Friends:

The Connally Cadet UIL Academic Team would like to take a moment to formally invite you and your squad to our third annual UIL Academic and Speech/Debate tournament! We are excited to offer this competition opportunity IN PERSON on December 6, 2025! Every student competing in Individual Speaking Events will be guaranteed 3 rounds of competition, and students competing in LD and CX debate will be guaranteed 4 rounds of competition! We will be utilizing outside vendors for our testing competitions and will offer every UIL event including the hands-on portion of Computer Science!

HOSPITALITY/CONCESSIONS:

A hospitality room will be available for all coaches, judges, and bus drivers. We take GREAT PRIDE in offering the best hospitality room in the state. You won't leave hungry! In order to ensure that we have enough food, please enter the number of adults that you are bringing under the STUDENT MEALS tab on your registration.

A concession stand is available for students throughout the day. There are a variety of drinks and snack items available for purchase. Coaches are also encouraged to pre-order meal tickets for their students. For $7.00, students will receive 2 slices of pizza, a bag of chips, and a drink of their choice. While extra lunch options will be ordered for the concession stand, pre-ordering a meal deal is the only way to guarantee your students access to the discounted rate. You can register for meal deals under the STUDENT MEALS tab on your registration.

COMPETITION DIVISIONS:

As we get our tournament up and running, we intend to run competitions with a single division for all schools. Should our meet have a large number of entries, we will immediately explore splitting schools into a Small School (1A - 3A) and Large School (4A - 6A) divisions. If such a decision ends up being made, we will communicate it in advance.

Students competing in Calculator Applications, Mathematics, Number Sense, and Science will be split into 9th/10th grade and 11th/12th grade divisions.

Students competing in Speech/Debate events will have the option to compete in either a Novice or Varsity division based on their skill level. "Novice" is defined as a student in their first year of competition in that event.

We are excited to announce the addition of competition divisions for JUNIOR HIGH speech events. Students in 6th-8th grade are encouraged to enter in A+ Impromptu Speaking, A+ Modern Oratory, or A+ Oral Reading to help them prepare for their district meets.

SPEECH/DEBATE TOPICS:

Students competing in CX Debate will debate the 2025 - 2026 NFHS Resolution: Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly increase its exploration and/or development of the Arctic.

Students competing in LD Debate will debate the Fall 2025 UIL Resolution: Resolved: In the United States, agroecology ought to be prioritized over industrial agriculture.

Students competing in Congressional Debate will debate the Fall 2025 TFA Docket. Items 1-5 will be used for prelims/session 1 and items 6-10 will be used for finals/session 2.

ENTRY LIMITS:

Each school will be offered unlimited entries in Calculator, Mathematics, Number Sense, and Science.

Each school is afforded a limit of 6 entries in Copy Editing, Editorial, Feature, Headline, News, and Ready Writing. We have a cap of 40 entries total.

Each school is afforded a limit of 6 entries in all remaining academic contests. We have a cap of 60 entries total.

ACADEMIC JUDGING OBLIGATIONS:

The following events have CRUCIAL needs for graders/judges: Ready Writing and Journalism. Schools that enter these competitions are expected to provide a trained adult to help in the adjudication of these events. Schools that cannot provide judges for these contests may opt to pay a $75.00 judge fee.*

We ask that each school provide a judge to help grade in every event that they enter students. We have A LOT of faculty members on staff ready to help out, but the more people we have, the faster the grading goes.

SPEECH/DEBATE JUDGING OBLIGATIONS:

Schools are obligated to provide judges for each of the speech/debate events that they enter students in. Judge obligations are generated with the following formulas:

CX Debate* - One judge required for every 2 teams (or portion thereof).

LD Debate* - One judge required for every 2 entries (or portion thereof).

Informative/Persuasive** - One judge required for every 8 entries (or portion thereof).

Prose/Poetry** - One judge required for every 8 entries (or portion thereof).

*Debate judges may only enter one pool. They may not fulfill any other obligations. Schools will be charged a fee of $100.00 for each missing debate judge.

**Individual Event judges MAY cover both Extemp and Interp obligations, but they MUST be available for all rounds of both contests. IE judges may not cover any Debate judging obligations. Schools will be charged a fee of $75.00 for each missing IE judge.

FEES:

Please make all checks payable to:

Connally ISD

ATTN: Michael Donaldson, UIL Coordinator

200 Cadet Way

Lacy Lakeview, TX 76705

Fees are generated with the following formulas:

School Custodial Fee - $20.00 per school

Academic Events - $15.00 per entry

Individual Speech Events - $20.00 per entry

A+ (Junior High) Speech Events - $10.00 per entry

LD Debate - $30.00 per entry

CX Debate - $50.00 per entry

Missing HIGH NEEDS Academic Event Grader - $75.00 per event

Missing Individual Speech Event Judge - $75.00 per judge

Missing Debate Event Judge - $100.00 per judge

**Please do not let the cost of entry/judge fees prohibit your students from attending our tournament. This is a fundraiser for our program, but we will do our absolute best to accommodate schools financial constraints as best as we can. Reach out to Michael Donaldson if you have any questions.**

JUDGING CONTRACTS:

If you are an individual that wishes to pursue a judging contract (for speech/debate/or writing) at this tournament, please contact Michael Donaldson atmdonaldson@connally.org. Please include a brief summary of your qualifications along with what events you are comfortable with judging.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Any questions should be addressed to Michael Donaldson at mdonaldson@connally.orgor at (254) 640 - 5785.