Friends and Colleagues, 

I’m pleased to invite you to the 2019 Seattle Academy Invitational, this November 15-16 at the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences. This year’s tournament will feature competition in both speech and debate, and we are pleased to report our tournament will once again be recognized as a NIETOC bid tournament.

Seattle Academy is in the heart of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. In addition to a great tournament, you’ll find a variety of restaurants and fun things to do in the area. Our tournament will feature great competition and low registration fees.

We will initially have registration open for open, junior, and novice divisions in Policy, Lincoln Douglas, and Public Forum debates. Please note that it is likely that the junior divisions will be collapsed into the open divisions; however, we would like to offer junior varsity level debate if there is sufficient interest. We will have open and novice divisions in Congressional Debate, Dramatic Interpretation, Dual Interpretation, Extemporaneous, Humorous, Impromptu, Informative, Program Oral Interpretation, and Original Oratory. We will collapse divisions as necessary.

We will also offer competition in one additional speech event: Original Performance. Original Performance is an event which allows students to present fiction, both prose and poetry, of their own creation. Competition in the event is free (though you must still supply judging).

If you have questions about the tournament, please contact Brad Thew at bthew@seattleacademy.org. The tournament website, in addition to tournament guidelines, can be found at https://www.tabroom.com/index/tourn/index.mhtml?tourn_id=13689. The full invitation can be found here.

As a final note, if registration expenses are prohibitive to your team’s attendance at this tournament, please let me know. Debate is an activity for everybody, and we want to alleviate financial obstacles if possible. We can work together to make this happen!


Thank you for all you do, and have a great season!


Brad Thew

Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences
Rhetoric Department Chair
Debate Coach
WSFA Secretary