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THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

Moody College of Communication

Department of Communication Studies,Forensics Programs

2504A Whitis Ave A1105 l Austin, Texas 78712-0115

The University of Texas speech & debate programs invite you and your students to attend the 27th Annual Longhorn Classic Tournament to be heldon the campus of the University of Texas at Austin on December 4-6, 2026. The Longhorn Classic will be exclusively in-person.

In keeping with our commitment to a well-rounded forensics education, we will offer students the opportunity to compete in a variety of events, including both Championship and Novice Cross-Examination Debate, Championship and Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Championship Public Forum Debate, Championship World Schools Debate, multiple Speech categories,as well as the Longhorn Student Congress and NCFL style Oral Interpretation.The Longhorn Classic is a qualifier for the TOC and NIETOC in all relevant categories.

We intend to start letting teams off the waitlist on October 25th. Competitor entries and judge registration must be finalized by November 20th, the Friday before Thanksgiving. Unless it is to cover a team getting off the waitlist, the tournament will not accept new school judging entries after 11/27 - judge fees will lock and be applied to tournament judge hires. Fees will be applied after 11/20. TBA entries will be deleted after 11/20.

All judges are obligated to judge one full round(a partial round does not count) beyond the elimination of the school they represent. There will be a significant judge fee for "no show" judges.

There will be six preliminary rounds in CCX, CLD, and CPF, and five in CWS, NCX, and NLD. Individual events will feature two flighted patterns each with three preliminary rounds, followed by quarter-finals (top 24-32 students advancing depending on rank cutoffs, maximum of 50% in events under 48), semi-finals and finals. Due to logistical constraints and the massive size of the Longhorn Classic, we can not allow cross-over between individual events and the various debate categories (including Student Congress).

At the Longhorn Classic, the term "novice" denotes 1) an active middle school student, or 2) a student in 9th grade or above who entered their first season of NSDA format head-to-head debate competition in Fall 2026. If a 9th grade+ student's tabroom data has more than two head-to-head debate entries (CX/LD/PF/WSD) from Spring 2026 or earlier, then that student is not a novice. Previous semester PF or WSD debaters transitioning to CX or LD are not novices. Active middle school students are automatically novice-eligible. Students found to be in violation of this policy will be disqualified from the tournament without a refund. The tournament does not have the resources to check this in advance.

Only school sponsors/student chaperones should register. The tournament does not accept independent entries from students who reside and/or attend school in the state of Texas.

Entry Caps:

CCX - Quarters TOC Bid - 100 entry starting cap - 5 entries/school - Clear to Doubles (the current annual NSDA Topic)

NCX - 40 entry starting cap - 3 entries/school - Clear to Octos (the current annual NSDA Topic)

CLD - Quarters TOC Bid - 150 entry starting cap - 6 entries/school - Clear to Triples (Nov/Dec NSDA Topic)

NLD - 40 entry starting cap - 3 entries/school - Clear to Octos (Nov/Dec NSDA Topic)

CPF - Quarters Gold TOC Bid - 100 entry starting cap - 5 entries/school - Clear to Doubles (Nov/Dec NSDA Topic)

CWS - Quarters TOC Bid - 40 entry starting cap - 3 entries/school - Clear to Octos (TFA Nov/Dec IQT prepared motions)

Congress - Tier 2 TOC Bid - 160 entry cap - 5 entries/school

Entry caps are based on available rooms. Additional entries may be placed on the waitlist and we will pull in as many as our logistics allow.

IE Contestants may enter two events from each pattern. There will be no cross-entries between debate/Congress events and IE events.

Pattern A: Foreign Extemp (FX), Humorous Interp (HI), Dramatic Interp (DI), Original Oratory (OO)

Pattern B: US Extemp (USX), Program Oral Interp (POI), Informative Speaking (INFO), Oratorical Interp (OI - Prose/Poetry), Duo Interp (DUO)

Fees:

School Fee: $25

World Schools: $150

Open CX, PF: $125

Open LD: $100

Novice LD and CX: $80

Congress: $50

IE: $50

We look forward to hosting from Austin once again for one of the largest and most competitive tournaments in the country.

Sincerely,