2021 WHSAA STATE FORENSICS TOURNAMENT
2021 — Online, WY/US
Welcome to the 2021 Wyoming High School Forensics Association State Tournament!
As we move through the tournament, here are some helpful links:
Helpdesk Link: https://nwc.zoom.us/j/7698775671
Helpdesk includes Judge Standby, questions and concerns, and Ballot Verification, when appropriate.
Ballot Verification :
https://nwc.zoom.us/j/92236511923?pwd=OHlOMUR1d2t5YWFmaEtRSTg4VkFFUT09#success
Extemp draw and prep: https://nwc.zoom.us/j/97122696793?pwd=elhpWHNxTjVJTTRsRm1mZTVGMDdwUT09
Duet Links: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e_dmeL2lQHchfp8wgEVJXL7YOP75rjVlxOLTvI33UZc/edit?usp=sharing
Super Congress Dockett: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F_AJvbJPTWETf3JWJZNedR4IlrL7t4y_/view?usp=sharing
Congress Docket for preliminary Student congress rounds.
WYOMING HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATION
6571 EAST 2ND STREET
CASPER, WYOMING 82609
PHONE 307-577-0614 FAX 307-577-0637
E-MAIL-drodriguez@whsaa.org
2021 WHSAA STATE FORENSICS TOURNAMENT
Online
INTRODUCTION, PHONE NUMBERS, RULES
The Wyoming State High School Forensics Tournament will be held online on March 11,12,13 2021. This bulletin contains information and forms pertinent to the State meet. If, after reviewing this data, you have questions concerning any aspect of the 2021 State Forensics Tournament, please do not hesitate to call the WHSAA office in Casper at 307-577-0614 or Jeannie Hunt at 307-254-1290. Jeanie is serving as State Tournament Director this year. Please review the latest version of the State Tournament Rules in the WHSAA Handbook completely and carefully. If after reviewing the rules you have any questions, please call Londe Gagnon [President, Wyoming High School Speech Association] at 307-699-0537 or at lgagnon@tcsd.org. Call the WHSAA office if you need a copy of the State Tournament Rules or print it off the WHSAA homepage under handbook (www.whsaa.org).
Please note that some rules have been adjusted due to the online format. The justification for these changes can be found on page 93 of the WHSAA handbook: Under exceptionally extraordinary circumstances, the Tournament Committee has the authority to modify the rules governing the operation of the State Tournament. The exercise of such authority shall be communicated to all coaches as soon as possible.
We will note the changes in this document for your clarification. Please read this invite carefully.
REGISTRATION
Registration will be held from 12pm-2pm p.m., Thursday, March 11 via Zoom and tabroom.com Please review the official tournament schedule [enclosed] carefully and make your plans to register prior to 2 p.m. on Thursday. At registration, your final entries will be verified. Name changes and substitutions will be permitted at registration, but no additional entries are allowed at registration. Any "drops" that occur at registration will be charged the appropriate cancellation fee as provided for in the State Tournament Rules:
"Each cancellation at registration (not substitutions) will cost the infringing school $20 for each student dropped and $50 in the case of each debate team (PF and cross-x or L-D) entry. This penalty can be avoided by calling the Tournament Director at (307) 254-1290 before 11:00 a.m. on Thursday before the tournament begins."
ENTRY FEES
The State Tournament fee schedule/registration form is enclosed in this bulletin. With the fee schedule/registration form, please send a school voucher for your entry fees to the WHSAA Office, 6571 East 2nd Street, Casper, WY 82609. There is no refund for students who subsequently do not attend the meet. The entry fee deadline is Tuesday, March 9, 2020.
ENTRY LIMITATIONS
A student is limited to two events at the State Tournament, and may not enter two events scheduled at the same time. A high school is limited to a total of 20 student entry slots. Each student entered in any event slot constitutes an entry. All team events (a duet team, a public forum team, a cross-examination team) counts as one entry. Schools are allowed to distribute those 20 entry slots as they wish; there is no limit per event.
ENTRY FORMS: IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW TO INSURE PROPER ENTRY INTO THE TOURNAMENT
Enclosed in this bulletin is the tournament information. Tournament entry will be done electronically. Most, BUT NOT ALL material will be submitted through the Tabroom.com Website. Please make sure that you complete all of the necessary information at that site. Entry procedures are listed below.
Student Participants, Event Entry, Director of Forensics, and Accompanying Judge information will all be submitted on the Tabroom Website:
Student Congress Bills need to be added to the Wyoming Database by Fri 2/26/21
Congress Student placements should be emailed to the tournament director by Fri 2/26/21, at jeannie.hunt@nwc.edu
The dockets will be released on Monday March 1, 2021
Fees sheets and Eligibility forms should be scanned and sent to the WHSAA: Please list the names of those students you are entering in the State Tournament and have their eligibility certified by your principal. Please print or type students’ names -- first and last names. This is due by Tuesday March 9, 2021
It is important that your entry forms and related materials be submitted as outlined in this bulletin. High School coaches are expected to be extremely conscientious in regard to the State Tournament entry forms and the additional information, which they are required to submit. It is the coaches’ responsibility to ensure the accuracy of their school's entry in the State Tournament.
