Cooper’s message follows.

Bill Cooper’s original e-mail is included below.

Consider this a preinvitation to the 2010 edition of the Tim Averill Invitational at Manchester Essex Regional HS in Manchester, MA. The tournament offers competition in Open and Novice LD, CX, and Open Public Forum (if demand warrants, we’ll add Novice PF).

The tournament is 28-29 October 2010.

Open LD will debate the NFL’s NOVEMBER/DECEMBER topic–your first chance to debate it, to get ready for Minneapple, Hen Hud, and Glenbrooks. PF will debate the NOVEMBER topic.

We are committed to a high caliber of judging and will be hiring excellent critics.

LD will run according to the Scarsdale plan–Open Division Debaters in their third or fourth years may judge the Novice division, and the two divisions will run in separate flights.

A new feature of the Averill this year will be the Speech division, featuring Dramatic Performance, Duo Interp, OO, Extemp, and OI. We’ll also offer Congressional Debate.

Please note the dates on your calendar. Full information will be out over the summer at http://www.tabroom.com

Rose’s announcement continues:

The entry fee will be forty dollars. The University of Iowa will be providing breakfast and lunch as well as rooms for rounds, and we will be covering the costs of some quality volunteer judges with the entry fee. We can provide transportation to and from the airport. Contestants should fly into Cedar Rapids.

Once I have more concrete numbers, I will release the format, but the goal will be to get in as many rounds as possible while still having a relaxed schedule. There will be a minimum of six preliminary rounds.
We will also plan evening outings for the competitors. Registration will be Friday night, location TBD.

You are not required to provide a judge, but it would be greatly appreciated if you did.

Registration is due by March 1st. Please send registration to ernie.l.rose@gmail.com. Include in your registration the names of contestants and any judges who will be attending, along with arrival/departure information if you need transportation to and from the airport.

I already have highly competitive teams confirmed and am hoping more of you can join us. Please contact me at with any questions.

You can view the invitation after the jump.

Dear friends -

Registration is now open for the Tedd Woods II, hosted by The Harvard-Westlake Debating Team. The tournament will be LD only. We are offering 1 division of LD, but will have separate elimination rounds for first-year debaters. You can register at: Tabroom.com

Schedule:
* We will accelerate the schedule when we can. Food will be provided, so you should not leave campus.
** Novice breakout rounds will take place at the same time as varsity breakout rounds. We will clear no-more than the top 8. Only novices that have a winning record will advance to elimination rounds.

Saturday, February 20
Registration: 8:00am
Round 1: 9:00am
Round 2: 11:00am
Round 3: 2:00pm
Round 4: 4:30pm
Round 5: 7:00pm

Sunday, February 21
Registration: 7:00am
Round 6: 8:00am
Round 7: 10:30am
Octas (All 5-2): 1:00pm
Quarters: 3:00pm
Semis: 5:00pm
Finals: 6:00pm

Judging:
We are requiring schools bring 1 judge for every 3 entries. ALL JUDGES must be experienced flow-based Lincoln-Douglas judges. We will be using Mutual Preference Judge placement. Teams that do not hire from the tournament or that bring experienced and qualified LD judges will not have the opportunity to use Mutual Preference Judge placement, and all judges will be marked as “A+.” If you have questions about your specific judge, please contact Mike Bietz at bietz@victorybriefs.com.

We will have the ability to hire a limited number of judges at the cost of $220.00 per judge.

Half-time judges (judges covering only 1 debater) will have an obligation of 4 rounds. ALL JUDGES, regardless of prelim round commitment are obligated for the first full elimination round as well as one round beyond their final eliminated debater.

Fees:
$65.00 per debater.
$220.00 per hired judge.
$40.00 nuisance fee. Name changes (judge or debater) and drops will be assessed a $40.00 fee. All proceeds from nuisance fees will go to the Harvard-Westlake Debating Team’s charity of choice.

Fees include meals (Breakfast and Lunch on both days. Dinner on Saturday.)

Hotel:
Please stay at the Courtyard Marriott in Sherman Oaks. We have secured a rate of 119.00/night. It is only a couple of miles from the Harvard-Westlake campus and is equal driving distance from both LAX and Burbank airports.

Deadlines:
February 9: All registration due. Schools who do not have judge names entered (and approved) will be assessed the judging fee – this fee is not refundable since we will be making commitments to hired judges on this date.

February 9 is is also the drop deadline. All fees are frozen after this date. All changes must be done by emailing Mike Bietz. Also, nuisance fees (in addition to entry fees) will be assessed for changes. Name changes (Judge or debater) and drops will be assessed a $40.00 fee. Proceeds from nuissance fees will go to the Harvard-Westlake Debating Team’s charity of choice.

