Alpharetta Treasure Hunt
2024 — Alpharetta, GA/US
For payments, please make checks payable to AHS DEBATE, our new booster club. Do not spell out “Alpharetta High School”; please use the acronym AHS.
You can also pay using VENMO. Our venmo username is AHSDebate. It may show the name of our treasurer (Bharti Rawal). If it asks for the last 4 digits of the phone number, it would be 4344. Please also put the name of your school in the comment section if you pay via venmo.
Please also ensure that your competitors know that our concessions can be paid by venmo or cash only.
Dear Colleague,
We are excited to extend to you and your students an invitation to the Alpharetta High School Speech and Debate Treasure Hunt to be held on September 14th and the return of the Treasure Chests. We will tentatively offer the following events: Rookie, Novice, JV, and Varsity policy debate, Novice and Varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate, Novice and Varsity public forum, extemporaneous speaking, impromptu, dramatic interpretation, humorous interpretation, duo interpretation, POI, informative speaking, and original oratory. We request that you follow the Georgia Forensic Coaches Association resolution stating that, "a novice debater should be a student who is debating his/her first national high school resolution in high school tournaments."
There will be three preliminary rounds of policy debate. There will be four preliminary rounds of LD/PF debate. Based on entries, each individual event will either be 3 prelims with a final or 4 prelims without a final. All students will debate preliminary rounds and, in events with elims, then proceed to break rounds depending on their records and the number of entries within each division. Please take time to look at the tentative schedule enclosed in this packet. All debate events will use the appropriate National Varsity topics for the month of September.
There are many hotels in the Alpharetta area. We've included contact information for local options. Please feel free to search for other options in the area, around North Point Mall or GA 400. The hotels we've included are easily accessible off GA 400 at either exit 9, 10, or 11.There is not an official tournament hotel.
Our team and parent booster clubs are working diligently to provide a quality tournament. Our coaches'/judges' hospitality room and concession stand will include meals for vegetarians. We hope to see you in January.
All events will be IN PERSON at Alpharetta High School.
Sincerely,
Lauren Ivey and Adam Smiley
Forensics Coaches, Alpharetta High School
Tentative Schedule
Saturday, September 14th – POLICY.
7:15-8:00 Registration by Media Center, breakfast in Cafeteria
8:05 Mandatory meeting for all student judges in the Media Center.
8:45 Round I, **forfeit at 8:55
11:15 Round II
12:30-1:30Lunch Served in Cafeteria
2:15 Round III
5:00 Awards assembly. Awards will be given out in the Cafeteria.
LD and PF
7:00-8:00 Registration by Media Center, breakfast in Cafeteria
8:45 Round I, **forfeit at 8:55
10:15 Round II
12:00 Round III
12:30-1:30 Lunch Served in Cafeteria
1:45 Round IV
3:15 Elim 1
5:00 Awards assembly. Awards will be given out in the Cafeteria.
IE Schedule – Saturday, September 16th
7:00 - 8:00 Registration by Media Center, breakfast in Cafeteria
8:30 Extemp Prep
9:00 Round I
10:00 Extemp Prep
10:30 Round II
11:45-12:45 Lunch served on Campus
12:30 Extemp Prep
1:00 Round III
2:30 Extemp Prep
3:00 FINALS (if entries and time permits) or Round IV
5:00 Awards Assembly. Awards will be given out in the Cafeteria.
Registration (coaches only please) will take place near the cafeteria.
Emergency telephone numbers in effect during tournament hours are 404-200-6075.
Events/Fees
**We have a limited amount of classroom space available; please register early to ensure that we have space for you and your squad!**
Eligibility: All entries must participate on behalf of the high school they currently attend or are districted to attend (if a middle school student). Hybrid entries (students from different schools debating together) must receive approval from the tab room and the coaches from both schools. Hybrid entries and entries that are maverick for any rounds will be eligible to compete (assuming tournament permission first) but may not compete in elimination rounds or earn any team awards. All students competing must be accompanied by a school approved adult chaperone.
POLICY DEBATE: Currently, there is no limit on the amount of teams you may enter in each policy division; however, we reserve the right to limit entries in each division as necessary. Double entries are not permitted.
All Divisions: two-person switch-side debate using the 8-3-5 format with 8 minutes of prep time. We will begin power matching after round 2.
We fully endorse the GFCA rules for the novice division, and expect that anyone competing in novice will follow these rules. The only affirmatives that may be run are the Affs posted on the GFCA novice debate website. The affirmatives must advocate the exact plan text included with each of these affirmatives. Additionally, teams may not run any arguments that are not in the GFCA novice packet.
