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AWARDS OUTSIDE STUDENT CENTER — GRASSY QUAD ACROSS FROM LIBRARY

Welcome to the 2025-26 CFL Debate State Qualifier Tournament for the CHSSA State Championship!

Pre-Tournament Questions: coast.forensic.league+debate@gmail.com

Friday, February 27 & Saturday, February 28 @ Palo Alto High School

Directed by Julie Herman, VP of Debate

Hosted by Kyle Hietala, CFL President

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HELPDESK EMAIL: coastforensicleague2@gmail.com

TAB ROOM: 526

JUDGE CENTER & FOOD: Library

STUDENT CENTER & FOOD: Media Arts Center (MAC)

Palo Alto High School Map

WiFi: PAUSD Guest

[PARLI TOPIC DOC]

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All entries need to fill out the CFL SINGLE ENTRY LETTER OF INTENT if they are DOUBLE ENTERING in Speech and/or Debate and/or Congress.

All schools must have completed CFL's AND CHSSA's re-registration procedure (CFL Reg Info) and have paid their 2025 invoices.

SCHEDULE (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

Friday, Feb 27

Check-in: 4:00–4:40 PM

Schools not checked in by 4:40 PM by their legal chaperone at a designated tab room will be dropped from the tournament.

Round 1: 4:45 PM

Round 2: 6:45 PM [WARNING - this round may be pushed later depending on needs for double flighting]

Saturday, Feb 28

Round 3: 8:45 AM

Round 4: 11:00 AM

Round 5: 1:30 PM

Elimination Round 1 (If necessary): 4:00 PM

Elimination Round 2 (If necessary): 6:00 PM

TOPICS

LD - NSDA March/April: Resolved: The United States military ought to abide by the principle of non-intervention.

PF - NSDA March: Resolved: The United States federal government should ban corporate acquisition of single-family residences.

Policy - NSDA 2025-26: The United States federal government should significantly increase its exploration and/or development of the Arctic.

Parli - Middle Eastern Economic Development [PARLI TOPIC DOC]

JUDGING

Each preliminary round will be judged by 2 judges. Elimination rounds will be judged by 3 judges.

All event judging pools are combined, meaning judges may judge any event: Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, Parliamentary. Please consult the Judge Info Sheet for more information.

Judge obligation is 1 judge : 2 students (e.g. one judge per debate team , or one judge per 2 LDers) - Article XXVII.1

ELIGIBILITY AND ENTRY CAPS

Article XIV.5
A. State Qualifying competition shall be offered in each of the following events, though these may happen at two separate tournaments: Lincoln Douglas Debate, Policy Debate, Parliamentary Debate, Public Forum.
B. Eligible contestants shall have had at least one varsity win in a CFL competition during the current term (see II.1.B.4). One entry per event from each school may enter without a varsity win in each qualifier.
C. Each school may enter up to 5 entries each in LD, PF, Policy, and Parliamentary debate. Wild-card entries (see 2.K) do not count against the school's per-event entry limit. In PF/Parli/Policy the two partners receive their wild card as a team. Wild cards may only be used for the debate event in which they were won.

Article XIII.7
No late entries will be accepted.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

If you’re feeling sick, CFL strongly prefers that you not attend the tournament to protect other participants, including people who are immunocompromised and/or live with others who are immunocompromised. Although proof of vaccination and/or masking are not required by CFL, masks will be provided at the tournament for those who wish to wear them. No participant will be penalized for wearing/not wearing a mask; and all participants should respect each other’s health & wellness preferences, including (but not limited to) masking and social distancing.