GENERAL INFORMATION

General TFA State 2022 Information

The entire 2022 Texas Forensic Association's State Tournament will take place at Gregory Portland High School & Gregory Portland Middle School Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, March 10-12, 2022. This year the awards ceremony will take place on Saturday at 8 pm CST at Veterans Memorial Auditorium located 3750 Cimarron Blvd, Corpus Christi, TX 78414.

Since this marks the 50th state tournament, this year’s theme is “Go for the Gold” so we will have registration along with an opening ceremony outside where we will recognize our scholarship winners, top qualifying schools and other preliminary awards, along with door prizes for all in attendance.  For schools with no issues (no entry or judge changes; no payment issues), you will just pick up your ribbons and pins and enjoy the opening ceremony with your students.  Registration and the opening ceremony will take place outside at the football stadium on the Gregory Portland campus on Wednesday, March 9th beginning at 6 pm.

For schools with any registration issues, you can send your students into the stadium seating while you resolve your issues at registration which will begin promptly at 6 pm and conclude by 9 pm CST. Late registration (not highly suggested) will take place on Thursday, March 10th from 7:00 am to 10:00 am in the library at GPHS.  If you have any issues (entry or judge changes; payment issues), please come to registration and take care of them during those times. Late registration will be difficult, as preparations for the tournament will be happening at that time, so please attend registration on Wednesday night.

Please notify Lillian Adeyemi at lillianadeyemi@gmail if you have an emergency that will not allow you to make late registration.

ALL COACHES:  Please Fill Out This Form HERE  

Though we don't like to think about emergencies happening during TFA State, previous experience has demonstrated that things do happen, and it is really important that we are able to reach an emergency contact for each adult member that is responsible for their squads. Thanks!

IMPORTANT DEADLINES 

• Friday, January 21, 2022 – Schools may begin entering TFA State-qualified students on tabroom.com. Please register all qualifiers AND any students who may qualify before the end of the TFA competitive season. Please send your check as soon as possible. Treasurer, Noah Recker, will issue refunds for any overpayments immediately following the conclusion of the state tournament. It is better to pay for students who don’t end up qualifying than it is to send your check with insufficient funds.

• Friday, February 18, 2022 at 5:00 PM CST – Last day to check TFA website for accuracy of the IQT reports for all TFA State qualifying entries and submit any necessary corrections to the IQT Coordinator (Nicole Cornish at ncornish@athensisd.net).

• Friday, February 25, 2022 at 11:55 PM CST – LAST DAY – All schools and entries must be entered on the tabroom.com website.  Entry fees are also locked at this time - drops after 11:55 PM CST on this date will be charged the original entry fee. 

• Monday, February 28, 2022 – All t-shirt orders must be finalized by 12 midnight CST.  Based on your order, Noah Recker will update your tabroom.com invoices. You will see your updated invoice on your tabroom.com fees sheet by March 1st.  Please be aware that if you order late you will have a balance to be paid in full at registration. Click to order your shirts HERE

• Tuesday, March 1, 2022 at 5:00 PM CST – LAST DAY – All schools may DROP entries without an additional Drop Fee (schools will lose entry fee as of Friday, Feb. 25th). After March 1st at 5:00 PM CST, schools will be charged twice the entry fee for dropped entries.

• Tuesday, March 1, 2022 - ALL JUDGE PARADIGMS DUE on tabroom.com.

• Thursday, March 3, 2021 – Total payment for tournament entries, fees, and shirts must be received by Noah Recker at 225 Bluebonnet Road, La Vernia, TX 78121.  Due to the tournament being in-person, Puchase Orders (or similar documentation) will be accepted as proof of payment this year but check needs to be paid at registration on Wednesday, March 9th. If Noah Recker does not receive full payment at registration schools who have not paid will not be able to compete at TFA State 2022 and result in a day of drop.

• All original oratory, informative speaking, and main event oral interpretation manuscript(s) titles and/or ISBN numbers must be submitted ONLINE on the tabroom.com website by Friday, March 4th 5:00 PM CST.

CHECKS MUST BE MADE PAYABLE TO:

THE TEXAS FORENSIC ASSOCIATION 

Send to Noah Recker at 

225 Bluebonnet Road, La Vernia , TX 78121

IMPORTANT PAYMENT INFO

FULL PAYMENT for the tournament and/or P.O.s MUST BE RECEIVED BY NOAH RECKER by Thursday, March 3, 2022 or the school will be DROPPED from the tournament. Again, it is strongly recommended that schools enter students who may qualify for the State tournament, so that full payment may be requested and sent before the deadline to ensure that it will be received by the March 4th deadline.  Again, for the fees associated with any students who do not qualify by the final weekend of TFA competition, Noah Recker will issue that team a full refund for those non-qualified students after the conclusion of the State tournament.  If you have questions or concerns regarding your school’s entry, or payment, email BOTH Lillian Adeyemi (lillianadeyemi@gmail.com) and Noah Recker (noah.recker@lvisd.org). If a school is unable to meet the deadlines for payment, entry, or any other deadline associated with the administration of the 2022 TFA State Tournament, that school and its competitors risk disqualification from the tournament. 

CROSS-ENTRY INFORMATION   

·         A student may enter a maximum of three IE events (DI, HI, POI, OO, INFO, USX, or IX) total, but a student may only enter in one division of extemp.

·         A student may enter both Duo and Duet.

·         A student may enter only one debate event (LD, CX, PF, Congress, or WS).

·         Students in debate events may enter up to 2 IEs.

