Invitation

Debate Season Opener* Richmond Forum Speech and Debate League #1

*Must be a member of the RFSDL to register. Contact Sandra@RichmondForum.org to join.

Dues are $150 for 1-10, $250 for 11-20, $350 for 21-30 students, and $450 for 31+ students.

WHEN: October 24, 2026

WHERE: George H. Moody Middle School, 7800 Woodman Rd., Henrico, VA 23228

EVENTS:

Middle school students are required to compete in the Novice category. Middle school students are required to compete in the Novice category.

1. Lincoln-Douglas: Novice** and Open, 4 rounds.

TOPIC: Resolved: Outer space colonization is a moral imperative.

2. Public Forum: Novice** and Open, 4 rounds.

TOPIC: Resolved: The United States federal government should enact a moratorium on hyperscale data center construction.

3. Student Congress: 2026 RFSDIL Congress Changes***

• Individual students will no longer be sponsoring legislation, bills will be sent in by their coach. Legislation will not be connected to a specific competitor but the school.

• All legislation for prelim tournaments (Oct-Dec) will be submitted together. Each school competing in Student Congress will be submitting 1-2 bills per monthly tournament (3-6 bills total). The deadline for prelim bill submission will be October 3, 2026.

• Bill packets will be more precise: they specify three bills per session. The bill packet will be released at least two weeks prior to the tournament date.

• We will qualify six students per preliminary tournament to arrive at a total of 18 competitors (a single chamber) for the qualifier tournament in January.

***Please visit this Congress Document for further information

Please see the Congress 2026 Prelims Bill Topics Document Here
Legislation templates can be found here.

Coaches must add your team’s legislation to their school's Google folder for Congress Bills by October 3rd. If you do not see a folder for your team, please email sandra@richmondforum.org so that we can add your team.

4. Policy Debate: Open, 3 rounds.

TOPIC: Resolved: The United States federal government should establish national health insurance in the United States.

**Novice debaters must be in their first year of competitive debate or a middle school student. If there are not enough numbers to operate a separate novice bracket, they will be combined into the open division but top novice awards will still be given. Please indicate on Tabroom if a competitor is in his/her first year of competition.

JUDGE OBLIGATION:

1 judge for:

…every 2 Lincoln-Douglas Debate entries or fraction thereof,

…every 2 Public Forum Debate entries or fraction thereof,

…every 2 Policy Debate entries or fraction thereof,

…every 5 Student Congress entries or fraction thereof.

COSTS:

Schools in good standing with the Richmond Forum Speech and Debate Initiative League dues will not incur any competition fees. Schools that have not paid dues may attend without joining the league, but must pay an entry fee of $20 per student entry ($40 for partner events). Only RFSDIL member teams may earn a bid to NCFL qualifiers in January.

DROPS:

Drops (for any reason) are permitted up to 48 hours before the tournament with no penalty. Drops within 48 hours require schools to honor the entry fees AND still require the original judging quota. If the original judging quota is not met upon registration, students may not be able to compete. Students may not be able to compete. The League reserves the right to charge a $75 dropped judge fee.

SCHEDULE:

Registration/Check-In: 8:00 am to 8:30 am

Judges Meeting: 8:30 am to 9:15 am

PF/LD Debate

Round 1: 9:15 am to 10:15 am

Round 2: 10:30 am to 11:30 am

(Lunch between Rounds 2 and 3)

Round 3: 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm

Round 4: 1:45 pm to 2:45 pm

Policy Debate

Round 1: 9:00 am to 11:00 am

Round 2: 11:15 am to 1:15 pm

(Lunch between Round 2 and 3)

Round 3: 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Congress

Session 1: 9:15 am to 10:45 am

Session 2: 11:00am to 12:30 pm

(Lunch after session 2)

Super Session: 1:30pm-3:00 pm

Awards: 4:30 pm

CONCESSIONS and LUNCH:

Lunches for competitors, coaches, and judges are included. Concessions may or may not be available. Please plan to bring snacks accordingly. Lunch is not provided for observers.

AWARDS:

Awards will be given to the top 3 finishers in each category. Sweepstakes and runner up sweepstakes trophies will be given to the schools with the most points in each division (speech and debate). The top six in each event will receive a bid to the RFSDIL Qualifier on January 23 at Clover Hill High School.

REGISTRATION:

Congress Registration is due by October 3rd. All other events are due October 19th.

Please go to http://richmondforumdebateopener.tabroom.com/

You will need to create a Tabroom.com account with an email and password (free). Add your entries and judges.

Direct any Tabroom questions to your tournament director Sandra Wheeler at sandra@richmondforum.org