Invitation

California Middle School State Tournament

Friday, May 15th - Sunday, May 17th, 2026

Hosted ONLINE SYNCHRONOUSLY via NSDA Campus

Welcome

On behalf of the California High School Speech Association, I'm excited to welcome all California Middle Schoolers to our Online California Middle School State Championship Tournament held online via NSDA Campus! Our synchronous, online tournament dates are Friday, May 15th - Sunday, May 17th, 2026.

All middle school competitors in sixth through eighth grades, in public or private programs, in California are welcome to compete with other outstanding students from across the state. This Tournament is currently limited to middle students attending schools or programs based in California ONLY. Students need to be residing in California to be eligible for this Tournament.

Events Offered

We’re excited to offer a variety of events to showcase students' talents:

Speech Events:

• Spontaneous Argumentation (SPAR)

• Dramatic Interpretation (DI)

• Duo Interpretation (Duo)

• Combined Extemp (EXT) - Topics shall alternate between International and National topics

• Informative Speaking (INFO)

• Declamation (Dec)

• Program Oral Interpretation (POI)

• Poetry Interpretation (POE)

• Prose Interpretation (PRO)

• Original Platform (Combined OA and OO)

• Original Prose & Poetry (OPP)

• Humorous Interpretation (HI)

• Impromptu (IMP)

• Storytelling (STORY)

Backup Video Submissions: For Interpretation and Platform events, students may choose to submit a prerecorded video in case of technical difficulties during the tournament. If a student experiences a tech issue and has submitted a video, the judge will watch it instead. If no video is submitted and the student cannot perform, they will receive last place in the round. Videos must be uploaded to Tabroom by May 11 at 7 PM. Please keep in mind that the video shall only be used for genuine tech issues. Videos will NOT be used if students cannot make a specific round due to a time conflict.

Debate Events:

• Congressional Debate

• Public Forum (NSDA High School April Topic)

• Lincoln-Douglas (NSDA High School March/April Topic)

• Policy Debate (NSDA High School Year-Round Topic)

• Parliamentary Debate

Congress Legislation & Debate Topics:

• We welcome students to submit Congress legislation for consideration by April 11, 2025.

• Topics for Parliamentary Debate, SPAR, and Extemp will be released the week of April 20, 2026.

Rules

We will be following Rules for the following events:

• CHSSA Event Rules for: DI, Duo, Combined Extemp, HI, IMP, INFO, Declamation, Original Platform, OPP, POI, LD, PF, Parli, and Policy

• Our “breakpoints” per event shall deviate from the written CHSSA Rules and shall be dependent on entry numbers.

• NSDA Rules for: Congress, Poetry, Prose, and Storytelling.

• Stanford Rules for SPAR.

Tournament Format

We’re excited to offer a range of events in both Speech and Debate, with multiple preliminary and elimination rounds based on participation:

• Debate: 4 preliminary rounds with two judges per panel

• Student Congress: 4 preliminary rounds with multiple judges per panel

• Speech: 3 preliminary rounds

Breaks to elimination rounds will deviate from CHSSA Rules per event above, and shall be determined by entry numbers per event. We anticipate:

• Debate: Up to Triple Octofinals, dependent on entry size

• Speech: Semifinals or Quarterfinals, dependent on entry size

• Congress: Semifinals or Finals, dependent on entry size

Due to the Schedule this year, students CANNOT cross enter between Debate and Congress. Students shall be allowed to enter between Debate and Speech and Congress and Speech. Students competing in Speech are allowed to enter up to two (2) Speech events. If a student is entered in multiple events, they and their coaches are responsible for ensuring they get to their rounds on time. The Tournament shall not re-run rounds or give students extra prep if they are late to round or prep. The Tournament strongly discourages, but will not disallow, cross entry between multiple limited prep events (i.e., Extemporaneous Speaking, Parliamentary Debate, and Impromptu) due to the risk of losing prep time.

Judging Requirements

To ensure a great experience for students, all schools must provide judges.

• Debate: 1 judge for every 2 entries

• Speech & Congress: 1 judge for every 6 entries

• High school students are welcome to judge and may sign up here.

• Independent judges can sign up here.

To keep the tournament running smoothly, we will assess fines for missing rounds:

• $75 for the first missed round

• $150 for each additional missed round

• Schools with 5+ missing judge fines may be dropped from the tournament.

Judges for Speech and Congress are obligated for ALL Rounds of the Tournament. Institutions are allowed to “shift” their judges out and have one judge that covers their obligation on Saturday and one judge that covers their obligation on Sunday. Institutions should ensure that their judging obligations are covered in full.

Judges for Debate are obligated for one FULL Elimination Round after their ENTIRE team is eliminated. A partial elimination round does NOT count towards this obligation.

Key Deadlines

• Congress Legislation, Parli, SPAR & Extemp Topics Released: April 20, 2026
• Entries Due: May 1, 2026, by 7 PM
• Judges Due: May 11, 2026, by 7 PM
• Fees Finalized, Drops & Name Changes Deadline: May 11, 2026, by 7 PM
• Speech Video Submissions & Forms Due: May 11, 2026, by 7 PM

Fees

Last year, we received feedback from schools about the cost of entry fees which continue to affect Middle School Programs across the State. Due to rising operation costs, this year, we will be implementing a new fee structure that will operate as follows:

• Institutions with 25 or fewer entries across all divisions shall pay $20 for all events.

• Institutions with 26 or more entries across all divisions shall pay $40 for all events.

We do not want fees to hamper any institution’s ability to attend the CHSSA Middle School State Tournament. If you are interested in a full fee waiver, a partial fee waiver, or a possible discount for the CHSSA Middle School State Tournament, please fill out this waiver request form no later than April 3rd, 2026. A Waiver Committee shall convene to determine waiver requests. We strongly encourage programs to enter their entries early so that our Waiver Committee can make a decision based on the entry numbers on Tabroom. Notifications of awards will be sent out by April 24th, 2026.

Regardless of institution entry size, a $50 nuisance fee per occurrence shall be assessed for late entry adds or changes after May 1, 2026 at 7 PM. Please be sure to input all entries by then.

We can’t wait to welcome students, parents, and coaches to this exciting, challenging, and rewarding tournament! ✨

Save the dates, encourage your students to participate, and get ready for an unforgettable experience!

Warmly,

Xavier Liu

CHSSA Middle School State Tournament Director, on behalf of the CHSSA Middle School Tournament Committee