Pine Tree Walk the Plank Full Academic Invitational

2023 — Longview, TX/US

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Pine Tree High School

Walk the Plank Full Tournament

Academic: Custom Prompts

Speech & Debate: UIL / NSDA

Saturday, November 4, 2023

PHYSICAL Address: 900 Northwest Dr., Longview, TX 75604

School: 903-295-5031 Email: tdavis@ptisd.org (academic events) or cdickson@ptisd.org (speech/debate)

Dear UIL Coordinators/Coaches:

Please join us for our 2nd annual WALK THE PLANK tournament for fun and friendly competition in ALL EVENTS! This year will be even better as we add ALL academic events (TMSCA for math/science) and up the ante with post-Halloween treats, a costume contest (one more chance to wear your costume!), and photo booth fun for everyone.

We will host an organized tournament that allows novice competitors and judges to improve skills and gain insight and for experienced competitors to hone their skills. Our S/D will run novice and experienced rounds and offer a 30-minute training session for judges prior to the contest. Our writing events will provide valuable judges’ feedback to students and coaches in order to prepare for UIL circuit competition.

All UIL academic and speech/debate events will be offered as well as additional NSDA speech/debate events.

EVENTS*: The following academic and speech events will be offered:

• Ready Writing

• All Journalism Events

• Spelling

• Literary Criticism

• LD, CX, Congress

• Informative Extemp

• Persuasive Extemp

• Prose and Poetry

• Original Oratory, Prepared Informative, Program of Interp, Dramatic Interp, Humorous Interp, Duo Interp

• Current Issues & Events

• Social Studies

• Mathematics

• Number Sense

• Science

• Calculator

• Accounting

• Computer Applications

• Computer Science

*Test vendors include Hexco, ASW, MRC, A+ Computer Science, and TMSCA Test #3.

REGISTRATION: Please register all speech/debate AND academic contestants through TABROOM at http://uilpinetree.Tabroom.com. Any questions about registration may be directed to Terri Davis (academic events) at tdavis@ptisd.org or Chris Dickson (speech events) at cdickson@ptisd.org.

DEADLINES: We will need your full registration by5pm, Wednesday, November 1st and judges by Friday, October 27th.

JUDGING: We ask that you provide a judge/grader for every event in which your school is entered. If you cannot provide a judge/grader, then please let us know by Friday, October 27th so that we may secure a replacement. The charge for the replacement judge/grader will be as follows:

• Ready Writing/Journalism ($75)

• Debate/Speech ($150)

• For debate, you must have 1 judge for every 4 LD contestants or 2 CX teams, or part thereof and 1 judge for every 4 PFD teams, or part thereof. For Interp, Speech, and Writing Events, you must provide 1 judge for every 6 participants or part thereof. We prefer judges over fees . ATMINIMUM, speech/debate team coaches MUST serve as judges.

ENTRY FEES:

CX Entries:$30 per team

LD / Duo Entries: $20

Speech Events: $10

CS Hands-On: $20/team

All Other Events: $10 per event

ENTRIES: Each school can enter unlimited entries in every event except writing events. Because of space, we are capping these entries at 5 per school for ready writing and 6 per school for journalism. We will check numbers and open the waiting list October 27th. If you need to add or delete a contestant’s name from your roster, please do so by editing your entries in TABROOM. If you need help with this, let us know.

PROCEDURES FOR READY WRITING:

After judging is complete, students will assemble to receive feedback from the lead judge that will be focused upon improving writing style geared toward the contest rubric as well as being offered reading suggestions. Hexco prompts.

PROCEDURES FOR JOURNALISM EVENTS:

Grading will follow each event and will be led by former state judge Susan Duncan. Novice judges are welcomed and will gain valuable experience with seasoned judges. ALL coaches are asked to judge. Copy Editing will test after Headline. This will allow time for verbal critique and debriefing for all contestants with the lead judge immediately following the grading of Editorial/Headline. Hexco prompts.

PROCEDURES FOR SPELLING:

The pronouncer will be Belinda Walinta. The test will be from ASW.

PROCEDURES FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE:

Please bring power cords in addition to your computers. Programming will take place Friday. The written test will be offered Friday and Saturday to accommodate travel arrangements and those only wanting to take the written test.

PROCEDURES FOR MATH/SCIENCE EVENTS:

Grade-level awards will be given for the top three competitors in each grade level in each event. In addition, the top 6 overall individuals will receive awards following UIL guidelines. Team scores will follow UIL scoring guidelines.

JUDGING and MEDALS: We plan to have two divisions: 1A - 4A and 5A - 6A. 4A may be moved to Division II depending on number of entrants. Places 1st - 6th will be awarded with 1st - 3rd being awarded for TMSCA events for each grade. In addition, “Best Paper of the Day” will be given to a single journalism student, and “Judges’ Choice” will be given to a single Ready Writing student. Fun awards for top novices in each contest will also be given. Judging for all events will immediately follow the end of each contest. Verification will immediately follow judging and ranking, and medals will be awarded immediately following verification. Any questions may be directed to the contest director at the meet. The top three schools from each division will receive a custom Sweepstakes trophy. First place teams will receive plaques and individual team medals in team events. Top journalism team and speech/debate team plaques will be awarded for each division.

NOTES FOR SPEECH AND DEBATE EVENTS:

CONGRESS: Tournament will be using the UIL Region Congress Legislation from ESC 7 and ESC 8. Legislation Docket will be established in round. Congressional Docket will be released as soon as it is released by the UIL. The release of the legislation is scheduled by the UIL for October 5, 2023.

CX DEBATE: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase fiscal redistribution in the United States by adopting a federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security, and/or providing a basic income.

LD DEBATE: Topic will be released by UIL in August 2023 and will be posted here.

CONCESSIONS: Concessions will be offered, and schools may order ahead of time. Local restaurants include Little Caesar, Pizza Hut, and Domino’s. Coaches’ hospitality provided.

PARKING: Map and parking directions will be posted closer to tournament date.

CONFIDENTIALITY:

All materials will be given out on the day of the meet. Please do not share the material outside of your school.

RESULTS:

Results for our tournament will be found on this webpage following every event: https://www.pinetreeresults.org/

Thank you and Good Luck!

Lee Branson, PTISD UIL Academics Director lbranson@ptisd.org

Terri Davis, Academic Events, UIL Coordinator tdavis@ptisd.org

Christopher Dickson, Assistant UIL Coordinator cdickson@ptisd.org

Alyx Dickson, Director of Speech & Debate adickson@ptisd.org

Please mail payment to:

Pine Tree High School UIL

c/o Lee Branson

PO Box 5878

Longview, TX 75604