Invitation – N. Hall HS Autumn Classic Sept. 16-17, 2016

Dear Colleagues:

We are delighted to extend to you and your students an invitation to the NHHS Autumn Classic Speech and Debate Tournament to be held Friday, October 16 (Evening Congressional Debate) and Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. We will offer the following events: Two-person novice, JV, and Varsity policy debate, novice and varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate,  novice and varsity public forum debate, extemporaneous speaking, impromptu speaking, dramatic interpretation, humorous interpretation, duo interpretation, and original oratory. We will offer program of interpretation (POI) in light of the change in GFCA qualifying events. We will also be offering middle school level impromptu speaking and original oratory. Congressional debate will be offered on Friday, September 16 from 7:00- 9:00 pm in the media center of the school.

We request that you follow the GFCA resolution stating that "a novice debater should be a student who is debating his/her first national high school resolution in high school tournaments."  Debaters with five or more rounds of experience should compete at the varsity level.

Registration is available on the Tabroom.com website: http://autumnclassic.tabroom.com.   You may register entries until 5:00 pm on September 13, 2016.  Interested entrants beyond that deadline should contact the tournament director Steve Wang, at steven.wang@hallco.org.

Please take the time to look at the tentative schedule available via Tabroom.com.

There are many hotels in the Gainesville area.  Should you be in need of lodging recommendations, please contact tournament director Steven Wang, steven.wang@hallco.org.

Judging Requirements

Schools must provide one judge for every two congressional debaters, one judge for every two Lincoln-Douglas debaters, one judge for every two policy teams or public forum teams, and one judge for every 4 individual events entries or any fractions thereof.

You will need to specifically request hired judges. We will fill as many hire requests as we can in the order they were received, but we are very limited on the number of judges for hire available.  Please be aware that if you request judges near the tournament date, we may not be able to meet your needs, so you should plan on filling as many judges as you possibly can provide for yourselves.

Fees for hiring a judge are $150.00 per debate judge, and/or $100 per speech judge.   Please note: We’d much rather have your guest judge for the tournament than judges’ fees.  Judges available for hire are very limited; if you fail to request a hired judge but one is needed, then you will be assessed the judge’s fee or any part thereof as appropriate.

Tournament Fees

School Fee                               $25.00

Individual Events                     $15.00 per entry (1 Duo = $30)

Lincoln-Douglas                         $15.00 per debater

Policy Debate                          $30.00 per team

Public Forum                           $30.00 per team

Congressional Debate              $10.00 per entry

Middle School events              $10.00 per entry

Round Categories

Impromptu Speaking:

Text Message; The Year to Come; According to Frederick Douglass; Stranger in a Strange Land; and The Portable Mrs. Parker

Extemporaneous Speaking:

Domestic, International, Domestic, International, and Domestic

Registration Limitations

Debaters (policy, novice policy, novice Lincoln-Douglas, Lincoln-Douglas, novice public forum, and Public Forum) may NOT double enter.  Friday Congressional Debate isn’t considered a conflicting registration for Saturday debaters.

Individual Events competitors may double enter in individual events ONLY.  They may NOT double enter in Saturday debate events.  Friday Congressional Debate isn’t considered a conflicting registration for Saturday IE competitors.

Registration fees will need to be paid on a per school basis, so if your students are paying their own way, please collect those fees into one form of payment for the tournament. Registration (coaches only please) will take place in the front lobby of the school.  Judges will need to register/sign-in in the hospitality room.

Drop fees and/or nuisance fees will be applied for drops and changes made beyond deadlines.

Please may checks payable to North Hall High Friends of Forensics.

Please be aware that Wi-Fi may or may not be available. It is far safer to plan to bring all cards and evidence with you, or to access via Iphone, laptop, etc.  Printing of documents for entrants will not be possible as print resources will be required by the tab room in order to run the tournament as smoothly as possible.

Our team and parents are working very diligently to provide a quality tournament. A coaches/judges hospitality room and a concession stand will be available. As always, we expect this year's tournament to run in a smooth and timely manner. We hope to see you at the Autumn Classic!

Sincerely,

Steve Wang

NHHS Speech and Debate Coach

Tentative Schedule:

Debate:                Extemp Draw                     IEs:

8:30 Rd. I              8:15 EX Draw 211                8:45 Rd I

10:15 Rd. II           9:45 EX Draw 211               10:15 Rd. II

11:45 – 12:45 Lunch available on campus         

12:15 Rd. III          12:15 EX Draw 211              12:30 Rd. III

2:15 Rd. IV           1:45 EX Draw 211                2:00 Rd. IV

3:45 Rd. V             3:15 EX Draw 211                3:30 Rd. V

5:30 Awards                                                     5:30 Awards