Friends and Colleagues,

I’m pleased to invite you to the Raisbeck Aviation High School Invitational, this January 22-23, 2021, hosted digitally on NSDA Campus and Tabroom.com. This year’s tournament will feature competition in both speech and debate. We are excited that our tournament has been recognized as both a NIETOC and TOC Speech qualifier this season.

We will initially have registration open for open, junior, and novice divisions in Lincoln Douglas and Public Forum, and Open Congressional Debate. In the event of low numbers, we will combine novice with junior divisions. We will have open divisions in Dramatic Interpretation, Dual Interpretation, Extemporaneous, Humorous, Impromptu, Informative, Program Oral Interpretation, Original Oratory, Editorial Commentary, Oral Interpretation, and Original Performance.

Some key details:

-Most speech will be asynchronous. Recordings will be submitted well ahead of the traditional Friday start of the tournament, so please consult the schedule to prepare. Please note that Extemp and Impromptu are live.

-Speech judges will receive pre-recorded preliminary ballots Thursday night, and they must be returned Friday at 8:00 PM. Speech judges must also be available to adjudicate finals on Saturday. Please be intentional in entering your judge time conflicts.

-Debate will be synchronous, using NSDA Campus on Friday and Saturday. 

This year, given the electronic tournament format, we will have an ombudsperson available for competitors and coaches alike during the course of the tournament. We believe that debate should be a safe and fair space for all participants, and we will do our best to make this happen. Ombudsperson contact info will be prominently featured on the Tabroom page.

If you have questions about the tournament, please contact Brad Thew at brad.thew@highlineschools.org. The tournament website can be found at aviation.tabroom.com. Please note that due to the changing landscape, changes to procedures may be necessitated. Please review the rules in advance. Our complete tournament invitation is found at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZFjux0u3GSgimxXQaIM6ZRQyml0ZH9Q1Etva3piR2YU/edit#heading=h.58pycca3nthc

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