California High School Speech Association State Championship
2024 — Clovis, CA/US
If you missed your chance to get your very own Cali the Cado, it's not too late! Visit Square.CHSSA.org to order by April 22 and we will ship right to you when the crop comes in.
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Congratulations on qualifying for the California High School Speech Association State Championship! We are so excited to have you join us for our 65th CHSSA State Championship! As always, our goal is to empower the students of California through top tier competition. We're so happy to have you join us!
If you need help with any part of this process, your League President and Area Chair are awesome folks to help you navigate registration (and everything leading up to and during the State Tournament itself!).
Please note: ONLY students who qualified to State during local State Qualifying Tournaments can attend CHSSA State 2024. If you're unsure if that is your student, please contact your League President and they can assist you.
Additionally, please be aware: only the coach of record on the CHSSA membership form that was submitted to your Area Chair earlier in the year may register students for State. Students may not enter themselves and no independent (non-school site) entries are allowed. If an entry is found to be created by a non-coach (ie: a student) that entry will be removed.
** This page is for the CHSSA HIGH SCHOOL State Championship only. If you are looking for the MIDDLE SCHOOL State Championship, click here. **
HELP AT THE TOURNAMENT
Your one stop shop for all things help is the Help Desk. The physical Help Desk is located just outside the library in building A and is staffed by our awesome Area Chairs. If you can't physically get to the Help Desk for some reason, you can call or text them at this number: 805-232-3218. If you'd prefer, you can email them at HelpDesk@chssa.org. The Help Desk will always be the fastest path toward getting any questions answered or issues addressed in the best manner.
If you need to contact the Judge House for any reason (but really, you should contact the Help Desk as a first try), your best bet is physically go into the library. That said, you can also text, call, or email our incredible, hardworking Judge House staff at (805-232-3322) & JudgeHouse@chssa.org
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TOURNAMENT LOCATION
Clovis North High School
2770 E International Ave
Clovis, CA 93730
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NEW FOR 2024
JUDGE BACKGROUND INFO | During registration, we ask that coaches please provide some brief background information on their judges and also rate their judges based on experience. This will help our tab staff place judges more efficiently during the tournament. Your notes can be whatever you think will help (experience, diversity enhancing status, "LOVES TO JUDGE POLICY!!!" etc.) and the ratings are:
A Head Coach with 5+ years of national-level experience (State, Nationals, TOC, etc.)
B Judge with 5+ years of national-level experience (State, Nationals, TOC, etc.)
C Judge with 3+ years of experience on a local level or higher.
D Trained judge with less than 3 years of judging experience at any level.
E Newly trained judge with limited in-round experience.
F Judge with no experience or training.
G First year out (ie: judge graduated high school in 2023).
DOUBLE ENTRY | We no longer allow double entry at this tournament. This change has allowed us to revamp our schedule and judging, resulting in what we believe to be a much more balanced and reasonable tournament schedule for everybody. You can see the schedule here.
PREORDER APPAREL | Secure your size (and save)! Preorder our tournament t-shirts and sweatshirts now. T-shirts range from small to 5x, made from high-quality ring-spun cotton. Sweatshirts are heavyweight crewnecks, available in sizes small to 3x. Grab an early bird discount by preordering through Tabroom by March 15. T-shirts are just $15, and sweatshirts are only $30 (compared to $20 and $35 at the tournament). Simply add them to your online registration and pick up at State!
DINNER DANCE | CHSSA State Dinner Dance is back at Clovis North High on Sunday, starting at 6 PM after the awards ceremony and ending at 10 PM. Enjoy a black light party with a DJ, photo booths, and a delicious dinner from a local restaurant. Get your early bird tickets through Tabroom registration: $20 for students, $10 for chaperones before March 15 at 5 PM. Prices go up to $25 for students and $15 for chaperones after March 15.
HOTELS | This year, CHSSA does not have guaranteed hotel blocks to share. Please book your own rooms directly.
