If you have any questions throughout the tournament, please TEXT (Do Not Call) our Google Voice Number with your name, event, and issue at (412) 376-3490. Please share this number with your students.  

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Welcome back to a live in-person two-day tournament in the Pittsburgh area that will attempt to continue the legacy of high-quality speech & debate competition fostered by the Bethel Park and North Hills invitationals of the past.

If you have any pre-tournament questions or issues, please email Ben Edwards at bedwards@uscsd.k12.pa.us. 

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Tournament Locations & Health/Safety (Minutes from Bethel Park HS)

USCHS: 1825 McLaughlin Run Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15241

Ft. Couch Middle School: 515 Ft. Couch Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15241 

Transportation will be needed at the beginning of the tournament to both locations on Friday (they are roughly 1mi apart) and on Saturday Morning. The projected schedule should reflect current busing laws. Busing will be provided to USCHS at the end of rounds at Ft. Couch. All break rounds will occur at USCHS. 

*Updated* Masking will be optional when competing and will continue to be mandated while not competing outside of actively eating.

*Updated* This tournament is, as always, contingent on District Staffing capabilities and the Upper St. Clair School District will have the final word on holding the tournament and any changes will be announced as early as possible so that an acceptable virtual tournament can be held. Due to the current COVID situation, it is incredibly unlikely that this tournament will be moved online outside of a weather-related catastrophe.

As in the past, there will be a block of rooms available at the Crowne Plaza Pittsburgh South Hotel for our out-of-town competitors. Anyone interested should contact Samantha individually at 412-347-0351. Rooms for Friday night are $114 if you are tax exempt and $129 if you are not. You can cancel without penalty in this block until the day before.

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EVENTS AND RULES

All events will follow NSDA Rules except as indicated below. All events will be run on Tabroom.com, so please make sure all students are registered and "linked" before the tournament begins. Double-entries will be permitted in all speech events other than Extemp and capped at two events/competitor. Tiebreakers are done with PHSSL rules in all events. Powering in debate begins in R3. A bracket will be used for debate breaks and R5 in speech will be "snaked". PHSSL rules can be found here: PHSSL RULES

TOC bids are awarded for these events notated with an*  

– LD Finals and Gold PF (Finals) & Silver PF (Semis) Debate 

– Congressional Debate (Top 6)
– Speech (number of bids pending event size*)

*Bids are awarded based on the actual entries in a given event:

If 24 or fewer competitors enter, the Top Three receive bids. 

If 25 to 72 people compete, all Finalists receive bids. 

If 73 or more are in an event, all Semifinalists receive bids.

NIETOC

Lincoln-Douglas Debate* - Resolved: The appropriation of outer space by private entities is unjust.

Public Forum Debate* - 

Resolved: On balance, Turkey’s membership is beneficial to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Policy Debate - Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its protection of water resources in the United States.

Parliamentary Debate - All extemporaneous topics and topic areas. PHSSL Rules. 

Congress*: legislation packet will be posted by 2/1 @ 4PM. SuperSession will have separate legislation. Please email Alison McBee (eamcbee@gmail.com) by 1/31 with legislation from participating teams. 

Extemp*: International & US topics will be addressed throughout the tournament

Original Oratory*

Informative*

Dramatic Interpretation of Literature*

Humorous Interpretation of Literature*

Duo Interpretation of Literature*

Programmed Oral Interp*

Prose* PHSSL Rules

Poetry* PHSSL Rules
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PROJECTED SCHEDULE

Friday 2/11

Arrival at both buildings, registration, and welcome 3:30 (USCHS) -4:00pm (Ft. Couch)

Four debate rounds projected to end at 9pm with a dinner break

Three speech rounds projected to end at 9:30 with a dinner break

Two policy/parli debate rounds

One session of Congress

Saturday 2/12

Arrival at both buildings and begin rounds 7:30am-8:00am

Two preliminary debate rounds, then octos, quarters, semis, finals (aiming to be done by 4:00pm)

Two speech prelim rounds followed by quarters (if necessary), semis, and finals (aiming to be done by 4pm)

Two parli/policy prelim rounds, then semis and finals (aiming to be done by 4pm)

One session of Congress followed by a Supersession that will aim to finish at 4pm

Awards at 5pm-ish

Our hope is to have some fun activities available for students who have been eliminated/waiting for postings on Saturday. Out of town schools who have fulfilled their judging obligations and want to get on the road can request their awards early. 

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JUDGING

Judges for hire - If you are looking for a judge or if you are a judge who would like to participate, please email Ben Edwards at bedwards@uscsd.k12.pa.us directly. 

Here is a link to some judging resources that may help you: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YdZeTktwVMoecj0zH7dlwE2ip40RJnN2&authuser=bedwards%40uscsd.k12.pa.us&usp=drive_fs 

Because this is a TOC tournament, we must insist that you provide experienced judges. Judges must be registered and linked on Tabroom.com with a valid phone number. Debate judges require a paradigm. Judges are responsible for ALL ROUNDS even if your school is eliminated. The #1 reason this tournament has been delayed in the past is because judges are unavailable to judge later rounds where multiple judges are necessary. If you miss a round, the tournament reserves the right to fine your school $50/round missed. 

All debate events - 1 judges per every two entries. Odd numbers require the same number of judges as the next highest even number (ex. 3 debate entries = 2 judges). All debate judges can judge Parliamentary debate. Disclosure will be mandatory in all debates, but there will not be time for oral critiques. 

Congress & Speech events – judges in congress could be placed to judge speech
1 judges for 1 to 5 entries.  Please inform your Speech/Debate/Congress judges of this grouping. Please identify if you can parli congress or if you prefer to judge Congress on your judge registration.

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MONEY

$10 School Fee

$15/individual competitor

$25/team events (Policy, Parli, PFD, Duo)

$50/round for missed judging assignments

$100/judge for hired judging/day (availability limited)

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AWARDS:    

Physical awards of some type will be given to all semi-finalists and finalists in speech and quarterfinalists in debate for events of a certain size. Speech semi-finalists and debate quarterfinalists will be recognized. For smaller events, awards and recognition may be reduced at the discretion of the tournament. 

Sweepstakes will follow the following guidelines

                      Speech            6 minus each rank for each speaker

                       Debate            5 points for a win, 2 points for a loss

                      Congress        Outstanding Speakers  20 points, Superior Speakers 19pts, etc.