IHSA State Debate Championships
2023 — IL/US
Greetings Illinois Coaches--
We are looking forward to connecting with you and your debaters for this year’s In-person IHSA State Debate Championships. March 16-18, 2023 at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois (Congressional, Lincoln-Douglas, and Public Forum Debate) and the University of Chicago Laboratory School in Chicago, Illinois (Policy Debate only)
Dates for the tournament shall be March 17-18, 2023. Team check-ins will take place online only via ihsa.tabroom.com on Thursday, March 16, 2023.
You can find important information about the IHSA State Championship Debate Tournament on the IHSA website. Make sure to check out any changes in the Terms and Conditions.
Here’s a review of some important information:
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The tournament this school year will again be in person.
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We will be using Tabroom (http://ihsa.tabroom.com) for registration in all events. Make sure all participants--including judges--have Tabroom.com accounts.
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Congress legislation information is forthcoming. Please submit properly formatted legislation via the submission section with tournament registration on Tabroom. You must register a student before this submission option appears.
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Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas topics will be released by the National Speech and Debate Association on February 1, 2023 on NSDA’s “Current Topics” page.
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As in previous years, first year out debaters can judge for your school in PF, LD, and Policy.
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All judges must be qualified per the Terms and Conditions to judge Varsity level Debate for their assigned divisions.
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Schools may submit one bill in each category as noted in “Legislation Assignments.” Please submit your legislation on ihsa.tabroom.com by the end of the day on February 3, 2023. Note that Tabroom requires there to be at least one Congress entry in order for you to submit legislation. (You can add a student, submit the legislation, and remove the student again if you want.) Please contact Peter Dong (pdong@imsa.edu), Rachael Krulewich (rkrulewich@d211.org) or Tim Waters (tim.waters@d214.org) with questions.
- The tournament does not offer hired judges to meet quotas. All entries must be covered by qualified judges provided by the competing school.
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Congress legislation will be posted on the IHSA website ASAP in early February.
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Registration opens on January 23rd at ihsa.tabroom.com
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Registration closes at midnight on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. No additions can be made and your school’s entry fee obligations will be frozen after that date.
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You can make name changes on Tabroom through Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 11:00 AM.
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Make checks payable to IHSA. Please mail your checks to: Illinois High School Association (IHSA) 2715 McGraw Drive, Bloomington, IL 61704. Checks should be mailed as close to the tournament date as possible and may be received after the tournament.
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Tournament check-in will be on Thursday, March 16, from 6 to 9 p.m via ihsa.tabroom.com. Please reach out to the State Final Manager if this is a concern.
If you have any other questions or concerns, contact Brenda Moreno and Martin Zacharia, IHSA State Final Managers, at bmoreno@d211.org and marzac@d219.org.