IN-PERSON REGISTRATION | We will be offering a limited in-person registration Friday midday outside of Clovis North High, with details to follow. This is not a mandatory registration, but for coaches who would like to come by and pick up plaques, name badges, Food Insecurity Program funds, etc., you can plan to do that. If you miss registration and need to pick up any items, you can do so at the Help Desk throughout the tournament.
COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUES | Every school team that qualifies to the CHSSA State Championship may request to receive a personalized, commemorative, wooden plaque (that has a place for a team photo!) at no cost. These are a wonderful addition to team classrooms, trophy cases, school front offices, or a gift to a very supportive administrator. This plaque will be available at Registration and then the tournament Help Desk for the Coach to pick up Friday and Saturday during the tournament.
In order to reduce waste and excess cost, we are ordering these on an on-demand basis. If your team would like to receive one of these plaques, please fill out this Google Form by March 22, 2024 at 5 PM PT.
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OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE
FOOD INSECURITY PROGRAM: We are grateful to be able to once again offer our Food Insecurity Program, to help students with a financial need be able to cover the cost of food throughout the State Championship weekend. Click here to learn more and apply.
PAY ONLINE: We strongly encourage you to pay online instead of mailing a check. You can pay online any time at Square.CHSSA.org OR you can email our Treasurer and she can send over an invoice you can digitally pay with one click.
JUDGE OBLIGATION: For judging, the obligations are as follows:
Debate: one judge for every two entries (or fraction thereof)
Speech: one judge for every three entries (or fraction thereof)
Congress: one judge for every three entries (or fraction thereof)
We do allow single day judges, but a judge does need to potentially be available for all rounds on a day they are signed up for. This means we can’t allow any partial-day judges. Here’s an example of what that could like:
Let’s pretend South High has 1 LDer and 2 PF teams coming to State. That means that South High has to provide 1 debate judge each day: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. One option is that South High can have their coach Petey Ronald judge all 3 days. If Coach Petey doesn’t want to judge that much (or can’t), South High can alternatively choose to split their obligation. Maybe Coach Petey covers Friday and Sunday, while Assistant Principal Toby Cummings judges Saturday. Or maybe team parent Roscoe Niemi judges Friday, Assistant Principal Toby judges Saturday, and coach Petey judges Sunday. There’s a ton of flexibility here and all we care about is that we have a thoughtful, safe grown up who is sitting in the back of the room and giving great feedback to our kiddos.
Please note: as always at State, there is no judge buyout option through CHSSA, so please plan accordingly.
Please note: first year out judges are not allowed at the CHSSA State Championship.
For more information about the judge obligation, Click here to read a note about judging and the schedule.
JUDGE BOND REMINDER | After a vote by the CHSSA board on August 20, 2023, two key changes now apply to the judge bond:
* The judge bond has been raised to $150 per school
* All judge bonds will automatically rollover to cover your school’s 2024-2025 CHSSA Membership Dues (next year's) unless you fill out the Refund Request Form from Tabroom and upload it back in through Tabroom.
PAYMENTS | This year all payments are going directly to our Treasurer and not your Area Chair. Please make sure that all physical payments are sent to the address on the invoice only and please make sure they are sent with tracking. If you need an updated W9 for your finance folks, you can find it on the right side menu under "Financial Info." (But here it is for your ease, too!).
RULES GOVERNING THE TOURNAMENT | Click here
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HEALTH & SAFETY PROTOCOL
* We ask that our community members prioritize health and safety above all other constraints during this tournament and always. We ask that all competitors and judges follow appropriate school, local, and state health guidelines when it comes to things like social distancing, masking, and handwashing for the duration of the tournament and beyond.
* The tournament does not have a mask mandate, but judges will be instructed to not penalize competitors who choose or need to wear a medical face mask (ie: N95, KN95, etc.) while competing.
* The tournament does not have a vaccine mandate, but the California High School Speech Association strongly encourages all community members to follow appropriate medical and scientific guidance. With a large event like ours, the guidance is clear that vaccination is the most effective way to keep our community as safe as possible.