You can register at: Tabroom.com

Payments:
Payments should be brought to the tournament. Checks should be made to “Harvard-Westlake School.”

The GMNC will be held on March 26 and 27 at Iowa City West High School. Registration is available on Joy of Tournaments.

The tournament offers two divisions of policy debate and two divisions of Lincoln-Douglas debate. (Registration for LD is presently in a single division; coaches will indicate which debaters belong in which division later.)

Registration is available online at Joy of Tournaments.

To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary year, the teams of Newark invite you the 2010 Newark Invitational Debate Tournament. The tournament features a number of new features this season. The invitation is available here on VBD.

“Again,” notes Shelton, “thank you for your years of support. You have helped make debate in Newark possible.”

The invitation for the Lexington Winter Invitational can be found by clicking here. Registration is available on Tabroom.com under “Massachusetts Forensic League.”

The full invitation is available here.

The tournament offers five divisions of debate competition and six divisions of speech competition. The invitation can be found on Joy of Tournaments.

The full invitation is available here.

“In addition to our TOC level competition in debate we have amazing fields of competition annually with many states represented in the Individual Events and Student Congress!” notes Steve Schappaugh, on behalf of Tim Sheaff.

“Schools from as far away as California are making plans to join us once again and we hope that you will too. Information and registration can be found at Joy of Tournaments. If you have any questions about the event do not hesitate to contact Timothy Sheaff at any time. We are excited to host this event again this year!”

The Blake School is ready to host the forty-seventh version of the John Edie Holiday Debate tournament on December 18, 19, 20, 2009. The invitation and details can be found on the Joy of Tournaments website.

“We are very excited about this year’s tournament,” notes Shane Stafford. “The ‘bears’ will be back on our popular trophies and the judges and coaches can count on continued great food. Blake was honored by the National Debate Coaches Association last year as one of the best tournaments to attend. We hope we see both familar faces and some new faces this year.”

“The TOC bid in policy has moved to an octafinals bid,” he continues. “We continue to have our quarters bid in LD and finals in Public Forum. New this year is Congressional Debate, so consider bringing some congress students. Additionally, we will run our Public
Forum round robin again, but will run that on Sunday, December 20. If you have questions about the tournament, please contact me. The entire Blake community is excited and hard at work preparing to host you and your
students.”

The invitation for the Lexington Winter Invitational can be found by clicking here. Registration is available on Tabroom.com under “Massachusetts Forensic League.”

—
Kahn notes:

The PFI is a full-service tournament with top-quality competition in CX, LD, PF, Congress, DEC, DP, DUO, EX, OI, OO, and Impromptu. This year, we are a TOC bid tournament in 6 events: Policy Debate (Finals), Student Congress (Top 6), Extemp (all elims), DUO (pending entries, likely Top 6), DP (pending entries, likely Semifinalists), and OO (pending entries, likely Top 6). Debate and Congress are contested Friday afternoon in to Saturday, while Speech and PF are Saturday only. All events are open divisions, though Policy and LD have a Novice Breakout.

Though we are more than three months away, we already have registrants from three states in LD and are well on pace to exceed the seventy-five LDers from five states that we hosted last year. In the past, we have drawn competitors from all over Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. Last year’s LD champion was Sean Janda from LaSalle College High School. The Policy championship was shared by Edgemont High School and Newburgh Free Academy.

For more information, visit http://pennsburyfalcon.wordpress.com/ or contact Tournament Director Jeff Kahn at pennsburyfalcon@gmail.com. We hope to see you in February!

Pennsbury is located in Fairless Hills, PA, about 30 minutes north of Philadelphia and an hour south of New York. We are close to I-95 and SEPTA/NJTransit accessible.

“From there,” notes an e-mail from the Barkley Forum staff, “you will find the invitation for the 2010 BFHS and additional important information for the tournament. The website is open and ready to take your nominations. We look forward to seeing you all in January.”

“Highlights include a new hotel, the Doubletree, featuring a room rate of $89 a night,” notes Palmer. “Just ask for the Princeton Classic block to secure this rate…. We’ll also be hosting IE at the Princeton Day School on Saturday, enabling us to offer FIVE preliminary rounds of competition in IE events.”

“We’re back and better than ever!” notes Pittman. “Join us for a weekend of great competition, great food, and great fun in our amazing city.”

The tournament offers competition in Lincoln‐Douglas debate, Public Forum debate, policy debate, Student Congress, Extemporaneous Speaking, Humorous Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, Original Oratory, Oral Interpretation, and Duo Reading.

