If you have a problem, use the tournament text-line or email the tournament at the addresses below:

Tournament text-line:  562-277-1606 (DO NOT CALL, It will not be answered)

Tournament email:     JackHoweMemorial@gmail.com

Welcome to the 28th Annual VIRTUAL Jack Howe Memorial Tournament!

 Friends and Colleagues,

We hope that everyone has been keeping safe and healthy during the COVID-19 era. The faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the California State University, Long Beach would like to cordially invite you to attend the 28th** Annual Jack Howe Memorial, hosted by the CSU LB “Beach Forensics” Program on Saturday, September 19–Monday September 21, 2020.  Please note that the 21st is for policy and TOC LD only. As in past years, we will offer Parliamentary, Policy, Public Forum, Congressional, World School debate, and L-D Debate in addition to the TOC/ NIETOC Individual Events. We are also pleased to announce that we are offering qualifying bids to the Tournament of Champions in Policy, LD, Speech, and Public Forum debate! We also have NIETOC bids for Speech events that apply. Thank you for all of the returning schools and welcome to all of the newcomers! GO BEACH!

All speech and debate rounds will be SYNCHRONOUS on the Campus Platform.

All detailed tournament information can be accessed using the links on the right. Judges/Staff who are looking to get hired for the tournament see the tabs to the right. All other forms needed for ALL participants are listed as well. 

Bid List:  

CHANGES for 2020:

1. We have LOWERED prices and eliminated the institution fees/private institution fees for 2020 until we are in person again.

2. ENTRY CAP: In each division, schools will immediately be able to add 3 entries and the rest will be wait-listed until judges are entered and ALL TBAs are cleared, but this will not happen immediately.

3.  Judges should be entered in only one pool for preliminary rounds. A judge in one pool cannot judge in another pool on Saturday.

4. Speech will ONLY have these events:

Events that we will run: DI, HI, OO, Info, POI, Extemp, Impromptu, OI (Declamation)

Events that will not run: 

“DUO”

No Original Advocacy

No OPP

No Prose/Poetry (Oral Interpretation of Literature)

5.  Congress will only offer an open division and will not offer a separate PO competition.

6.  JV policy      will only be offered as long as we are online.

7.  If you are registering with a UDL, please notify the tournament with school names and participants in ONE document.

NOTE: Duo Interpretation - After long deliberation and seeking other options, the Directors of Forensics here at CSULB have decided to not hold Duo Interpretation as an event this year at the Jack Howe. Given the inherent safety concerns of holding the event, we are making the choice to promote safety and wellness of our students and our community. While every other event we offer can be held in a digital form, Duo is just not feasible.

DOUBLE ENTRY POLICY: The following policies are in place for double entries this year:

1.  Entries are not allowed to double enter two limited prep events (e.g., Impromptu, Parliamentary Debate, or Extemporaneous Speaking).

2.  Entries are not allowed to double enter in Congress and Extemporaneous Speaking.

3.  Entries in PF, Parliamentary Debate, California LD, and Congress may only double enter in one speech event.

4.  Entries in TOC LD and Policy debate may not double enter in any event.

5.  Speech-only entries may double enter in up to two speech events.

6.  Worlds is Sunday only, but you can change the team make-up if persons did not advance.

Note: because of Tabroom.com settings, we cannot program the function of debate entries to only be allowed to be in one speech event. Limiting screen time for students and allowing for students to have a break during rounds is important for student learning and success. Coaches, please make sure your students adhere to the double-entry policy set above. Entries may be dropped at any time during the tournament weekend if they are found to not adhere to the tournament double-entry policy.

NOVICE POLICY (entries not the division):  

1. First year competing overall and have not finished 10th grade, or

2. Second year competing, has not won the event they are competing in, and has not finished 9th grade.

JUDGE OBLIGATION POLICY: Judges in debate are obligated to stay and judge the first elimination round on Sunday OR one round past any round in which their students are actively competing, whichever is later​. ​Judges in TOC LD and Policy who have entries that competed in the last elimination round on Sunday Night are obligated for the first elimination round on Monday Morning.

Speech and Congress judges are obligated for all rounds at the tournament.

New this year: Congress judges are separate from speech judges. Please provide one judge per five entries (with a max of three judges). Please rate each judge on how well they would serve as a parliamentarian, and please provide one capable parliamentarian if you are brining two or three judges.

