The

Katy Taylor High School

Fall Classic Forensics Tournament

is proud to serve as a bid tournament for

The National Tournament of Champions

held annually at the University of Kentucky

in

Congress--Tier 2 (Top 16)

Public Forum--Finals Bid (Gold)/Semi-finals (Silver)

Individual Events--Based on event entry

and

NIETOC--the 2026 National Individual Events Tournament of Champions

in Shakopee, Minnesota

Dear Colleagues,

You are cordially invited to attend the HYBRID Katy Taylor High School Fall Classic Forensics Tournament on November 13-15, 2025.

All DEBATE events (except the newly added in-personal novice congress) will be virtual on NSDA Campus. Please note that all debate events begin on Thursday, November 13.

All INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (along with novice congress) will be in person on the Taylor campus on Saturday, November 15.

NEW THIS YEAR--We will be adding in-person novice congress, which will run concurrent with our Section B events.

We are a TFA qualifying tournament. As such, we will follow TFA rules in all events. We will be offering all TFA qualifying events as well as impromptu speaking, prose and poetry. We will also offer a novice division in extemp, novice interpretation, PF, LD and Policy if entry numbers warrant. A novice for our tournament will be defined as a student in his/her first year of high school competition in the current academic year. (Please note that students who competed in high school tournaments--against high school competition--while in middle school are not eligible to compete as novices in our tournament.)

The championship divisions in debate will consist of 4 preliminary rounds (5 rounds in Varsity Public Forum) leading to an elimination bracket. All novice divisions will debate 3 preliminary rounds, leading to eliminations. WE WILL NOT BREAK BRACKETS IN DEBATE.

Please note that, in accordance with recent TFA rule changes, students from the Taylor speech and debate team may be competing in tournament events.

We hope to see you in November.

Sincerely,

Gay Hollis (merryghollis@katyisd.org) and

Greg McGee (gregoryamcgee@katyisd.org)

Taylor Debate