North Texas Longhorns District Qualifier

for the 2020 National Tournament

Individual Events

The Individual Events portion of the North Texas Longhorn NSDA district will take place on Friday & Saturday, February 28-29. The events that will be offered will be the main events offered by the NSDA (Dramatic Interp, Humorous Interp, Duo Interp, Program of Oral Interp, US Extemp, Foreign Extemp, Original Oratory, and Informative Speaking). You may see the rules for those events by finding the Unified High School Manual on the NSDA website. Please be sure to find the one that is about the Pilot Rules for the district tournament. They are very similar but there are some notable differences. See the information below for the things you will need to know to effectively compete in the tournament.

TOURNAMENT LOCATION

We will be holding the tournament at Colleyville Heritage High School. The address for the high school is 5401 Heritage Ave Colleyville, TX 76034. Further instructions as to parking and where to enter will be posted later on the website.

ENTRY REMINDERS

You may enter the tournament by submitting the names of your competitors on this website. Please adhere to the entry qualifications necessary for the tournament.  You must provide the following:

·           single entry intent form  (instructions are on the information page)

·           "green sheet" for proper entry into the tournament. (you may print that from the tournament entry page)

·           Please note that you also must submit the titles of the interp selections your students will be using.  You also must be willing to provide the text of your original oratories as well. NSDA rules do not require the district committee to examine those unless they are called into question. You do not have to submit the original script unless the cutting is called into question. You must then be able to provide any original scripts. 

You must provide all of that information seven days prior to the tournament date. Please submit your entry and information by Friday, February 21. You may bring your green sheet, single entry intent form, and entry fee check to the tournament with you. Please bring proper payment with you on Friday, February 28.  That will allow us to meet all of our necessary expenses in a timely fashion. In addition you must supply the following:

For interp selections--You must bring to the tournament the original script/book as well as a photocopy with highlighted lines from which you have taken the cutting. 

Original Oratory--You must have oratory copies that we will keep with a cover page noting the number of quoted words. Those words must be highlighted so that we can check them during the competition. ((These will only be examined if the selections you use are called into question))

JUDGE PROCUREMENT AND PROCEDURE

All coaches are encouraged to submit names for possible judges to the district committee. The district committee will be responsible for the procurement of judges for the tournament. If you have individuals wishing to be in the judge pool for the tournament, please give their names and contact information to one of the district committee members.

We will follow these procedures in procuring judges:

Potential judge pool procured February 16

Notify judges of hiring February 19

If you know of persons interested in judging at the tournament, please have them contact David Huston (david.huston@gcisd.net) 

Please note: Because we have had difficulty in procuring judges in recent years, the district committee has determined that each school must be willing to provide up to two rounds of judging for each of the individual events and debate tournaments. Please enter that judge's name(s) on the appropriate part of this website. We will use these judges only when our hired judge pool has been exhausted or those individuals can no longer judge entries that are left in the tournament. Judges affiliated with schools may be hired by the tournament, but may not be counted against a school's obligation unless those persons are willing to be named as the school's designated judge. 

Use of computers at the tournament

We have chosen to be a pilot for the implementation of computers in all appropriate events at the tournament. In Individual Events, extemporaneous speaking competitors will be allowed to access the internet during the extemp draw. They may not communicate with other competitors or coaches while doing so. The rules for that use may be found in the Unified Manual for Piloted Events/Computer Use. As has been allowed in the past, computers may be used to store extemp files. We will be checking computers as well as the more traditional extemp tubs prior to the beginning of the tournament and prior to the beginning of the final round. This check is done to guarantee that all sources and/or files being used comply to all NSDA requirements and regulations. Contestants using computers must supply their own power source (that would be their own internal battery). Students will not be allowed to use electrical outlets in the room as a power source.

 HOSPITALITY

We will have hospitality available for coaches and judges at the tournament. Food will be provided by the NSDA district. For students, the Colleyville Heritage High School speech and debate team will have a well stocked concession stand. Please plan to have your students eat at the school as there are very few eating establishments within easy walking or driving distance from the high school.

TOURNAMENT DUTIES

The district committee understands the importance of this tournament. Much criticism is often leveled at individuals and the committee because of a lack of transparency and people not understanding how things are being done. That will not be the case at this tournament. All coaches will be expected to accept a role of some kind. We will need volunteers to run the extemp draw and help with hospitality.  The district committee will make those assignments based on the entries we receive for the tournament. We ask that you accept the assignment and take your duties seriously.  Our goal is to allow any coach that wishes to fully understand how students have been assigned to sections, how judges have been assigned, how the tabulation was conducted, and how final rankings have been determined to be provided with that information. We are hoping that will minimize problems and allow all to feel as if their students indeed had the best chance possible to qualify for the national tournament. Please expect an e-mail in the week before the tournament detailing those assignments.  We thank you in advance for your cooperation in these efforts.

The District Tournament manual has been amended to require an audit committee and a posting of results for all rounds. Coaches will ultimately be responsible for the accuracy of the results. We will be following these new requirements and procedures. You may find a copy of the most recent district tournament manual on the NSDA website.

Special tabulation information: The NSDA is moving to an online balloting system, especially for debate, using the tabroom.com website. At the end of each round, coaches will be able to see ballots and results by logging on to the website. There is a built in audit system for the website that may supercede the need for an audit committee. 

ENTRY FEES AND PAYMENT

The entry fee schedule is listed on the information page. Entry fees should be made out to:

North Texas Longhorn NSDA District

c/o Jordan Inneraty

PO Box 250373

Plano, TX  75025

***SPECIAL NOTE: WE WILL BE USING CROSS EXAMINATION IN THE FINAL OF THE EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING EVENTS. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS ARE PREPARED FOR THAT PROCESS. ALSO, WE WILL BE CHECKING THE EXTEMP TUBS AND COMPUTER FILES OF INDIVIDUAL SCHOOLS AND COMPETITORS TO GUARANTEE THAT ALL MATERIALS IN THE TUBS AND COMPUTERS CONFORM TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF NATIONAL SPEECH & DEBATE ASSOCIATION COMPETITION.