DEADLINES FOR ENTRIES
Online entry deadline is Sunday March 7. The Tournament Director must have your entries by this date in order to determine the number of panels and judges needed for the State Tournament. As stipulated in the State Tournament Rules, it is the responsibility of each school’s Director of Forensics to adhere to the entry deadline.
In the event that entries are received from schools which are received after the entry deadline, but before one week prior to the State Tournament, then those schools shall not be eligible for Sweepstakes awards. In past years, this sanction has applied to several schools. In the event that entries are received from schools within one week prior to the State Tournament, those schools shall not be permitted to enter or participate in the State Tournament.
After the expiration of the entry deadline, schools that are entered in the State Meet will be allowed to change, correct, update, or otherwise modify their State Tournament entry form through the Tabroom Website. Any changes in entry can be made until Tuesday March 9, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. After Wednesday evening and through Thursday registration, only name changes or substitutions will be allowed. Those should be made directly with the Tournament Director by phone, or in writing, through e-mail. No additional entries will be permitted during this time-frame or at registration. It is the responsibility of the high school coach to update any corresponding paperwork and additional fee assessment, based on changes made after the entry deadline, with the Wyoming High School Activities Association. Drops in entries are not deducted from the initial entry fee assessment.
RULES
The WHSAA State Forensics Tournament follows the rules available at www.whsaa.org. Additionally, recent changes to the rules, passed by the Wyoming High School Forensics Association, will be in effect. Londe Gagnon, President of the WHSFA, will email these revisions to all coaches by the end of February. If you do not receive this email with the attached document of rule revisions, you should contact Londe at lgagnon@tcsd.org to obtain your copy of the rules that will be in effect at this year's tournament.
EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING TOPICS
All extemporaneous questions should be taken from the past three months of NFHS and NSDA extemporaneous practice topics.
CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE
This is a slight departure from past rules about legislation submission. (refer to extraordinary circumstance clause)
Each participant entered in Congressional Debate may submit one Bill or Resolution (only one bill or resolution). These need to be uploaded to the Wyoming database no later than 02/26/21. The primary docket will be released on 3/1/21 based on the contestants entered in the tournament on that date. Schools may access those bills for each of their students through the Website
Bills or resolutions which are not submitted with the official entry forms and which are, therefore "late" (i.e. submitted later than the entry deadline of February 26, 2021), will not be accepted for distribution by the Tournament Director. "Late" bills and resolutions may be added to the bottom of the agenda order provided that sufficient copies for the entire Congress are available from the "late" school. If "late" bills or resolutions are accepted for addition to the agenda order, they may be added only to the bottom of the agenda order after all the correct and timely pre-submitted bills have been debated. The tournament staff will not duplicate "late" bills or resolutions at the state tournament.
The number of houses will be dependent on the number of entries. The formula Base of Three will be used to split entries. Coaches will be able to place up to three of their competitors in a given house depending on the number of houses needed for Congressional Debate. This distribution will be honored if received before the distribution of the chamber lists and the bills associated with each chamber.
RANKING, RATINGS, AND DECISIONS
In the individual events: a ranking of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, will be given. Ratings on a 51-100 point scale will also be given in the preliminary rounds. "No Shows" will count as a rank of 9 and 0 speaker points (rating). Please note the State Tournament Rules concerning the use of "clean breaks" based on ranks only to qualify for semifinals in individual events. In debate: each debate will be judged on a win-loss basis; each debater will also be evaluated on speaker points. Qualification procedures for advancement to elimination rounds are outlined in the State Tournament Rules. It is the policy of the Wyoming High School Activities Association that all decisions, scores, ranks, rating, etc. of groups or individuals or debate teams are final and without appeal. Any undue attempt to influence a critic or judge may result in the disqualification of the individual student or the school concerned. Protests should be submitted in writing to the Tournament Director and the appropriate adjudication procedures followed, as specified in the State Tournament Rules.
TIME LIMITS
Students should carefully adhere to the specified time limits for their events. Failure to do so will result in speaker points or rating penalties. Please review the State Tournament Rules for the exact time and the violation penalty.
JUDGES
This is a departure from past rules about judging obligations. (refer to extraordinary circumstance clause)
The following commitment shall be required from those schools participating in the State Tournament:
One judge round for every entry. This means the maximum number of rounds a school will need to provide judging for is 20. Coaches need to register themselves for some of this requirement in order to fulfill the judging ration rule found in the WHSAA handbook.
No school shall be required to judge rounds in excess of their commitment. Schools may provide for all rounds of judging with as many judges as they wish to provide. They may specify which judge is to cover which part of the obligation. No judge may be obligated to judge more than eight rounds. Head coaches should expect to judge some rounds, as per the WSHAA handbook.