Dates: January 2-3, 2010 (required registration will begin at 4:00pm on January 1, 2010 at the tournament hotel)
Events: Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum, Policy Debate, Student Congress, Extemp, Dramatic Interp, Humorous Interp, Duo and Original Oratory.
Location: UCLA Law School
Tournament hotel: Courtyard Marriott in Sherman Oaks

The tournament is an Octafinalist Qualifier to the TOC in LD and a Semifinalist Qualifier in Public Forum.

Downloads:
Full Invitation
Entry Form

Text of the Invitation:

Dear Colleague:

You are cordially invited to the SoCal Championship/VBT High School Debate & Speech Tournament. We will offer: Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum, Policy, Student Congress, Original Oratory, Extemporaneous Speaking, Dramatic Interp, Humorous Interp and Duo Interp. We hope you can join us.

Once again we are planning on hosting our tournament on the campus of UCLA.

A couple of important notes:
1. We are now an Octafinals qualifier to the Tournament of Champions in Lincoln-Douglas Debate.
2. We are a Semifinals qualifier to the Tournament of Champions in Public Forum Debate.
3. Our registration process is changing a bit. We will still use an online system to make competitor and judge entries, but will be requiring a paper + payment registration for your registration to be complete.
4. We will be using a judge preference system this year in Lincoln-Douglas. We will be extremely diligent in making certain that all judges who are entered have a judging philosophy prior to December 15, 5pm PT. Schools will be charged a $100 penalty if they do not meet this commitment. Schools who do not have judge philosophies completed by December 31 will be charged the fee in addition to not having their own preferences honored.
5. Our tournament hotel is the Courtyard Marriott-Sherman Oaks. We were able to negotiate a rate that is significantly lower than last year’s rate. You can receive a rate of $99.00 per night by reserving through the website at:
http://cwp.marriott.com/laxsf/victorybriefs/ .

Please read through this entire document. Given that we are now a TOC qualifier in two events, both of which at higher level than last year, we anticipate that we will fill fast.

Do not make plane reservations until you have had your entries confirmed by Mike Bietz.

If you have any questions, please email Mike Bietz at bietz@victorybriefs.com.

DEBATE EVENTS

Lincoln-Douglas
Lincoln-Douglas will be a single division. Unless noted prior to the tournament, will be using NFL time limits. A school may enter a maximum of six (6) debaters. Approximately 200 debaters will be accepted into the competition. Students in Lincoln-Douglas may not enter any other events.

There will be seven prelim LD rounds. We will break to double-octafinals.

Public Forum
Unless noted prior to the tournament, Public Forum will be using the NFL time limits.

A school may enter a maximum of four (4) public forum teams. There is space for approximately 50 teams. Public Forum debaters may not enter other tournament events.

The January NFL Public Forum topic will be used.

We anticipate there being 6 rounds of Public Forum. We will clear up to an Octafinal level, but will not clear any team that does not have a winning record.

Policy
Unless noted prior to the tournament, Policy will be using NFL rules and time limits – 8-3-5. A school may enter four (4) policy teams. There is space for approximately 40 teams. We will clear up to a quarterfinal round, and will not clear any teams that do not have a winning record. Policy debaters may not enter other tournament events.

The resolution is: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase social services for person living in poverty in the United States.

Computers are allowed to be used in rounds.

Student Congress
There will be multiple chambers of approximately 20 students in each, with a Super Congress to determine final placement. Each school may enter a maximum of 10 Congressional debaters. NFL rules and time limits will apply.

Each school may provide a maximum of 3 pieces of legislation. Legislation must be in the proper NFL format and emailed as an ATTACHED MICROSOFT WORD document to bietz@victorybriefs.com by December 15. Please see the template for congress legislation at http://www.nflonline.org/CoachingResources. Legislation is expected to be of sound quality and the tournament reserves the right to exclude legislation that does not meet that standard. Legislative packets will be available for download by December 22. These packets will not be faxed. They will be available at http://www.victorybriefs.com.

INDIVIDUAL EVENTS
We are going to offer the following events:
Original Oratory, Mixed Extemp Speaking, Duo Interp, Dramatic Interp and Humorous Interp. NFL rules will govern each event, unless noted prior to the tournament.

Each school may enter a maximum of four (4) contestants in each category. Students may single or double enter, but each one counts as a separate entry for the purpose of assessing fees.

There will be four prelim rounds and may break up to a semifinal round, if entries warrant.