Furthermore, TOC LD and Policy will now occur over three days (e.g., Saturday, 9/19 to Monday, 9/21). Judges in these events are obligated for all three days at the tournament if their program has entries competing on that day.

OTHER POLICIES:

1. ALL Chaperone and Liability forms must be filled out at registration. Chaperone forms are for all folks that are above the age of 18 that come along with your group. Liability forms are for every single individual, regardless of age, in your group. A link to the forms can be found on the Right side of this page. Please turn these forms in before the tournament by scanning them into one document or on the night of registration. Send them to Devenc325@gmail.com. This will make the registration process go faster. 

2. STRICTLY ENFORCED - NO PERSONAL CHECKS ACCEPTED! Given the COVID-19 Era, we strongly PREFER electronic payments, However, if it is impossible to pay online we can provide an address to send the money order, cashier’s check, or institution check. DO NOT send cash by mail. DO NOT send checks to the school due to the lack of staff to pick them up during COVID-19. E-payments by credit card will have a 2.75 % service charge. The link to pay will be available soon. All payments (including fines accrued during the tournament) must be paid in full before the elimination rounds on Sunday. PLEASE make sure to do this to prevent any disqualifications.

(HIGHLY PREFERRED) PAY ONLINE HERE: Jack Howe Online Payment

3.  Early Registration/Registration will be held on Friday on ZOOM: More details will be provided the week of the tournament.

4.  ALL people who intend on participating (competitors and judges) MUST have a TABROOM.COM account.

5.  All judges that need to have training should watch: NSDA Judge training

If you have further questions, we will have a Zoom based question room assigned.

DOFs: It is your responsibility to train judges for this and every tournament. Especially with the issues relating to Covid-19, we are trusting you to bring qualified adults who can judge and create a safe environment for our students. Please make sure they watch the judge training from NSDA and ask questions to the Zoom-based Question room

6. If a judge or competitor has not shown up within 5 minutes please alert the tournament via the helpline number/Campus mechanism so that we can route that information to the tab room. PLEASE make sure that all your debaters and teams know this number to report issues. That number is: TBA

7. This year we will adapt the CHSSA Harassment and Discrimination Policy with some specific additions.

Harassment and Discrimination Policy

The CSU Long Beach is committed to providing its participants, judges, coaches, and members the opportunity to pursue excellence in their endeavors. This opportunity can exist only when each member of our community is assured an atmosphere of mutual respect. CSULB is committed to maintaining an environment that is free from all forms of harassment and discrimination. Accordingly, all forms of harassment and discrimination are prohibited, whether committed by participants, judges, coaches, or observers. CSULB is committed to the enforcement of this policy. Individuals who are found to have violated this policy will be subject to the full range of sanctions, up to and including removal from the tournament premises and prosecution by authorities. Any individual or group of individuals who believes they have been a victim of harassment and/or discrimination should report it to the Help Desk or appropriate authority immediately.

The addition and specificity that we add to what all forms of harassment and discrimination includes but not limited to online bullying and harassment on social media of ALL kinds or within a round, zoom bombing, use of racial, ethnic, ableist, religious, gendered, and sexual slurs, and other inappropriate comments or “advancements” from or to ANY participant. All judges’ web cameras should ALWAYS be at eye level and on while judging. If any violations to these additions occur, the violator will be asked to no longer judge or be disqualified. I take this very seriously DO NOT take your chances. 

**While the Jack Howe is using the CHSSA Harassment and Discrimination Policy, CHSSA is not affiliated with this tournament. We appreciate the hard work that went into forming and implementing this policy**

We will be bringing back the following features of the Jack Howe:

Sweepstakes calculation. We will use a percentile system to calculate the top debate program and the top IE program; we will use an "equalization" system to determine the top overall school. This new sweepstakes calculation system is a result of persistent errors in calculation that have resulted from the system we have used to calculate sweepstakes in the past.

Over $5,000 in scholarships to students who win first place in a senior division event. Each top-place finisher will receive a renewable $500 scholarship to attend CSULB (upon acceptance) and compete on our nationally ranked forensics team, where they will be required to compete for a year. This scholarship is only renewable based on grades, competition, work ethic, and need.  

For general tournament inquiries, please email Deven Cooper (DevenC325@gmail.com); for tournament registration, fees, and administration, please email longbeachforensics@gmail.com. However, you should include both emails on your inquiry to get a faster response.

Please keep in mind that wearing masks are not a political statement. WEAR ONE PLEASE 

All our best,

Directors of Forensics of CSU Long Beach