It is the responsibility of the Director of Forensics from each high school to impress upon the accompanying judges their responsibilities and duties. These judges are important to the efficient functioning of the tournament. Try to bring a complement of judges. Accompanying judges and coaches should be able to judge a wide variety of events. Please have all judges complete the judging form and submit them with your entries on Wednesday March 7
CONFLICT PATTERNS
This is a departure from past rules about conflict patterns. (refer to extraordinary circumstance clause)
Please recall that a student may not enter two events scheduled at the same time. A student may enter two events scheduled at different times in different conflict patterns.
PATTERN "A" EVENTS PATTERN"B" EVENTS
Cross-Examination Team Debate Extemporaneous Speaking
Lincoln-Douglas Debate Memorized Humorous Interpretation
Public Forum Debate Manuscript Poetry Interpretation
Memorized Dramatic Interpretation Memorized Original Oratory
Program Oral Interpretation Congressional Debate
Memorized Informative Speaking
Asynchronous Event & therefore a PATTERN C EVENT (this year only): Memorized Duet Interpretation
Entry limits remain the same (maximum 20 entries per team, maximum 2 events per student) but this does mean a student may compete in Duet and a Pattern A Event (or they may compete in a Pattern B event and Duet).
THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE and THE PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE TOPIC
These topics are the ones specified on the NSDA website:
LD Debate - Resolved: The United States ought to guarantee universal child care.
PF Debate- Resolved: On balance, the benefits of creating the United States Space Force outweigh the harms.
THE CROSS-EXAMINATION TEAM DEBATE TOPIC
The Cross Examination Debate Topic - Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing.
STUDENT DECORUM
Coaches are asked to impress upon their students, for whom they are responsible, the importance of approaching the state tournament with seriousness and responsibility. All judges will be asked to monitor student behavior in the contest rooms in an attempt to ensure fairness to all contestants and the coaches are hereby reminded of their duties in so far as student conduct and propriety is concerned. Coaches are asked to monitor their students carefully during the entire tournament. Problems (if any) which occur are the responsibility of the appropriate coach/school.
SAFETY PROTOCOLS
These are departures from past rules (refer to extraordinary circumstance clause)
Duet will be asynchronous and recordings must be uploaded to your tabroom entry by Sunday March 7 at 6pm. Safety is a top priority, therefore there is an expectation that partners use separate screens for their recording, They must follow all social distancing guidelines. There will be the same expectation for duet partners that are related. This is to promote equal footing in the event for all. Here are some instructions for recording and uploading your duet.
Partner Debate Events- PF Debate and C Debate - Safety is a top priority, therefore there is an expectation that partner debates use separate logins and must adhere to all social distancing guidelines (must be at least 6 feet apart). There will be the same expectation for debate partners that are related. This is to promote equal footing in the event for all. This rule will be enforced so prepare your competitors here will be consequences to not adhering to this rule.
PLATFORM FOR COMPETITION
We are planning to use Zoom for the competition platform. This will allow for observers as well. Since we will feature students at awards and will be allowing observers, please ensure you have filled out media release forms for all of your State competitors. Blank forms can be found here.
THE 2021 WYOMING STATE HIGH SCHOOL FORENSICS TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
The tournament will run Thursday, Friday & Saturday.
Information about the State WHSFA Coaches meeting will be forthcoming.
Please go to Tabroom.com to enter the tournament. You will need to fill out the following form and submit it separately. This form should be scanned and emailed to the WHSAA Office and not to the Tournament Director.
FEE SCHEDULE / REGISTRATION FORM AND
STUDENT ELIGIBILITY
Return this form and payment to the
WHSAA Office
6571 East 2nd Street
Casper, WY 82609.
(IF YOU FAX, YOU DO NOT NEED TO EMAIL THE SAME FORMS)
DEADLINE: March 9, 2021
Entry Limitations
A student is limited to two events at the State Tournament, and may not enter two events scheduled at the same time. A high school is limited to a total of 20 entry slots. Each student entered in any event slot constitutes an entry. A cross-examination debate team, a duet interpretation team, and a public forum team each count as one entry slot. An individual student who is entered in two events counts as two entry slots. Schools may enter their allowable 20 entry slots distributed among the various events as they wish, so long as the total number of entry slots per school remains at 20. (Rule: 8.3.3. WHSAA Handbook).
# OF ENTRIES
School Registration Fee (Make sure to include in your total) $75.00
Each Cross-X Debate Team 14.00 X ____________ = ____________
Each L-D Debate Entry 14.00 X ____________ = ___________
Each Public Forum Debate 14.00 X ____________ = ____________
Each Duet Interp. Team 14.00 X ____________ = ____________
Each Congressional Debate 9.00 X ____________ = ____________
Each Individual Event Slot 9.00 X ____________ = ____________
TOTAL STATE SPEECH REGISTRATION FEE $_____________________
CERTIFICATION OF STUDENTS ELIGIBILITY --
I hereby certify that the students participating in the categories listed above are eligible to attend the 2020 Wyoming High School "State" Speech Tournament representing: ____________________________________High School in full accordance with the rules of the Wyoming High School Activities Association.
_______________________________________ ___________________________________________
Speech Instructor Principal or Superintendent
________________ __________________________________________
Date High School