Welcome to the

2025 Westlake Thunderdome

Speech and Debate Invitational

General Information:

Dates: October 24th-25th, 2025

Location: Westlake High School

99 S 200 W Saratoga Springs, UT 84045

Tournament Host/Director: Kimber Rodeback, krodeback@alpinedistrict.org

Cost: $25/day ($50 both days)

$4/person per event

Judges: Speech 1:6, Async 1:6, CX 1:2, Debates 1:4, Congress 1:6

(Judges can judge both speech and debate events)

Students may double-enter in Speech Events (except for extemp)--at their own risk. The tournament will not be held up for double entries. They may only participate in one Debate event, but there are several async event options!

Speech Topics

• Mixed Extemp rounds will have 2 National and 2 International options for each speaker

• Impromptu topics will include people, things/ideas, and quotes

Debate Topics

• Novice/Varsity PF Topic - Resolved: The United Kingdom should rejoin the European Union.

• Novice/Varsity LD Topic - Resolved: In the United States justice system, plea bargaining is just.

• Novice/Varsity BQ Topic - Resolved: Moral systems rooted in theism are preferable to non-theistic moral systems. ***NSDA UPDATED

• Novice/Varsity Policy Topic - Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly increase its exploration and/or development of the Arctic.

***The novice policy packet rules will apply to novice policy debaters***

We are scheduling a food truck

A variety of concessions are available with debit/credit cards or Apple Pay only! No cash accepted!

Events

Friday: Novice and Varsity Speech Events

Novice

• Mixed Extemp

• Impromptu

• Mixed Interps (HI/DI/DUO/POI)

• Oratory

• Informative

Varsity

• Mixed Extemp

• Impromptu

• Interps (HI/DI/DUO/POI--Depending on number of entries will determine if they are combined or held separately.)

• Oratory

• Informative

Saturday: Debate Events

Novice

• Public Forum

• Policy

• Lincoln Douglas

• Big Question

• Congress (First session will be a learning session, as needed for novice)

Varsity

• Public Forum

• Policy

• Lincoln Douglas

• Big Question

• Congress

Async Events

• Lip Sync

• Newscaster

• Original Poetry

• Declamation

• Story Telling

Schedule

Friday:

• 2:30-3pm Online Check-in

• 3pm Judge Instructions in Judge/Coach Lounge

• Extemp Prep to Start at 3:15pm and 15 min before the start of each round.

• 3:30pm Round 1

• 5:30 pm Round 2

• 6:30 - 7:30 Dinner (7:15 extemp prep start)

• 7:30 pm Round 3

(We will run rounds faster if possible)

A food truck will be available between 4pm-7pm

Concessions will be available all day!

Saturday:

• 8-8:30am Check-in

• 8:30am Judge Instructions in Judges/Coaches Lounge

Debate (Double flighted PF/LD/BQ) Congress

Round 1 9-11am Session 1 9-11:30

Round 2 11-1pm

Round 3 1-3pm Session 2 12-2:30

A food truck will be available between 11am-2pm

Concessions will be available all day!

Awards on Saturday at 4:00 pm

Awards for the Top 3 in each event! The top 5 will be announced!

*Sweepstakes will be determined using NSDA points

Speech: Points by placement per round

Debate: Points by win/loss per round

Congress: Points by placement overall