Due to a campus closure, THIS TOURNAMENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED. We hope to host it next year.

Welcome to the First Newman Middle School Speech and Debate Tournament!

Newman has a long history of competitive excellence in speech and debate. We have also hosted many tournaments over the years, including our annual invitational in December for high school students (the largest speech and debate tournament in Louisiana). We offer 3 rounds of speech events (no elims) and 4 rounds of debate events (no elims).

We invite Middle School students to our campus for a celebration of speech and debate activities, for the opportunity for individual growth, and for a healthy, spirited competition. We also invite high school students to serve as judges. They must have competed in high school for at least one full year, but we leave it in the hands of the coaches to determine if the judges representing your school will do so with honesty, kindness, respect, and responsibility.

The tournament will not provide any hired judging, so each school must bring the required number of judges to fulfill your school's obligation.

We will use electronic balloting and electronic postings in all events. All judges need a tabroom account. All judges should bring a device (e.g., tablet or laptop) to enter decisions/comments. All judges are expected to provide meaningful feedback. All competitors should have a tabroom account so they may receive their room assignments via text/email.

If you are traveling to New Orleans, we have not arranged for specific hotel blocks, but we recommend hotels in Metairie near the Galleria (Causeway Blvd and Interstate 10) or in New Orleans's Garden District along St Charles Ave.

The cost to attend is $5 per person per event. We will have snacks and drinks during the day, and lunch will be available at the appropriate time.

Events offered:
Debate - LD, PF, CX
Speech - Dec, Imp, Ext, OO, Duo, DI, HI, Prose, Poetry
Note: Prose and Poetry are two separate events. Students may enter both.
If there is a demand for additional events to offer, please let us know.

Entry restrictions:
Students may enter up to three events (three speech OR two speech plus one debate). Policy Debate is an exception - if entered in policy debate, they may not enter any other event. This is because we plan on single flighting LD and PF which allows cross-entry with speech.

Please submit your entry by Thursday, April 2 by 3 pm. Entry fees are frozen at that time. Any drops after Friday, April 3, will result in loss of entry fee plus a penalty of $5 per person per event.

Please let us know if you have any questions about the tournament.

Greg Malis and Alma Nicholson
Tournament Co-directors