1st Annual Criterion Invitational

April 26, 2026

criterion.tabroom.com | criterionhelp@gmail.com

Welcome to the 1st Annual Criterion Invitational!

Tournament directors Vihaan Anand and Shriyaan Chatterjee cordially invite you to attend the 1st Annual Criterion Invitational, an online national invitational tournament hosted by Infinite Loop Labs, on April 26, 2026. We view this tournament as an opportunity to provide a service to the speech and debate community, and hope that our professionalism and commitment to operating a top quality tournament is apparent throughout this event.

The Criterion Invitational offers competition in nearly all debate events, including Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum (2 divisions), Policy Debate, Big Questions, and Congress.

Please take care of your tournament registration and all other arrangements as soon as possible so that we may accommodate all of your students who wish to compete. This will ensure a pleasant and trouble-free tournament for everyone, and allow us to host you in the way you deserve!

Registration for the Criterion Invitational will be done via Tabroom at criterion.tabroom.com. Questions about the Criterion Invitational should be directed to the tournament directors by emailing criterionhelp@gmail.com.

We've designed this tournament to be a groundbreaking and accessible event for the entire debate community. Here's what sets us apart:

• No Judge Obligation: To make participation as easy as possible, we are not requiring schools to provide judges for any debate event, with the exception of Congress.
• Low Entry Fees: We are proud to offer a flat entry fee of just $10 per entry, making our tournament an affordable option for programs of all sizes.
• Unique Awards: Instead of traditional trophies, top competitors will be rewarded with fun awards, including certificates, gift cards, and premium subscriptions to Criterion for free.
• Prep Night: On the day before the tournament begins, we will host an interactive online session for all competitors and coaches. This session will feature a discussion on the possibilities of AI in speech and debate, as well as a demo of Criterion, the AI that will be used to judge rounds. Afterward, anyone can stay in the room to prep or practise for the tournament the next day.
• AI-Powered Adjudication: All debate rounds (LD, PF, Policy, and BQ) will be judged by Criterion - a custom-trained AI designed to evaluate arguments based on logic and evidence. This system provides unbiased and instantaneous feedback, allowing debaters to focus purely on the strength of their argumentation. To provide a diverse competitive experience, Congress will still be judged by experienced human judges.

Best regards,

Vihaan Anand & Shriyaan Chatterjee

Tournament Directors

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The 1st Annual Criterion Invitational is sponsored by Criterion, an app built for iOS and macOS. Criterion is an AI-powered copilot for debate, designed to help you continually improve. You can manage your debate rounds, preparation files, and other materials. It supports all 5 of the major debate events: Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, Policy Debate, Big Questions, and Congress.

Features of Criterion include:

• Rounds: Keep detailed records of your rounds. You can record the speeches in your rounds and tournaments, which can be used by AI to flow, take notes, generate rebuttal ideas and cross-examination questions (“hints”), and even adjudicate practice rounds by generating a ballot.
• Preparation: Create and manage your prep, which can include cases, cards, blockfiles, cross questions, and other resources. You can access these easily in round, and built in AI will use them in your hints. As a bonus, we have an automatic card cutter, which can find great evidence tailored to your cases.
• Profile & Stats: Your Criterion profile is focused on improvement. To do this, it displays your statistics from your previous rounds (win rate, average speaker points), and it uses AI to analyze your feedback to generate actionable items to help you improve.
• Quality of Life: Criterion stores data in iCloud, allowing you to access debate data on your phone or your computer. It also integrates with Tabroom, which syncs round details and results at the tap of a button. Rounds are also connected with Calendar and they send push notifications so you’re always on top of your schedule. In addition, Criterion uses widgets and live activities, and has an integration with Siri, all to add convenience to your tournament workflow.
• AI-Powered Assistance: Criterion integrates with Gemini 3 to provide assistance with preparation and rounds. You can find this AI in several places, like generating flows and hints in-round, creating a ballot post-round, giving feedback on your preparation, cutting cards, and analyzing your feedback to help you improve your debate skills.

If you have any questions or feedback, or want to join our mailing list, don’t hesitate to email us at criterionhelp@gmail.com. To try out the app, download the beta at https://testflight.apple.com/join/C5XUzHhe.