Virginia District Qualifier

for the 2018 National Tournament

Virginia NSDA District Tournament

The Virginia District of the National Forensics League will conduct its national qualifier tournaments on March 17, 2018 at Fluvanna County High School (Speech events) in Palmyra, VA, and April 13-14, 2018, at Sherando High School in Winchester, VA. The tournament is open to all schools listed as members of the Virginia District of the National Speech and Debate Association. Check the NSDA website to determine your school’s eligibility (www.speechanddebate.org).

Locations 

The speech portion of the tournament will be held on March 23, at Fluvanna County High School, in Palmyra, VA.

The congress tournament will be held on Friday, April 12, at Lord Fairfax Community College-Middletown Campus, 173 Skirmisher Lane, Middletown, VA 22645. The debate portion of the tournament will be held on Friday and Saturday, April 12-13, at Sherando High School, Stephens City, VA.

 Hotels

Contact Craig Edgerton for hotel information for the speech tournament. Contact Arch Painter for information regarding hotels for the debate tournament.  We will not be reserving a block of rooms for either weekend this year since we are not using a hotel facility for the congress tournament.

 Registration 

Registration will only be accepted through the Tabroom website. Go to http://virginia.tabroom.com and register your school if you do not already have an account there –there is no charge to set up an account. Once you have registered your school with the website, the link for tournament registration will be http://virginia.tabroom.com. If you encounter problems, email me, and I will try to guide you through the process. Registration must be complete by 4:00pm, March 12 for the Speech tournament. Registration must be complete by 8:00pm, April 6 for Student Congress and the Debate tournament. After the deadline dates, all fees are final. If a student cannot attend and must drop, please email me immediately—on-site drops will throw the entire tournament off schedule.

 Awards

 Awards will be presented to the finalists in individual speech events and the top six competitors in the debate events.  The top 2 Senators and the top congress person in each chamber of the house will qualify for the national tournament IF the minimum requirement of 12 participating schools is met.

The top three entries in each of the speech and debate events will advance to the national tournament IF the minimum number of entries is met in the event.

 Concessions:

Food for students will be available for purchase at the school site.

 NSDA Rules

It is the responsibility of the coach to review and be familiar with all NFL rules regarding the events offered at the district tournament and the conduct of the tournament itself. Please review the District Tournament Manual prior to registration or at least prior to the tournament. 

Virginia NSDA Rules

Competitors are expected to arrive at rounds ON TIME. Any student who arrives at a debate or speech round more than ten minutes late may forfeit that round (a loss in debate or a rank of last place on all judge ballots in a speech round.) Exceptions will be made in speech rounds for students who are double entered.

In speech events, it is expected that students will perform an original interpretation of the material used for DI, HI, POI, or DUO. In the past there have been complaints that some competitors were simply replicating the gestures, choreography and cuttings found on the national final round videos. If the district committee finds that this form of artistic plagiarism is being committed by a performer or duo team, the committee reserves the right to inform the judges in all subsequent rounds that the performance is an imitation and not an original interpretation.

Students competing in OO and INF need to bring one copy of their speech, with sources cited, to be turned in at registration.