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*Must be a member of the RFSDL to register. Contact Sandra@RichmondForum.org to join. Dues are 150$ for 1-10, 250$ for 11-20, and 350$ for 21+ students

WHEN: December 13, 2025

WHERE: 3101 Johnson Rd, Petersburg, VA 23805

EVENTS: For invitationals, NSDA or NCFL rules will be followed depending on the event, with the exception of limited preparation events, which follow VHSL guidelines. We hope to provide a great local tournament option for Central Virginia schools especially! Middle school students are also encouraged to compete in Declamation, but may enter in all open events

SPEECH CATEGORIES: The following open speech categories will be offered (4 rounds each): Declamation (JV), Extemp*, Impromptu, Oral Interpretation, Original Oratory, Prose, Poetry, DI*, HI*, Duo, Storytelling, Informative, and Program Oral Interpretation. Students MAY double-enter in all speech categories EXCEPT Extemp. Students may enter in no more than two events.

Extemp Topics:

Africa

Global Human Rights

The First Amendment

US Foreign Policy

*DI/HI may be combined based on numbers entered.

STUDENT CONGRESS: Open division. Each student should submit legislation, using the appropriate RFSDL Template, and teams should coordinate to divide bills up among the following 3 categories (Domestic, International, Economic). 3 sessions of congress, 1 hour 45 minutes each.

Legislation is due December 5th at 5pm. Super Session legislation will be provided by Tabroom, so students should focus writing legislation for prelim round topics only. Finally, the preliminary round legislation packet will be set by Tabroom from the submitted legislation, but not all submitted legislation will be included! The emphasis for what legislation ultimately makes the prelim docket will rest on the quality of the legislation.

Domestic

FOIA/Government Transparency

Nuclear Testing

International

Argentina

Presidential War Powers

Economic

Health Care

Sports Betting

Super Session

Russia

Tariffs

JUDGES:

Each school is responsible for providing their own judges with the following quotas:

1 judge for:

…every 5 Individual Events entries or fraction thereof, and

…every 5 Student Congress entries or fraction thereof.

*Student Congress and IE event judges may be combined.

COSTS:

Schools in good standing with the Richmond Forum Speech and Debate League will not incur any competition fees. Schools that have not paid dues may attend one tournament without joining the league, but must pay an entry fee of $20 per student entry ($40 for partner events). Schools must pay RFSDL dues to participate in additional competitions.

DROPS:

Drops (for any reason) are permitted up to 48 hours before the tournament with no penalty. Drops within 48 hours require schools to honor the entry fees AND still require the original judging quota. If the original judging quota is not met upon registration, students may not be able to compete. The League reserves the right to charge a $75 dropped judge fee.

SCHEDULE:

Registration: 8:00 – 8:30 am

Judges Meeting: 8:45 am

Extemp Draw 1: 8:45 am

Round 1: 9:15 am
Extemp Draw 2: 10:00 am
Round 2: 10:30 am

Lunch (between Rounds 2 & 3)
Extemp Draw 3: 12:30 pm

Round 3: 1:00 pm
Extemp Draw 4: 1:45 pm
Round 4: 2:15 pm

Congress Schedule:

Session 1: 8:45 AM – 10:30 AM

Session 2: 10:45 AM – 12:30 PM

Lunch Break

Super Session: 1:15 PM – 3:00 PM

Awards will be held at Petersburg High School at the completion of all speech and debate rounds

CONCESSIONS and LUNCH:

Lunches for competitors, coaches, and judges are included.

AWARDS:

Awards will be given to the top 3 finishers in each category. Sweepstakes and runner up sweepstakes trophies will be given to the schools with the most points in each division (speech and debate). The top six in each event will receive a bid to the RFSDL National Qualifier on January 17th at Cosby High School.

REGISTRATION:

Please go to http://crimsonwave.tabroom.com

You will need to create a Tabroom.com account with an email and password (free). Add your entries and judges.

Direct any tabroom questions to Sanchez@richmondforum.org

All registrations will be due by December 8, 2025

With Gratitude,

Tournament Host: Terri Smith, tesmith@petersburg.k12.va.us

Tournament Director: Lucretia Anderson, Lucretia@RichmondForum.org and Sanchez Tucker, Sanchez@RichmondForum.org