Events

DEBATE

For Debate, Stratford will host both Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum, and we will be adding Congressional this year. While this is a Novice tournament, we will not use the Novice topics for either event.

We are now allowing for double entry between Debate and Speech events. If a student wants to enter LD or PF, they may also enter up to 2 speech events.

Coaches may double-enter judges to cover their obligations with one caveat: a judge can only cover one debate event in addition to speech, otherwise, they will be running non-stop to judge the whole weekend. We recommend registering your speech judges first, then double-entering them for one debate category.

Congressional

Congressional legislation will be released on 2/26/2021, two weeks before the tournament. We will be using the February 2021 NSDA docket. You can find the PDF attached to the right side of the tournament page.

We are currently planning to hold a maximum of 4 chambers of Congressional debate. If we get enough interest, we will increase those numbers. Congressional will run simultaneously with PF and LD. Congress debaters may still enter Speech events if they choose.

We are planning for 10-20 students per chamber with an approximately 90-minute runtime for each round, with a 30 minute grace period built in for any runover. If these numbers need adjusting because of intense interest or if we get an odd number of entrants, we will make those adjustments. There will be no finals for Congress.

Lincoln-Douglas

Lincoln-Douglas will use the March-April 2021 Topic. Competitors are not permitted to do live research during rounds. All competitors must be prepared to provide cards to judges & opponents at the start of each round to streamline cross and minimize the ability to spontaneously look up information mid-round. On Sunday, LD debaters will complete a fifth round and then break into quarters, semis, and finals. The Semifinal and Final rounds will be streamed live on YouTube for coaches, teammates, family and friends (streaming information TBA).

Public Forum

Public Forum will also use the March 2021 topic. Again, students are not permitted to do live research during rounds. All competitors must be prepared to provide cards to judges & opponents at the start of each round to streamline cross and minimize the ability to spontaneously look up information mid-round. On Sunday, PF debaters will complete a fifth round and then break into quarters, semis, and finals. The Semifinal and Final rounds will be streamed live on YouTube for coaches, teammates, family and friends (streaming information TBA).

SPEECH

All competitors may enter in up to two (2) Speech events, even if they are already entered in one of the debate formats, as Speech will be asynchronous, and the Speech finals will not coincide with the Debate finals. But, with the prospect of a live final, we do not want rounds delayed because of triple- or quadruple-entered competitors, so we are limiting Speech to double-entry only. Should a double-entered competitor reach multiple final rounds, that speaker will need to speak first in one event, and then they must transfer to the other room to speak last in their second event.

Speech events will not have a final round if the event category has fewer than ten (10) registered competitors.

COACHES, PLEASE NOTE: For the asynchronous speech rounds, judges will be assigned 1 round per day from Monday, March 8 - Thursday, March 12, for a total of 4 rounds. Judges will have 24 hours to submit their ballots before the next round is assigned. The final prelim round ballots will be due by Friday night. Saturday, we will tabulate the rankings and break sometime before the conclusion of the event that day so that we can host live finals on Sunday night, streamed on YouTube (streaming information TBA).

To ensure that speakers give the best presentation possible to the judges, and to ensure the judges can tabulate ballots easily and provide constructive feedback, please follow the NSDA guidelines for timing for speeches. Ensure you have good lighting in the room so judes can see you, and check your sound quality and volume for your recordings. If judges cannot see you, or can barely hear you, that will negatively affect your scores.

We are hosting Original Oratory and Duo Interpretation (subject to change) again this tournament, along with Expository, Interpretation (Dramatic & Oratorical), and Humorous Interpretation. All prep times will conform to the standard times.