IE information

I.E. Tournament Guidebook

PLEASE NOTE IE SCHEDULE CHANGE!!!!!!!! 

Competition in all Individual Events and Congressional Debate will take place at the Sheraton Dallas by the Galeria starting on Friday morning. 

Entry Deadline: Fees for all events must be received by September 25.

The Heart of Texas Invitational is pleased to announce that it is a bid tournament for the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions; in Extemporaneous Speaking, and Individual Events.

INDIVIDUAL EVENTS

The following events are being offered: Congressional Debate; Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking; International Extemporaneous Speaking; Original Oratory; Humorous Interpretation; Dramatic Interpretation; and Duo Interpretation. All events will follow the rules of the Texas Forensic Association. A short explanation of those rules will follow in other paragraphs. If you wish to have a more detailed explanation, you may find those rules in the TFA Constitution found at the association website, www.txfa.org . (Scroll to the bottom of the homepage and open the TFA Constitution.) All events are TFA qualifiers. 

ENTRIES

There will be three preliminary rounds of competition in each individual event. Elimination rounds will begin at the quarterfinal level of any event with 51 or more entries.

Students may triple enter in Interp and Oratory.

Students may compete in both extemp divisions (these students may only double enter).

Students may cross enter in USX and Congress (these students may only double enter).

A time schedule for the events may be found at the end of this invitation. A short explanation of each event is as follows:

Duo Interpretation —Selections used shall be cuttings from published printed novel, short story, play, or poem. Proof of material being published or printed shall be available upon request by the tournament director. Selections may be humorous or dramatic in nature. Time limit shall not exceed ten minutes with a thirty second grace period. The selection shall include an introduction within the time limit. The selection shall be memorized and presented without the use of scenery, props, or costumes. In Duo Interpretation focus may be direct during the introduction and the performers may look at each other, but must be indirect (off-stage) during the performance itself. Each of the two performers may play one or more characters, as long as performance responsibility in the cutting remains as balanced as possible. If the selection is prose or poetry and contains narration, either or both of the performers may present the narration.

Dramatic Interpretation -- Selections used shall be cuttings from published printed novel, short story, play, or poem of a dramatic nature. Proof of material being published or printed shall be available upon request by the tournament director. Presentation shall be memorized and without the use of props or costumes. Maximum time shall be ten minutes with a thirty second grace period.

Humorous Interpretation —Same rules as Dramatic Interpretation except the selection should be of a humorous nature.

U.S. and International Extemporaneous Speaking —Topics will be phrased in the form of a question and drawn from subjects discussed in standard periodicals during the current school year. Draw will take place thirty minutes prior to the scheduled speaking time. Contestant will draw three topics, select one, and return the unused topics. Time limit is seven minutes with a thirty second grace period. Contestants may not confer or exchange information with anyone during the preparation time. A note card may be used during the preliminary rounds.

Foreign Extemp

Round 1- International Hotspots

Round 2- Economic Concerns

Round 3- American Foreign Policy

Quarters- Global Organizations

Semifinals- Global Security

Finals- International Relations

US Extemp

Round 1- Donald Trump and the GOP

Round 2- Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party

Round 3- US Social Concerns

Quarters- Business and Economics

Semifinals- Military and Defense

Finals- Obama's Legacy

Original Oratory —The oratory is to be an original persuasive speech written by the contestant. Not more than 150 words may be direct quotation. A written copy of the oratory must be available upon request by the tournament director. Time limit is ten minutes with a thirty period grace period.

CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE

The Congressional Debate portion of the tournament will follow the rules found in the Texas Forensic Association Constitution. Again, you may find those requirements at the TFAwebsite( www.txfa.org ). The calendar for congressional debate will be based on the Texas legislation available on the TFA website. A specific division of the calendar is available on the Legislation Tab of this invitation, as well as the schedule for the tournament. There will be a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 16 individuals qualifying for the Super Congress for Saturday’s competition. The schedule for the Congress competition may be found with this material. Schools may enter up to 6 legislators, up to 3 of who may be considered for Presiding Officer. 

JUDGING REQUIREMENTS

You may enter up to six (6) entries in any of the Individual Events categories or Congressional Debate. For every six entries, or fraction thereof, you must provide six rounds of judging. A single judge may cover six rounds. The IE/Congress judging pools are one and the same. In the interest of providing a diverse pool for all events, be advised that you may be asked to judge events other than those in which you have entered students. Failure to report for an assignment or refusal to judge the event to which you are assigned causes delays in the tournament and may result in the dropping of your school's competitors from the remainder of competition or a significant financial penalty.

Please indicate the number of judges you will provide, the number of rounds each judge will cover (limit of six per person), the times those judges will be available, and the events the judge would be most comfortable judging. We will make efforts to be fair and accommodating of your preferences; however, our primary concern is providing students with an outstanding experience. If you need to hire judges to cover your judging commitment, you may do so by indicating so on the website when you enter. A full time judge (six entries) may be hired at the cost of $120; a judge to cover three rounds of competition may be hired at the cost of $60.

Judging assignments will be in your registration packets. If you have changes for your judges, please be certain to make them on the website as soon as you know. Dropping a judge at registration or at any time during the tournament will require a payment of $120 plus a fee of $50 for judge changes the week of the tournament for hiring a replacement at registration.Finally, school affiliated judges and coaches are obligated beyond the elimination of your students from the tournament. Do not plan to leave early on Saturday unless and until your judging obligations have been met.

ENTRY FEES/DEADLINES

Please enter as soon as possible to reserve yourself a space but remember that your entries are not confirmed until your fees are paid. The tournament does fill quickly and usually, long before the entry deadline. Each entry will be charged a fee of $30. A Duo team counts as one entry. Fees will be assessed when you initially enter the tournament and will become final September 15. Drops prior to that date will not be assessed additional fees. After that date we have an escalating fee structure for drops which can be viewed on our fees page. These fees are intentionally high particularly for changes the week of the tournament. Please plan carefully to avoid the charging of these fees.

ENTRY PROCEDURE

Entries will only be taken via the website. If you have problems with entries please contact tournament director Tim Mahoney (pacedebate@gmail.com ) or Individual Events Director Robert Shepard (shepardro@cfbisd.edu). Due to a premium on space, entries are limited to 84 competitors or teams in Individual Events and 60 legislators in Congressional Debate. Waitlisted entries will be notified IF space becomes available. Number of competitors in each event will be locked on Oct. 1 based on the number of entries that fees have been paid for. This is necessary because we have to pay for competition spaces at the hotel and we don't want to pay for spaces we won't need.

SWEEPSTAKES INFORMATION

Questions may be addressed to the tabulation room during the challenge period once results have been posted. The Tab Room is CLOSED and no ballots will be released until Saturday morning during the challenge period. Sweepstakes will be calculated using the following formula in IE’s and Duo 1 point for reaching quarters; 2 points for reaching semis; 3 points for reaching finals; 5 points for 3 ^rd , 7 points for 2 ^nd , and 10 points for 1 ^st . The formula for Congress will be: 1 point for reaching the super congress and 5 points for being recognized as outstanding congress person.