38th Annual Grapevine Classic

38th Annual Grapevine Classic Speech and Debate Tournament

Dear Colleagues,

Please accept this as your personal invitation to attend the 38th Annual Grapevine Classic TFA, TOC, and NIETOC qualifier to be held September 11-13, 2026, as an in-person tournament. We will be hosting all events at Grapevine High School and Cross Timbers Middle School, which share a parking lot.

This year, we will continue to have one of the best Tabrooms in the country. We are excited about the schedule of events, the level of competition, the quality of judging, and the unique opportunities provided this year. We hope you can participate!

We are happy to offer all the TFA events, as well as Prose and Poetry. This year, we will offer Junior Varsity divisions for Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, and Public Forum Debate, and Novice Divisions for Extemp and Interp. We believe in providing quality educational experiences and are committed to ensuring all students have a positive tournament experience, with feedback to help them learn and grow. Entries in the Junior Varsity/Novice divisions will not be eligible for TFA state points or bids to NIETOC or TOC.

We are working to better accommodate our students' health and needs by moving late elimination rounds in debate to Sunday morning to ensure a reasonable tournament schedule. Covid taught us a lot about the health of our students. We do not feel it is in the best interests of students to force through an unhealthy number of rounds in a single day. The final out rounds (if needed) will take place Sunday morning at Grapevine High School. Teams may also choose to schedule and compete in these rounds virtually if that is amenable to all teams involved. Last year, this impacted Policy Debate and Public Forum Debate. We plan to finish any impacted events on Sunday and hire out a small pool of judges to make this possible, serving the health and well-being of our students while also ensuring traveling teams can make it back home on Sunday. The schedule will be available soon.

Debate Events

Please note that The Grapevine Classic is a quarter-finals bid qualifier for the National Tournament of Champions (TOC) in Policy, Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, a top-6 qualifier in Congress, and the finals of World School Debate.

World Schools Debate Motions and Congressional Debate Legislation can be found on the sidebar menu.

Individual Events

Please note that The Grapevine Classic is a NIETOC and TOC bid tournament for individual events, based on total event entries. All IE competitions will take place on Saturday, September 12 at Cross Timbers Middle School.

Independent Entries

We do not accept independent entries. A school coach or adult authorized by a school administrator to serve as the school sponsor must enter students to the Grapevine Classic on Tabroom and attend all times at the Grapevine Classic. Students may not register themselves and cannot be registered by parents - they must be registered by an appointed school employee.

Jonathan Brody Service to Debate Award

Please remember to nominate a Senior Debater for the Jonathan Brody Service to Debate Award given since 1997. Information is included on this site. Nominations are due on Friday, September 4 by 5:00 pm. We are proud that Jon's parents continue awarding a scholarship to the Brody Award Winner each year.

Grapevine Classic Top Competitor in Individual Events

The 38th Annual Grapevine Classic will see the return of a scholarship award to the top-performing Individual Events competitor. Grapevine has a long, storied history of success in both debate and individual events. We wish to recognize excellence on both sides by offering a scholarship to a debate student (the Jonathan Brody Award) and to an individual events student. Thank you to Stefany Cambra for donating to make this scholarship possible.

Questions? Reach out!

We know that you have many tournaments to choose from on any given weekend - we would be so grateful if you choose to join us. While we work hard to provide all necessary information, there will always be questions that pop up. The best way to have your questions answered is to email us!

Sincerely,

Jane Boyd and Stef Cambra, Tournament Directors

Janegboyd79@gmail.com

Stefany.cambra@gmail.com