Tournament Information

DIVISIONS: 

Interp/Public Speaking Division:  

Notice: A student entering this division may not enter the Debate division. 

Section A: Dramatic Interp, Prose, Foreign Extemp , Original Oratory, Duo Interp, (a student may enter two events)

Section B: Humorous Interp, Poetry, Domestic Extemp, Program of Oral Interp (POI), Informative Speaking (a student may enter two events)

Congressional Debate

Students entered in Congress may also enter IE’s. They may not enter more than two IE’s in any of the sections.

Debate Division: 

Notice: A student entering this division may not enter the Interp/Public Speaking division.

Varsity CX/Policy Debate

Novice CX/Policy Debate

Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate

Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate

Varsity Public Forum Debate

Novice Public Forum Debate

World Schools Debate

*Novice is defined as a first year competitor in a particular event (grades 9-12) We would ask that you refrain from placing persons who have competed in other events in previous years in a novice division. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us.

Entries MAY be restricted to encourage a diversity of schools to enter.  The first four entries from each school (in each event) will receive priority. All entries will receive sweepstakes points. We will do all we can to accommodate those of you with large squads. However, our goal is to have as many schools with as many entries as possible attend the tournament. In other words, we'd rather have a school's first or second entry than another school's seventh or eighth entry. It's about participation, folks.

NO UNAFFILIATED/INDEPENDENT ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED.  BRACKETS WILL NOT BE BROKEN IN THE DEBATE EVENTS. 

DEADLINES:

Monday, January  31^st  at 5:00 pm  The completed entry is due on the Tabroom.com website. Entries will be closed at that time. 

Entry fees are calculated as of January 31^st  at 5:00 PM. Any changes made after that date (except name changes) will forfeit entry fees.  Any changes made before Monday, January 31^st   should be done on the website. For entry changes after the deadline,  please contact Dave Huston at 817-305-4763,  or e-mail changes to david.huston@gcisd.net. Are you getting the idea that January 31^st  is a pretty important deadline? 

Wednesday, February 2^nd at 5:00pm- Entry fees are forfeited.

SWEEPSTAKES FORMULA (ALL POINTS ARE CUMULATIVE):

There will be a Sweepstakes Award presented to the school that has the most points while competing in both the debate and speech divisions. We've changed the formula to only take the preliminary rounds and early elim rounds of debate into account. It's not that we don't care about debate, it's just that we don't usually get to know the final results until after the completion of the awards assembly.

JUDGE REQUIREMENTS:

We are changing our judge requirements as outlined below.  Rather than go on a per entry basis, we are going to use the “round” system. That count is for prelim rounds only. You will need to commit your judges to the number of rounds for which they are going to be available. For example, please do not put your judge(s) in for three rounds of debate, and then note they are only available on Saturday when there only two rounds of prelims available. Or, Friday only for three rounds but they will not be available for the first round. You get the idea here.

Round requirements for the various events are as follows:

3 rounds for each CX  debate entry

3 rounds for every 2 or fewer LD/PF debate entry (for instance, 3 LD entries will require 6 rounds of judging)

4 rounds for every 6 IE entries

1 round for every 8 Student Congress  entries

There will be a $225 fee for each debate judge not provided. There will be a $125 fee for each IE judge not provided. If school judges don’t show, that school will be charged for that missing judge. Debate judges must be available for one round past their competitor's last round. All judges must be prepared to judge ALL prelim rounds and one round past when their students are finished. You may only hire 2 judges. The school must provide all others.  Please note: Judges willing to judge beyond their  commitment will be compensated at $25 per round. Hired judges will be guaranteed a contract if they are willing to commit to the entire weekend. Hired judges should contact Mr. Huston if they wish to be hired. We will confirm that no later than Monday, January 31^st  .

CONGRESS JUDGE OPTION: Since some Congressional Debate entries are usually large enough that there will be a student from some schools in each chamber, Congress judges provided by schools are often not usable. Rather than have schools pay a fee, if a school is willing to provide a judge for another event to cover their Congress entry, we would gladly put that judge in that event. That would also include extra persons or rounds that schools are willing to provide to offset what they would owe for a Congress judge. If you are willing to do that, please indicate that on the judge entry screen by adding notes to the judge you provide. We will then waive the applicable fees for you. PLEASE NOTE: If you provide a Congress judge, and we can’t use them in Congress, know that they will likely be used in another event if they are known to be qualified. In other words, don’t put yourself in to judge Congress knowing that you have enough entries to not be useful. We will find another event for you.

AN ADULT CHAPERONE MUST BE IN ATTENDANCE AT ALL TIMES. A PARENT IS AN ACCEPTABLE CHAPERONE IF THEY HAVE  SCHOOL DISTRICT AUTHORITY TO HANDLE EMERGENCY SITUATIONS.