We will offer a rookie division if there are enough entries.This division will be limited to only the rookie arguments as posted on the GFCA website.
In the JV division, only students on their first or second year of high school speech and debate are eligible to compete.
LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE: We will have a novice division and a Varsity Division. They will both use the Varsity Topic (NOTE: GEORGIA DOES NOT USE THE NOVICE LD TOPIC). There is no limit on the amount of entries allowed. Double entries are not permitted.We will use the NFL September/October topic.
PUBLIC FORUM: We will have a novice division and a Varsity Division. There is no limit on the number of entries. We will follow NFL rules and the September Public Forum topic. Double entries are not permitted.
INDIVIDUAL EVENTS:There is no limit on the amount of entries allowed. Students may double enter but triple entries are not permitted. NFL rules will be followed in all events. One note card may be used in extemporaneous and the preparation time will be 30 minutes.
ENTRY FEES & DEADLINES:Entry deadline is 4:00pm, Tuesday, September 10th. Fees will be assessed at that time. We encourage you to sign up early, as we have limited classroom space.
Policy |
$40.00 |
Lincoln-Douglas Debate |
$20.00 |
Individual Events |
$20.00 per entry |
Duo Interpretation |
$40.00 per entry |
Public Forum Debate |
$40.00 per entry |
Hired Judges |
$150.00 per 2 policy teams per division, or 2 LD/PF teams, or 5 IE entries. |
All checks should be made payable to AHS Debate. If you are mailing in your check (this is not required, we are happy to take it in person at registration), please mail it to:
Alpharetta High School
c/o Adam Smiley
3595 Webb Bridge Rd.
Alpharetta, GA 30005
Please include an e-mail address where you can receive confirmation of your registration.Please email smiley@fultonschools.org or call in all name corrections at (404) 200-6075 as soon as you know your changes. Do not wait until registration if you can avoid it.
JUDGING OBLIGATIONS: While EXPERIENCED current 10th, 11th, or 12th grade students with more than one year of previous debate experience can judge in novice divisions (and we encourage schools to do so), all judges covering a varsity obligation must be out of high school. No judge should be in any division that they would be eligible to compete in. ANY SCHOOL FOUND TO BE USING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO COVER A VARSITY OBLIGATION WILL HAVE TO DROP THE APPROPRIATE NUMBER OF ENTRIES TO ALLOW THE TOURNAMENT TO RUN AND WILL NOT BE WELCOME AT OUR TOURNAMENT NEXT YEAR.
Judge obligations extend one round past the round in which that school's team(s) were eliminated. This means all judges in all divisions are obligated for our one elim round. As a courtesy to those participating in elimination rounds, anyone (guest and hired judges included) who must leave early should notify the tournament director ASAP.
We encourage you to provide your own quality judges. Please notify us as soon as possible of your judging needs. Please ensure that any judges provided for the novice divisions are made aware of what can and cannot be run in the novice division. As we have separate pools for Varsity, JV and novice, novice or JV judges cannot cover the varsity division. Please mark all student judges with a note on how many years of high school debate experience they have.
Safe Space:
The tournament reserves to right to disqualify any participants that are deemed to engage in behavior that undermines the ability of all competitors to feel safe at the tournament.
Gender neutral restroom will be available in the media center.
Accommodations
There is no official tournament hotel.The following is a list of a variety of hotels that are close to the school.
La Quinta Inn & Suites – Alpharetta
1350 North Point Drive, Alpharetta, GA 30022
(770) 754-7800
Hampton Inn – Alpharetta
10740 Westside Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30201
(770) 640-5511
Staybridge Suites – Alpharetta
3980 North Point Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30005
(770) 569-7200
Extended Stay America – Alpharetta
3329 Old Milton Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30005
(800) 398-7829
Extended Stay America – Alpharetta
1950 Rock Mill Road, Alpharetta, GA 30022
(770) 475-2676
Hilton Garden Inn – Northpoint
10975 Georgia Lane, Alpharetta, GA 30022
(678) 566-3900
Homewood Suites – Alpharetta
10775 Davis Drive, Alpharetta, GA 30004
(770) 998-1622
Residence Inn – Northpoint
1325 North Point Drive, Alpharetta, GA 30022
(770) 587-1151
Towneplace Suites – Alpharetta
7925 Westside Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30004
(770) 664-1300