Information/Fees

Platform:        TBD

Entries:           Entries will be accepted until our spaces are filled. We have a limited number of rooms, so plan on entering early! All entries dropped after 5:00pm on Friday September 25th will lose their original entry fee. A nuisance fee will be charged in addition to the original entry fee for drops after 5:00 pm on Tuesday, September 29th. 

Judges:

Policy Debate and World Schools – One judge for every two entries, or portion thereof.   YOU MUST PROVIDE AT LEAST ONE JUDGE. Total buyout will not be permitted.

Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum – One judge for every four entries, or portion thereof. 

Congressional Debate – One judge for every eight entries.

Extemporaneous Speaking – One judge for every six entries, or portion thereof.

Asynchronous Individual Events (HI, DI, Duo, Duet, Prose, Poetry, POI, OO, Informative) – One judge for every six entries, or portion thereof.

*All judges/hire requests must be entered on the website by Friday, September 25th at 5:00pm or you will be assessed missing judge fees, which will be set. We need to get an accurate idea of how many judges to hire. Provided judges are always preferred to fees. Schools of judges who are scheduled to judge rounds and do not pick up ballots will be assessed a fee of $25 for every missed round. Committing to a judge and then not providing that judge will result in a missing judge fee assessed on the day of the tournament.

Debate Event Topics:

Cross-Examination Debate – NFHS Topic 

Lincoln-Douglas Debate – September/October NSDA Topic

Public Forum Debate – September/October NSDA Topic

Congressional Debate – The current TFA docket will be used. 

Lovejoy Prelims - Items 1-5

Lovejoy Finals - Items 6-10

Rock Hill Prelims - Items 6-10

Rock Hill Finals - Items 1-5

Fees:

Missing Judge (IE/Debate) - $150

Individual Event, Duo/Duet Entry, Extemp, Congress - $20

LD, PF - $30

WSD, CX Entry - $40

Payment of Fees:       Schools should mail a check payable to Lovejoy Speech and Debate Booster Club to cover all fees. While we understand that COVID-19 has created some delays of payment, we would appreciate if you can have a Purchase Order or proof of payment (emails with business offices would suffice) by the start of the tournament. If you are unable to do this, we understand, but will require that all accounts be paid in full within 30 days after the tournament. All delinquent accounts are subject to a $100 fee.

Cross-Entering:          Students may participate in only 1 synchronous event (CX, LD, PF, Congress, WSD, and Extemp). Students may be entered on both sides of the swing in Extemp and Congress. There are no cross-entry restrictions in asynchronous Individual Events. We will be providing cushion for each synchronous event in the schedule, however, participants with insurmountable technological issues or with extreme tardiness could be forfeited from the round.

*Novice divisions will be collapsed without sufficient entry. We will make the final call regarding novice divisions by Monday, September 28th. Novice is defined as any first-year competitor. Competing in an event for a first time does not necessarily make a competitor a novice. Trying to manipulate this rule has an extreme negative impact on our activity. Please double-check your entry to make sure that your students are entered in the appropriate division.

Student Behavior:      All competitors and judges are held to the rules and regulations of the Texas Forensic Association. A coach (or other teacher) from every school, or a parent must be immediately available online at all times while students from said school are competing. Parents/Guardians may attend the tournament with (and be responsible for) their child(ren) if a school representative is unavailable. Failure to comply with these guidelines may result in forfeiting the school from competition.

Other Notes:

We will make every effort as a tournament to run on schedule and will attempt to accelerate when possible. We ask for your patience and cooperation in the event that this is not possible.

We believe that oral critiques and disclosure are valuable teaching tools in debate.  However, an oral critique does not replace a well-written ballot, as that is helpful communication at this time of the year between the judge and coach.

Panels will be provided for all TFA events in semifinals.

 We will NOT break brackets in debate.

The third/forth round of debate will be power-matched (hi-low).

For debate events: depending on the number of entries, the forth prelim round may be eliminated in favor of another elim round in order to comply with TFA guidelines limiting the number of rounds per day while also enabling the tournament to give points according to the TFA Point Schedule.

In IEs with 24 or less total entries, we will have 2 preliminary rounds followed by a final round. Please note, this can cause a final with more than 6 students. With 25 or more entries, it will be 1 preliminary round followed by semis.

Awards will be given for students placing in the top 6 in IEs, top 8 in Congress, and advancing entries in debate events.

Trophies will be shipped after the completion of the tournament. A portion of the school fee contributes to the shipping of trophies.

Please pay attention to the TFA Constitution as it will govern this tournament. Of particular note is the difference in the Super Congress. From the Constitution: "In Super Congress, Speeches are four minutes, with two-minute questioning of speakers introducing legislation as well as the first negative, and one minute of questioning for subsequent speakers. Each questioner has 30 seconds within the one or two minutes to engage in direct questioning with the speaker. During direct questioning, all questioning periods are broken into 30-second segments, with one questioner per segment, who may ask multiple questions of the speaker during that segment. The Presiding Officer must track and select questionnaire based on recency the same way speakers are recognized. Recency for speaker should be tracked independently of questioners."  You can find the full TFA Constitution here: https://txfa.org/documents/2020-21/TFA%20Constitution%208-5-20.pdf