Stratford Schools Novice Invitational

January 2019

Welcome to the second annual Stratford Schools Novice Tournament! We are excited to be hosting the event in January this year, and to be hosting our first two-day event! This page is still being developed, so check back later for more rules and information about the tournament as we approach Thanksgiving!

This will be a speech & debate tournament. We will have a full day of preliminary rounds for both speech and debate, ending with an elimination round. The following day will be finals. We will do at least a quarter, semi, and final, but may expand to octo if we have enough entrants.

High school freshman will be allowed if they have no prior debate experience, all middle school students welcome.

Fees will be $20/student (so $40 for one PF team). Please make checks out to "Stratford Schools." Lunch will be provided both days, and there will be snacks and drinks available for purchase with cash at the event.

Events

Due to complications with the schedule because of the high number of entrants, double-entry will not be possible for any events. We will try to make a schedule to allow for double entry in the future.

Debate

For Novice Debate, we will have both Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas formats.

Speech

For Novice Speech, we will have Duo Interp, Humorous Interp, Dramatic Interp, and Original Oratory formats. We will, however, be modifying the format rules to accommodate the younger age group that will be competing.

Logistics

This tournament will be all digital. Rounds will be announced via e-mail and SMS, ballots will be tabulated digitally. Thus, it is imperative that students and judges have some way to access digital information. Students and judges should also register their e-mail and phone number (if applicable) with their tabroom account so that information gets pushed out in a timely fashion.

Judges should bring a tablet or laptop in order to make tabulating ballots easier and quicker, in addition to their phones. Phones will work for filling out ballots, but they are not ideal.