a great day of competition and can’t wait to see you there!

Sincerely,

Charles Donovan, on behalf of the district committee

Monty Crawford

Gavin Mease

Steven Sprouse