Dear fellow coaches and competitors,

The Dallastown Forensics Team is thrilled to announce the 2013 Wildcat Speech and Debate Invitational, to be held on Saturday, November 22 at Dallastown Area High School.  You and your team are cordially invited to join us for an action-packed day of competing and learning.

Our goal is to maximize the opportunities your team members will have to perform and learn, and to allow competitors to experience a wide variety of forensics events.  To that end, all events will be divided into two brackets, allowing varsity students to quintuple-enter (two regular events per bracket, plus one supplemental event) and to vie for Individual Sweepstakes Awards.  A flat per-student fee allows multiple-entry without additional cost.  One distinctive feature of our schedule is that Congressional Debate, Parliamentary Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and Policy Debate will be included in the bracketed schedule—which means that debaters, too, will have the rare opportunity to enter multiple events.

We also strive to host a tournament that is especially welcoming and educational for students and schools new to forensics.  Separate novice finals will be held in any speech and debate events where numbers warrant, and awards will be presented to the top non-advancing novice contestants in all events without enough novice entrants for a separate final round.  A discounted registration fee is offered to all first-year participants, which allows entry in up to two regular events and a supplemental event.

In an attempt to even further encourage both meaningful novice participation and diversification of all students’ involvement, the use of notes/manuscripts will not be prohibited in any event—even the traditionally memorized events such as DP, Duo, OO, and Dec.  While memorization is strongly encouraged in these events—and students with memorized performances will surely see their preparation rewarded with improved scores—we believe that, at this early point in the season, it’s far more beneficial for students to stretch themselves, give a new event a shot, and receive constructive feedback on substantive elements of the performance, than it is either to be so hung up on “cramming” that the spirit (and much of the educational value) of the event is lost, or to be discouraged from participating at all.

An instructional clinic for new judges will be offered before the start of the opening ceremony.  This is a great opportunity for interested adults to learn the basics and become prepared to judge for your team confidently and capably throughout the season.  Since many parents and teachers who would make wonderful judges feel hesitant to give it a try without a bit of formal training, you’ll want to be sure to invite them to accompany your team to the Wildcat Invitational.

Please follow the links in the right-hand column for complete details concerning Event Descriptions, Fees & Judging Requirements, Schedule, Food, Awards, and Travel Information.  Registrations are due by Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 6:30 PM.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us either by phone (717-818-0478) or e-mail (StephanieElizabethBorger@gmail.com).  We are so excited about what promises to be a fantastic day of speech and debate competition, and we look forward to seeing you on November 22!

Sincerely,

Tiffany Dacheux, Director of Forensics
Stephanie E. Borger, Tournament Director
and the Dallastown Area High School Forensics Team