WHAT IS THE GIRLS' INVITATIONAL?

How many tournaments have you been to where you're the only girl in the round? One of the few at the tournament? How many times have you been to a tournament and fewer than a third of the breaking teams comprise any person of your gender at all? How many times have you received a ballot that criticized your clothes instead of your arguments? Do you have women or other girls you can look up to in debate? Do you feel like you are knocked down in speaker points for the same style of debate that wins extra points for boys?

Well, this tournament is for you.

We invite you to join us through Tabroom and NSDA Campus on 12/5 to experience a tournament that is completely female centered -- all competitors, judges, and volunteers will be women. The winners? Women. The top speakers? Women. The judges? Women. Really.

We're here to connect female-identifying competitors in debate to create a space where we can share and problem solve about issues that affect them at all levels of debate and beyond. 

We're looking to help foster mentorship relationships especially for girls who don't have adult women mentors to look to for advice. We want to connect high school and middle school girls with college student and adult mentors who can help them navigate the debate world.

It's more than a tournament, The Girls' Invitational is part of a movement.

*For our purposes, all femme/female identifying individuals, and those that experience marginalization because of their gender in debate, are welcome. Elsewhere where you see "girls" we are referring to all those identities for simplicity sake. Please see FAQ for more information.

WHAT EVENTS ARE OFFERED?

We are offering asynchronous rounds of Interpretive and Platform events (triple entry allowed), along with synchronous rounds of Parli, PF, and LD (only single entry in this pattern). Synchronous rounds of debate will run between panel discussions and interactive Zoom meetings moderated by women leaders and designed to empower and educate our registrants.

Asynchronous videos can be submitted to this link: https://forms.gle/Kq63F527YQDgLTaQA

Videos are due by Thursday 12/03 at 9:00PM.

WHAT ARE THE FEES?

We have kept our costs low to encourage registration!

School fee - $10.

Speech events and Lincoln Douglas - $10/entry.

Parli and PF - $20/entry. (entry = two partners)

Please check out our Rationale and FAQ for more info on our motivation for this tournament and our expectations for those who attend, as well as frequently asked questions.

The final schedule for judges and competitors can be found on our Schedule tab.