The Topic Committee for the tournament will be the following people:

David Gomez Siu

Zach Moss

John McBlair

Sharon Yuan

Shannon Bonet

Sophie Stankus

Kimberly Fradelis

Judith Barish

----------------------------------------------

Dear Coaches and Competitors,

Berkeley High Speech and Debate is delighted to invite you to our Fourth Annual High School Parliamentary Debate Tournament on Saturday, February 22, 2020. As one of the last chances to earn points for TOC, we hope that you come and join us.

Topics, schedule updates, and other announcements during the tournament will be made through this Google Doc: https://tinyurl.com/BHSD2020. 

Please check regularly, as the schedule may change as the day progresses.

Location

Berkeley High School is located at 1980 Allston Way, Berkeley, one block from the Downtown Berkeley BART station and many bus lines.  As a gesture in the face of a federal government that denies climate change, we offer a $10 discount on entry fees for any team that arrives by public transit. If you do decide to drive, please leave extra time to find parking. The nearest parking garage is at 2061 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704.

On the day of the tournament, please use the entrance on Allston Way, near Milvia (the A Gate) to enter campus. It is the only gate that will be open. As in previous years, the judges’ room will be the school library, and student prep will take place in the cafeteria.

Format

This one-day parli tournament will offer five single-flighted prelims, breaking to “hidden” semifinals, in both Open and Novice Divisions.  (Both members of a novice team must be in their first year competing in any debate event.) Exceptions to this will be made at the discretion of the Tournament Director.

Speech times will follow NPDL rules: 7-8-8-8-4-5 with no CX or prep/flex time. POI’s will be allowed at any time during constructives. POO’s stop time and are only allowed in rebuttal speeches. 

Internet prep is allowed, and internet will be provided. Debaters may receive assistance only from their partners, and not from other debaters or coaches.  During rounds, debaters may use only handwritten materials prepared during prep time, and may use anything as a timer. 

There will be a strict 10 minute forfeit time.

Semifinals and Finals will use topic strikes.

Independent and Hybrid Entries

All entries should be registered under the name of the school they attend, if possible. Hybrids should be registered under both schools. Exceptions will require written permission from the head coach of any affected school. No independent entries are permitted from a school that is entering teams under the school’s name, absent unusual circumstances, which should be discussed with the tournament director beforehand. 

For independent entries, clubs, and hybrid teams, the burden of avoiding judging conflicts will be on the judges and competitors involved. Judges must note all conflicts in Tabroom. A common club affiliation (e.g., the judge is a coach, or parent of a student, in the same club program as one or more debaters in a round) is a conflict. The burden is on the judge and affiliated team to notify the tournament of the conflict. Failure to do so will result in a forfeit for the affiliated team.

Judges

One judge covers two teams or fraction thereof.  Judging fees are $125 per uncovered entry. Please prefer bringing experienced judges so as to allow the best feedback and judging pool for students. Help provide the best learning opportunity for students. 

Checks should be payable to Berkeley High Speech and Debate. Do not mail checks to Berkeley High School: they will lose your money. Send them to Cheryl Berg, 68 Plaza Drive, Berkeley CA 94705, or bring a check/cash to registration on the day of the tournament. If you decide to send in a check and we have not received it by the date of the tournament, you must bring an additional check on the day of that we will void upon receiving the original check.

We are initially limiting each school to seven open teams and seven novice teams.  We will be bringing teams off the waitlist on a rolling basis if we have room.

We value accessibility to the tournament. If you require a waiver for fees, we will try our best to ensure accommodation to your financial concerns. We can only do so if you contact us first, so make sure to stay in open communication with us to address these concerns if they arise.

If anybody engaging with the tournament requires ADA accessibility or any other kind of accommodation, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can make those logistical decisions necessary to ensure equal access to the tournament

 Each school/club/independent must bring a chaperone whose contact information is shown in tabroom. They are required to be present during the entirety of the duration of the tournament, and available to be contacted via the phone number and email provided on Tab. They must be present at registration, or the school/club may be dropped from the pool without refund at the discretion of the tournament director. 

Food

We will provide breakfast and lunch to judges and coaches at no cost.  Food will be sold at the tournament for competitors. Please let us know if there are specific dietary restrictions for your judges, competitors, and coaches - we are willing to accommodate all required dietary needs, but we will not be able to if they are not communicated to us before the start of the tournament. 

7:50-8:20 Registration (Library)

8:30  Judges Meeting (Library)

8:40  Round 1 Topic (Prep is in the Cafeteria)

9:00 Round 1 Starts

10:10  Round 2 Topic

10:30 Round 2 Starts

11:45 Round 3 Topic

12:05 Round 3 Starts

1:00-2:00  LUNCH

2:00  Round 4 Topic

2:20 Round 4 Starts

4:00  Round 5 Topic

4:20 Round 5 Starts

5:30 Finals Topic

5:50 Finals Begins 

Any concerns about any aspect of the tournament can also be directed to the tournament director, before, during, or after the tournament. The TD can be reached at dgomezsiu@berkeley.edu - if you email, please include the school/entry that you are representing.

Cheers,

David Gomez Siu, Tournament Director

Joel Jacobs, Tab Director

and Berkeley High Speech and Debate