EVENT RELATED SPECIFICS

US Extemp topic areas:

Round 1- The State of the Union

Round 2- The Midterm Elections

Round 3- American Economics

Quarters- Health and Education

Semis- Foreign Policy and National Security

Finals- Justice and Social Issues

Foreign Extemp topic areas:

Round 1- Europe, Asia, and the Americas

Round 2- Russia and Ukraine

Round 3- US Foreign Policy

Quarters- Middle East and Africa

Semis- Economic Concerns

Finals- International Relations and Global Issues

Impromptu topics:

Round 1 - New Words in the Dictionary

Round 2 - And the Oscar Goes To

Quarters - Recently in Stuff

Semis - People on the Cover of People

Finals - Words of Advice

Congress Legislation

Prelims 1

2 / 7 / 26 / 3 / 24 / 18

Prelims 2

29 / 30 / 12 / 10 / 4 / 1 

Semis 

5 / 8 / 13 / 17 / 6 / 22

Finals

28 / 25 / 14 / 15 / 9

***NOTE*** - ADDED 3/7

For clarification, at TFA State in Congressional Debate:

1. The Congress Docket for each round of debate is locked. No other items may be debated. Legislation must be debated in the order listed.
2. No item may be tabled until it has been debated, per definition in #3. 
3. Debate on an item means that at least one of the following has occurred: one cycle (authorship/sponsorship and a con speech) or three speeches on the same side.  At this point, an item may be tabled, or previous question may be moved. 
4. Competitors will not receive any other legislation beyond what is posted.   

Public Forum will use the 2021 March topic - Resolved: In the United States, the benefits of increasing organic agriculture outweigh the harms.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate will use the 2021 March/April NSDA topic - Resolved: In a democracy, a free press ought to prioritize objectivity over advocacy.

Policy Debate will use the 2021-2022 topic - Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its protection of water resources in the United States.

World Schools Prepared Motions

Round 1 & 2: Impromptu

Round 3 & 4: This House would eliminate the filibuster in the US Senate. Teams will debate both sides.

Round 5: This House supports the normalization of cancel culture. 

Round 6: Impromptu

Partial Octos: Impromptu

Quarters: "This House, as NATO, would reduce barriers to membership for European nations."

Semis: Impromptu 

Finals: This House regrets the rise of block chain technology. 

Original Oratory and Interpretation Documentation

It is not necessary to upload any documentation this year, but if there is a protest, schools are expected to produce the flat copy of the speech/piece in question to the Ombudsperson in a timely manner. Schools are still expected to upload Title, Author and ISBN information for all registered interpretation pieces and Title information for OO & INFO by Friday, March 4th at 5:00 pm. 

Oratory/Informative – In the event of a protest, original oratories and informative speeches must have a works cited (MLA Format) page. Each student is allowed to have no more than 150 quoted words in their original oratory/informative speech, and all quoted words must be UNDERLINED or HIGHLIGHTED on the flat copy of the original oratory/info.

Interpretation - Students may use 100 words as transitional words/phrases. These words/phrases must be written legibly (in ink) on the flat copy of the script.  Every word from the text that is used in the performance must be UNDERLINED or HIGHLIGHTED on the flat copy of the script. In case of a protest, the flat copy submitted must include every stipulation from above, along with a page number on each page used and a copy of the bibliographic page.  It MUST also be an actual copy of a script - schools MAY NOT type their own copy.

Please use the cover sheets below for your flat copies that you will keep on file in case of a protest. 

INTERP COVER SHEET

OO/INFO COVER SHEET  

CONSOLATION EVENTS INFORMATION

Schools with interested students should PRE-REGISTER for the consolation events. If you opt to not use a consolation spot you can drop that spot before 10PM CST Friday, March 11th . 

Registration for consolation events (Poetry Interpretation or Impromptu) needs to be completed by 10:00 PM CST on Friday, March 11th. Competitors in main events who advance to outrounds/elimination rounds may not be re-registered for consolation events. Only students who do not advance to any outrounds/elimination rounds in main events may enter consolation events. Each school is allowed a maximum of 5 entries in each consolation event. Material used in consolation events must meet the same publication guidelines for main interp events. 

PROTEST INFORMATION/PROCEDURES

• All coaches have a responsibility to check pairings and/or give students MJP/strike information to ensure students are not being judged by individuals that have been struck. Concerns must be raised before the round in question begins. Protests associated with struck judges will not be heard after the round in question has begun.

• If the need to file a protest arises, the coach of the protesting school must put the protest in writing on the official protest form that will be available online. Our Ombudsperson room will be located in the library throughout the tournament, but the official protest form must be filled out completely and submitted either online or in person to the Ombudsperson to discuss the protest.  Procedures for filing protests shall be followed as found in the TFA Constitution.

SWEEPSTAKES INFORMATION

With regard to tabulation of sweepstakes points, a competitor will only receive sweepstakes points for the highest level that the student is able to reach in a particular event (points do not accumulate throughout the tournament in one event). Also, in individual events ranks of 6 and 7 will be changed to 5.

DISSEMINATION OF BALLOTS 

TFA State Tournament will be utilizing tabroom.com this year.  All ballots will be made available for viewing online for COACHES OF RECORD ONLY after each round of tabulation has been completed.  Please DO NOT come to the Tabroom asking for ballots – they will be made available after each ballot is submitted and tabulated for that round.

TFA STATE STORE IS NOW OPEN FOR PREORDERS 

TFA Store will have very little limited items for sale this year, so get all your TFA swag and 50th Anniversary items HERE at our online store.  Remember all proceeds go to our scholarship winners!