Hoover High School
presents
The Buc Classic
Speech and Debate Tournament

1000 Buccaneer Drive * Hoover, AL 35244

Dear Colleagues: 

You and your team are cordially invited to the 2019 Hoover Buc Classic hosted by Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama, on October 25-26, 2019. We aim to please with our outstanding facilities, southern hospitality, experienced tabulation staff, and high caliber judging pool. Please read the information below and follow the directions carefully to ensure a smoothly run tournament.   Do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Hoover for the Buc Classic!

Brad Coltrane, Director of Forensics

bcoltrane@hoover.k12.al.us

GENERAL INFORMATION

ENTRY PROCEDURE

The entry deadline and drop deadline is Tuesday, October 22 at 6 PM. Drops after this date will be assessed a fee.  

JUDGING RESPONSIBILITIES

Every school must provide the first judge for each category entered.

No half judges may be hired.

PF and LD - Each school should provide 1 judge for every 3 entries.

IE - Each school should provide 1 judge for every 5 entries.

The school judges must be available for all preliminary rounds and at least one round past the point that your school has been eliminated from competition. For example, if your team loses in a semifinal round, your judges must be present for the finals. Judges may not switch ballots or judging assignments without consulting the tab room. 

HIRED JUDGES

We have a very limited number of judges for hire, and they will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis with out-of-town schools given first preference. We would hate to deny anyone the opportunity to compete because of judging requirements. Therefore, hire judges early. You may not hire judges at registration. Each school should make every effort to find judges rather than pay the fee.  I would much rather have the judges than the money.  No varsity student judges are permissible except for Novice Divisions.

AWARDS

We will continue the tradition that all students making elimination rounds will receive recognition. Speaker awards will also be given in each debate event. We will award the top 6 in each speech event. A sweepstakes winner for debate events and for individual events will be chosen separately. The overall sweepstakes winner will receive the Sweepstakes Award. 

FEES

General School Fee      $25 (paid by all schools)

L-D Debate                   $15 per entry

Public Forum Debate    $30 per team

Individual Events             $15 per entry

Hired judges -            $150 PF and LD, $100 IE's 

All checks should be made payable to Hoover High School.

FOOD

Dinner on Friday night, breakfast on Saturday morning, and lunch on Saturday will be available for purchase from concession stands.  Students should bring cash to pay for meals and concessions. We ask that you respect our building and fundraising efforts by not bringing outside food into the school. A judges/coaches’ lounge with refreshments will be available throughout the tournament.

*All competitors should remain in the building on Friday and Saturday; we will tighten the schedule if possible.  Competitors should report to the school cafeteria between rounds.

*Please do now allow competitors to wander the halls between rounds. We are using all available rooms and hope to show our competitors respect by keeping the integrity to the rounds in session.

Topics

Varsity AND Novice Lincoln-Douglas – The NSDA topic for September/October 2019 will be used: 

Resolved: In the United States, colleges and universities ought not consider standardized tests in undergraduate admissions decisions.

Public Forum – The NSDA topic for September/October 2019 will be used:

Resolved: The European Union should join the Belt and Road Initiative

Extemp will alternate domestic and foreign, starting with domestic. This means finals will be foreign.

Classifications

Novice – a student in his/her first year of debate or a student who has competed in no more than ten rounds prior to this school year. In team debate, both students must meet this requirement. Anyone found in violation of this will be disqualified immediately, and the school will not be eligible for sweepstakes awards.

Entries and Divisions

No double entries in debate allowed. No double entries in Debate and Events allowed. 

Novice divisions will be held for LD but not for PF. Our hope is to have a larger pool for PF to increase competition. If novice divisions do not have sufficient competitors, they will be combined with varsity divisions to create larger pools.

Event Information

We will use all NSDA rules for all events.