Greetings,

You have been hand-selected and formally invited to participate in the 4^th Strake Jesuit College Preparatory Public Forum Round Robin. Since 2012, Strake Jesuit’s partnership with Texas Debate Collective has set the standard in judging and hospitality for TOC-qualifying Lincoln Douglas debate tournaments and round robins. We are excited to continue our unparalleled judging and competition in 2020, despite the many challenges we are facing today.

Historically, the Strake Jesuit PF round robin has featured some of the greatest talents nationwide, including the 2018 Harvard champions, the 2017 Glenbrooks champions, the 2017 Texas champions, the 2020 TFA champions, the 2020 Emory champions, the 2019 Bronx champions, the 2019 Gold TOC semifinalists, the 2016 University of Florida semifinalists, TFA state elims participants from 2016 to 2020, and several teams who have cleared at the Gold TOC. Overall, our previous round robin competitors combined to have earned dozens of bids over their illustrious careers, further establishing our history of excellent competition.

This year, we are excited to announce that we will introduce a new format to the round robin that no tournament has seen before, continuing our history of tournament innovation. We will be using the NCAA conference tournament format with the top four teams from each pod advancing to elims. The top seeds will receive a double-bye, the second seeds will receive a bye, and the other advancing teams will debate the first elim. Our goal is to host a tournament experience unique to Strake Jesuit, while adding a holiday twist to the debate season.

The Strake Jesuit Public Forum Round Robin will start on Saturday, December 12^th and conclude on Sunday, December 13^th. Each round will have two judges contracted from either the TDC LD pool or our experienced PF pool and we will be using the January 2021 NSDA Public Forum topic.  The entry fee is $150 per team, and all proceeds will be donated to the Texas Debate Collective, a non-profit debate camp created to allow low-income students to access the highest levels of competitive debate.  We also kindly ask that you provide one experienced judge.  Thanks to the generosity of Strake Jesuit’s administration and debate team booster club, we are pleased to provide all competitors generous gifts for participating in our round robin and brand-new iPad Pros to our tournament champions.

Key Notes:

1. Our tournament will be hosted online

2. One judge is required per school

3. Schools can buyout each judging obligation for $150

4. Our tournament will be held December 12th to 13th, 2020

5. This is not the page for our LD tournament - we will have a separate tournament listing

6. Fees can be collected via online portal (see: 'Online Payment')

7. We will be using the January 2021 NSDA PF topic

8. We will be using the NCAA Conference Tournament Format (see 'PFRR Format')

Updates:

1. Nov 15th: We will be using the January 2021 NSDA PF topic

2. Nov 16th: Our new online payment portal is currently up

3. Nov 16th: Please note that entry fees and judge entries (or judge buyouts for $150) must be completed by Dec 5th

4. Dec 5th: The judge entry/buyout deadline is 12/8. We will give a warning to all schools on that day. Late registrants will be assessed a $150 fee.

5. Dec 5th: We will be using NSDA Campus for our online tournament

Please do not hesitate to ask any questions.

Merry Christmas!

Sincerely,

Jerry Crist - Head Debate Coach

R.J. Shah - Tournament Director