Dear Colleagues, 

CHANGES TO THE TOURNAMENT HAVE BEEN MADE, PLEASE MAKE SURE TO READ THROUGH THIS INVITE:

On behalf of the Alta Silver and Black Debate Program, we cordially invite you to attend the 29th annual Silver and Black Invitational Tournament to be held at our beautiful facility on Thursday November 30, Friday December 1, and Saturday, December 2, 2017.  The Alta team promises to continue our tradition of providing a forum for top-notch competition, friendly hospitality, and efficient tournament administration. Entries will open on  September 11, 2017 at 5pm.

We are a National Tournament of Champions qualifier at quarterfinals in policy debate, quarterfinals in L-D debate, and quarterfinals in Gold public forum debate and Octofinals for Silver PF for 2017-2018.  Among TOC qualifying tournaments, you will find that the Silver and Black Invitational is one of the most affordable in which to participate.  As a Delta Airlines western hub and with new routes established on Alaskan Airlines, it is very easy to find low-cost tickets.  Hotels typically average $80-99/night. A hotel block has been set up at the Fairfield Inn and Springhill Suites in Draper, as well as Hilton Garden Inn and another hotel listed on the Hotel Block page. Salt Lake City is beautiful in December and boasts "the best snow in the US."  Please don't forget your festive winter attire because it often snows during Silver and Black. 

All events will take place at Alta High School and its accompanying LDS seminary building and Baptist church/Seminary Building.

Rounds & Balloting

NOVEMBER LD AND PF TOPIC TO BE USED THIS YEAR!

In order to offer a more humane schedule, the tournament will only have 6 preliminary debates.  Thursday will include 3 prelims, Friday will have 2 prelims and Saturday will have 1 prelim followed by elimination debates. Please make sure to view the new tournament schedule. 

ALL BALLOTING WILL BE COMPLETED ONLINE.  ALL JUDGES ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A TABROOM ACCOUNT. Please make sure that your judges know their log in and password if you or your student create an account for them.

*Also, please make sure that they have logged in and have access to their account prior to the tournament.

In accordance with National TOC rules for their tournament: Wifi will be allowed during rounds, but students may only use this for flowing and access to files. Any attempt to contact or communicate with individuals outside their partner in round via text, email, chat, or the like will result in forfeiture of that round.  (see TOC Tournament Guidelines)

Judging Preferences

LD and Policy will be using mutual preferred judging. Entries must be covered by qualified judges. Policy and LD judges are expected to have already completed a judging philosophy and posted it on the judge philsophies wiki or on their tabroom account, no later than November 1, 2017. As a courtesy to out-of-state schools that will not be able to cover all of their entries, we will arrange judging services on a case-by-case basis.  Please request judging hires at registration and contact Tanya Roundy directly if you need to arrange for a hired judge or are a judge who wishes to be hired, no later than October 31st.  

Schools with judges who do not show up for rounds will be assessed a $25 fine per round missed in prelims and $50 for Elimination rounds. Reminder that your school is responsible to have judges stay one round past your school being eliminated fully from competition.

Judging commitments are 2 rounds per LD/Policy and 3 Rounds per PF.

Tournament Fees
Due to increased expenses in running the tournament we have raised the event registration fees nominally. Despite this our rates are still considerably reasonable compared to other TOC tournaments. *Utah Schools will not be assessed the same fees.

 $40 per Lincoln-Douglas debater

$70 per policy or public forum team,

$45.00 school fee. 

Hired Judging:

LD: $40/round

Policy: $50/round

PF: $30/round

Drop Fees: $15/drop after 11/20/17 (Nuisance Fee)

11/24/17 No online drops or changes, all obligations frozen. (If you have drops or drop your school after this point you will still be responsible for paying these fees as well as drop fees. Please plan ahead!)

Entry Limits

Because the tournament has reached capacity well before the entry deadline in the past and to provide for more diverse competition, we will be instituting entry limits of three team in each event per school.  Registration will close early if the tournament reaches capacity before the deadline!  If there is any additional space after the registration deadline, we will admit applicants from the waitlist until the tournament reaches capacity, which may allow more teams from schools to compete. All TBA entries must be made names by 11/20/17 to avoid being dropped.  

Final Note

The Silver and Black Invitational draws many competitive teams from all over the Pacific Coast, Mountain region, Southwest, and several large teams from the Midwest and East Coast. Last year, 533 debaters from over 12 states attended, with 80+ schools represented, and with our continued commitment to draw the very best from all across the country, we hope that this year's Silver and Black Invitational proves to be one of the highlights of your TOC travel schedule. 

The tournament staff looks forward to hosting a well-run tournament, which will draw many competitive teams from around the nation.

Sincerely,

Tanya Roundy and Carol Shackelford

Tournament Directors 

drmajnke@gmail.com