Please use the following Live Docs for important information regarding procedures and information for the weekend:

LD/PF 

CX

IE's

Worlds School Debate

Congressional Debate

Moving forward please direct all communication to the Newman Invitational Help Desk: newmaninvitational@gmail.com 

For event specific inquiries or assistance please use the following:

LD Help Desk: newmaninvitational+ldhelp@gmail.com

PF Help Desk: newmaninvitational+pfhelp@gmail.com 

Policy Help Desk: newmaninvitational+cxhelp@gmail.com 

I.E. Help Desk: newmaninvitational+iehelp@gmail.com

Worlds School Help: newmaninvitational+worldshelp@gmail.com

Congressional Debate Help: newmaninvitational+congresshelp@gmail.com 

You and your students are cordially invited to attend the 42nd Newman Invitational. We provide a unique and diverse competitive experience. Last year, we attracted over 70 schools from 12 different states. Join us this year for a wonderful celebration of 42 years of forensics excellence.

We will hold a virtual tournament this year. Our video platform will be NSDA Campus. WE ARE PLANNING FOR ALL EVENTS TO BE SYNCHRONOUS.

Update as of Nov 9: Newman Invitational will NOT offer Duo. However, Duo teams may be interested in competing at Dowling Catholic Paradigm. That tournament takes place on the same weekend and will offer Duo as an asynchronous event (all other events at The Paradigm will be synchronous). The Paradigm is currently accepting entries through their tabroom site (which is a separate tournament site from this tournament). Schools may be interesting in competing in individual speech events at Newman while also submitting a pre-recorded Duo Interpretation piece at Dowling Catholic.

We anticipate a larger field in all events. However, we are committed to remaining true to the historical character of the tournament. Therefore, we will implement the following measures:

A. All entries are waitlisted. We will move entries off the waitlist and into the tournament based on the following factors: 1. Has your school attended the Newman Invitational in the past? 2. Is your school in the geographic region traditionally represented at the tournament (Southeastern US and Southwestern US). Schools that do not meet either of those characteristics may still be admitted, but priority will be given to those who meet at least one of the two listed factors. Schools who fit in either of these two categories must request entries (with names or with TBAs) by October 15 in order to be given priority.

B. Field caps in all events. Debate events will be capped at 120 entries (with a maximum of 8 entries per school). Speech events will be capped at 100 entries (with a maximum of 8 entries per school). If coaches wish to exceed those caps, they must contact us and request additional entries.

C. We may coordinate with our friends at the Dowling Paradigm, which is held on the same weekend, by (1) merging the debate judge pools to create more diversity (but not combining the fields into a single event) and (2) combining speech events that are TOC qualifiers in order to increase the number of bids to the TOC in those events.

D. All schools must complete the School Verification Form. See details by clicking on the yellow button for School Verification Form on the right.

We are pleased to announce that we are a qualifying tournament for UK's TOC in all twelve events they host. Students advancing to the designated place will earn one bid to the 2021 National Tournament of Champions hosted by the University of Kentucky.

We plan to offer 6 preliminary rounds of debate in novice and varsity divisions of Policy, LD, and PF. We plan to offer 4 preliminary rounds of World Schools Debate. We also offer 3 two-hour preliminary sessions in Congress. Additionally, we offer 4 preliminary rounds in all Speech events; however, students will not be able to cross-enter debate and speech events. Speech competitors can enter up to 3 events within the speech category, but no triple entry within a pattern. Our event schedule in a virtual tournament is significantly different than in a physical tournament. Please consult the schedule in the appropriate divisions at the right.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT PF:  There will be no "coin flip" in preliminary rounds. The tabulation software determines sides, guaranteeing best possible balance between "pro" and "con" sides in the prelims. The pro side always speaks first. In the elims, the teams flip for sides (unless they met previously in the prelims), but the pro side still always speaks first.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT WSD: We will permit hybrid teams (where team members do not attend the same school). However, all team members must attend schools in the same geographic region, defined by NSDA Districts. Details are specified on the Entry Rules page.

We will tabulate all events on tabroom.com. All postings will be available online and emails/texts will be blasted. All contestants must have a linked tabroom account in order to access competition rooms. All judges must have a linked tabroom.com account in order to access competition rooms and electronic ballots. They must have devices to complete online ballots and watch/listen to rounds.

Summary of events and TOC qualification status

*semis bid for the Silver division and finals bid for the Gold division

If you have any questions about the tournament, please do not hesitate to ask.

Thank you,

Christopher Vincent
Tournament Director

Greg Malis and Alma Nicholson
Associate Tournament Directors