Registration Instructions

In 2021, registration for the LHSSL Tournament of Champions will be open to any high school student from a LHSSL-member school. Unlike previous years, qualification for State is not required.

All schools MUST have a balance due of $0 prior to your entry for State being permitted. School memberships must be paid. Any entry fees from any of the LHSSL tournaments during the year must be paid by Thursday, March 18. If not, the Executive Council reserves the right to instruct the Tournament Director to remove the school’s entry from the tournament.

Tournament schedule outline:
Friday, March 19 - Congress prelims in the afternoon
Saturday, March 20 - Congress finals in the morning and Spring Coaches’ Meeting at 2 pm
Thursday, March 25 - Prelims in all events in the afternoon
Friday, March 26 - Prelims continue in the afternoon
Saturday, March 27 - Debate prelims finish in the morning, elims of all events follow

Registration procedures:

1. Select competing students, events, and partners (where applicable).

2. Follow entry deadlines
a. Congress entries must be submitted by Wednesday, March 17

b. All other entries must be submitted by Friday, March 19

3. Observe entry limits.
a. Students may enter only ONE Debate Event.

b. Students may enter up to TWO Main Individual Speech Events.

c. For the purposes of these restrictions, Congress and Duo are exempt from the above restrictions. Students may enter these in addition to the events above.

4. Enter selection information. This is a two step process:
Step 1: In tabroom, you need to complete the required information for:
OO and POI - Title
Dec, DI, HI, OI, Duo - Title and Author/Speaker

Special note about OI: For "Title", enter the Prose title first, followed by a slash (/), followed by a title of the Poetry program. If multiple poems are used, enter the name of the poem that serves as the central theme of the program. For "Author", you should also use a slash to separate the authors of the Prose and Poetry programs (list prose author first).

Note: At the State Tournament, a competitor MAY NOT perform the same selection in any two or more events.

Step 2: On the tournament’s tabroom site, there are directions on how to share a PDF of the manuscript. This is required.

5. Enter Judge Names and Availability.
a. Each judge MUST have a tabroom account. We will use texts/emails to alert judges that they have ballots to be picked up.

b. Use the Judge Notes to indicate information the tab staff needs to properly place judges. For example, are there schools besides yours for which the judge is conflicted (e.g., used to teach there, graduated within the last 4 years)? You can also use the notes to tell us if there are certain events within the judge category for which the judge is better suited (e.g., Policy preferred, no interp). Do NOT use this for time restrictions (see step c). Update the Judge Notes as necessary.

c. Indicate which days judges are available. After step b is complete, click "Save Details". On the next screen, you will see the judges' names listed. Tabroom initially assumes that any judge listed is available for ALL rounds in the category. If that is false, please click on the words "all rounds" next to the judge name (located under the column marked "Availability" – see screen shot below). This will take you to a new screen that shows the tournament schedule for that category. If a judge is unavailable at a specific period of time, please click on the word "available" at the right (see screen shot below). This will change to mark the judge as unavailable in that time slot. Select all slots for when the judge is unavailable. Update your judges' availability as more information is known.

The screen you will see looks different from what is below. You will see 4 time slots (Thursday, Friday, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon), rather than each individual round in its own time slot. Judges you secure MUST be available for all time slots in the shift marked as “available”.

Important note: the number of judges you owe for a judge category is the number of judges per time slot. If you owe 2 judges for debate, then that is 2 judges for EVERY preliminary round, and at least the first elimination round. You can have as many people as needed throughout the weekend to fulfill your per round obligation. 

d. School's judge obligation is one round past your school's elimination in that category. If no one from your school reaches semis in individual events, then your school still must provide the required number of judges for the semis. If at least one student breaks to semis, then your school still must provide the required number of judges for finals.

e. There is NO judge bond this year. However, if an assigned judge misses a round and has to be replaced, the school will be fined $30. Judges who are not assigned for a round may have to report to a Judge Pool Room.