IW Invitational

Main
You are cordially invited to the I-W Invitational, a collaboration between Irvington & Washington High Schools, building upon the Vikings & Polygon Invitationals from previous years.

This tournament will be hosted at Washington High School,38442 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA 94536

We will offer two divisions of parliamentary debate. The Varsity Division, run Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10, will feature five preliminary rounds, and will break to quarterfinals. The Novice division, with four preliminary rounds and a semifinal and final round, will be Friday and Saturday as well.

Campus Map
Coaches/chaperone check-in is in the Library 4-4:30
Students and judges check in with their coach/chaperone.
After checking in, students please go to the Cafeteria
Judges and coaches stay in/near the Library
To view the map, click here: tinyurl.com/MapOfWHS2026

Resolutions

Topic Announcements (Varsity and Novice): tinyurl.com/topicannouncements2026

Topic Committee: Rhea Jain, JJ Telebrico

Novice topic area for 1 prelim: nuclear energy

Open topic area for 1 prelim: Arab states of the Persian Gulf

Round Rules
All rounds will use NPDL in-person round rules

Schedule

Open - Friday, October 9

4:00-4:30PM Coach/Chaperone/Judge check-in (in the library)

4:30-4:40PM Judge Training (in the library)

4:40PM Round 1 topic announcement

6:10PM Round 2 topic announcement

7:40PM - 8:00PM Break

8:00PM Round 3 topic announcement

Open - Saturday, October 10

9:10-9:20AM Judge check-in (in the library)

9:20-9:30AM Judge Training (in the library)

9:30AM Round 4 topic announcement

11:00AM Round 5 topic announcement

12:30PM - 1:10PM Break

1:10PM Quarterfinals topic announcement

2:40PM Semifinals topic announcement

4:30PM Finals topic announcement

Novice - Saturday, October 10

9:10-9:20AM Coach/chaperone check-in (in the library)

9:30AM Round 1 topic announcement

11:00AM Round 2 topic announcement

12:30PM - 1:10PM Break

1:10PM Round 3 topic announcement

2:40PM Round 4 topic announcement

4:30PM Finals topic announcement

Fees
Varsity: $80/entry
Novice: $60/entry

Fines
Late entry: $50/entry in addition to entry fee
Ballot not picked up on time: $50/incident
Ballot not submitted on time: $50/incident
Late payment: $50
There are no drop fines, but entries dropped after October 4 must still pay the entry fee.

Payment Instructions
Payment is due by October 8.
See instructions here: https://washingtondebate.club/pages/iw

Chaperones
- The on-site chaperone is responsible for checking in their school during the on-site registration Friday, 4:30-5:00 PM.
- The on-site chaperone must be reachable by the tournament director at all times during the tournament.
- Because the on-site chaperone must be available at all times during the tournament, they may not also be entered as a judge. Schools with only 1 or 2 entries may ask the tournament director for an exception at least 1 day prior to the judge entry deadline.
- The on-site chaperone is responsible for having on hand the medical forms and parent contact information of all students in attendance.
- The on-site chaperone must be able to reach any of their school’s students or judges and escort them to the tab room if needed.
- The on-site chaperone must remain on campus for the entire duration of the tournament.

Judges
- The judge requirement is 1 judge for every 2 entries. The judge requirement is calculated separately for Varsity and Novice.
- Saturday prelims are staggered. Adult Novice judges may be asked to judge Varsity rounds. Similarly, Varsity judges may be asked to judge Novice rounds.

- If entering a student to judge the Novice division, note in the comments that it's a student, in order to avoid that judge getting assigned a Varsity round.
- All judges are obligated through the first elimination round or one round past the elimination of the last team from their school, whichever is later. They may be dismissed earlier at the discretion of the Tournament Director.
- All Varsity division judges must be at least 18, have graduated high school, and be fluent in English.
- All judges eligible to judge Varsity are also eligible to judge Novice. In addition, students with at least 2 years of high school debate experience may judge Novice.
- We will be using online ballots. All judges must have a device that can access the internet.
- Coaches are responsible for ensuring that each of their school’s judges has a Tabroom account with working email and text notifications.

Judge Instructions
Coaches are also responsible for ensuring that their judges familiarize themselves with our judge guide prior to the tournament.

I-W Judge Guide 2026-27

Entry Limits
Every school may enter up to 6 entries in Varsity and up to 6 entries in Novice.
Any further entries will be waitlisted, and then admitted if there is enough space.
In the event that the tournament fills up early, entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Novice Eligibility
A team may compete in the Novice division if both students on that team:
- are in their first year of high school debate competition or are in middle school
- did not attend more than 5 debate tournaments
- if they attended a summer debate camp, did not attend more than 2 debate tournaments
- are not in their third or more year of speech/Congress competition

School Eligibility
- All students must be enrolled in a high school.
- All school entries must compete under the name of the school they attend.
- All school entries must be accompanied by their school-approved chaperon.
- Each school is allowed one maverick entry in Novice. No Varsity maverick entries are allowed.
- Each entry may maverick in one prelim in case of an emergency, with permission of tournament director. The missing partner would receive 0 speaker points. No mavericks in elims.
- Each school is allowed one hybrid entry in Novice, and one hybrid entry in Varsity.

Independent Entry
- Students competing independently must be accompanied by an on-site chaperone named on their waiver form (see below).
- By October 5, the parents of each student competing independently must submit two waivers
- If students from a school compete as school entries, other students from that school may not simultaneously compete as independent entries.
- All independent entries from a school must compete as "[School Name] Independent" - unless a different name is approved by the tournament director.

Tiebreakers
1. Winloss from prelim round(s)
2. Points from prelim round(s), except the 1 worst
3. JVar based on Population - Z2 from prelim round(s)
4. Coinflip from prelim round(s)

Equity/Protest Form

Please come talk to tab if you have an equity or protest issue. Read the instructions at the top of the form to determine if you have an equity or protest issue.

Awards
We pride ourselves in having the most angular trophies in the nation.

Dress Code
We encourage casual wear.

NPDL Approval
This tournament is approved to count for NPDL rankings and will be a qualifier to the 2026 NPDL Tournament of Champions.