JUDGING REQUIREMENTS
Qualifications
The VBT is committed to providing top-notch judging across all of its divisions. The judges a school provides must be qualified to judge at a national-level forensics competition. In LD and Policy debate, judges are expected to be “flow-oriented.” Judges in Policy and LD are expected to have their philosophy posted to the judge philosophy wiki at:

http://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com by 5pm on December 15th.

Schools using judges who have not submitted their philosophies by that time will be charged $100.00. Those who do not have judge philosophies submitted by December 31 will not have their preferences honored at the tournament.

Allocations
All schools must enter at least a ½ time judge into the judging pool. If the judge entered is an inexperienced or “parent” judge (we realize some parent judges are quite qualified, and that should be noted in the judge philosophy). These judges may be used in other divisions.

Half-time judges are 4 rounds in 6 round debate events and 5 rounds in LD. In addition, all judges are required to judge 1 round past their schools last eliminated debater.

In Individual Events, there are no half-time commitments. All judges are eligible to judge finals.

Judging quotas:
LD Debate – one full-time judge for every 3 debaters, or fraction thereof. 2 debaters requires a full-time commitment. 3 debaters requires full time. 4 debaters is 1.5 commitment. 5 & 6 debaters would be 2 full-time judges.
Policy Debate – one full-time judge for every two (2) teams.
Student Congress – one fulltime judge for every five (5) entries or fraction thereof.
Public Forum – one fulltime judge for every three (3) teams.
Invidividual Events – one (1) judge for every five (5) entries or fraction thereof.

All judges should check postings in all events.

HIRING JUDGES
A limited number of hired judges are available through the tournament at $200.00 per half-time commitment needed.

A couple of restrictions:
1. A school must have someone available who can fulfill at least a ½ time commitment. No exceptions.
2. Each division for which you are entered restarts your judging commitment. This means you cannot have someone do ½ a commitment in policy and ½ a commitment in LD. Our schedules may overlap and therefore make it difficult (if not impossible) for you to fulfill those commitments.
3. This means you must have at least a ½ time judge available in each of the pools in which your school is entered.
4. As for fees, this means if you enter 6 LD debaters and bring a ½ time judge, you would be hiring 1.5 judges – and the fee would be $600.00

We calculate our fees based on the fact that we fly-out and house (in the hotel) nearly all of our tournament staff and hired judges.

No hired judges will be available after December 8, 2009 at 5:00pm PT. If you intend on hiring judges, please send in the judge hire form and fee postmarked by December 6, 2009.

There are NO REFUNDS for hired judges – even if you drop by the drop deadline of December 23, 2009.

LODGING
Please make your reservations at the Courtyard Marriott in Sherman Oaks. You can reserve now for $99.00/night at:

http://cwp.marriott.com/laxsf/victorybriefs/

FLYING IN
If you are flying in for the tournament, we recommend flying in to either Burbank (BUR) or Los Angeles International (LAX). The airports are equidistant from the Courtyard Marriott.

PRE-REGISTRATION PROCESS

Before you can complete your online registration, you must fill out the form below and send it in, along with a payment to:

Victory Briefs
925 N. Norman Place
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Do not mail in any registration without the appropriate fees. Your registration will be discarded. With the exception of penalties, we will not be collecting any fees during registration at the tournament.

No refunds will be given on hired judges after December 1. If you have to change or drop entries, you may do so until December 8. After that point, no refunds will be available.

Please make your checks payable to “Victory Briefs.”

Fees & Penalties
LD – $85.00 per debater
Public Forum – $50.00 per two-person team
Policy – $30.00 per two-person team
Student Congress – $15.00 per entry
Individual Events – $15.00 per entry
Duo Interp – $25.00 per entry
Hired Judge fee – $200 per halftime commitment

Drop penalty (after 5pm PT on Dec 8th) – Loss of original entry fee plus $10 per entry.

Late name penalty (after 5pm PT Dec 23rd) – $100 per school

Late judge philosophy (after 5pm PT Dec 15th) – $100 per judge

COMPLETING ENTRY:

1. Complete the entry forms included with this invitation. PLEASE WRITE LEGIBLY. ILLEGIBLE ENTRIES WILL BE DISCARDED.
2. Mail the entry form, along with a check in the exact amount due to:

Victory Briefs
925 North Norman Place
Los Angeles, CA 90049

3. Do not fax forms or the check.
4. We will email confirmation within three working days of receipt. Incomplete or incorrect registrations may or may not be confirmed. DO NOT MAKE HOTEL OR PLANE RESERVATIONS UNTIL YOU HAVE YOU RECEIVED CONFIRMATION FROM US.
5. Once you have received a confirmation, you should proceed to our online system to fill out registration online.
6. If you register for an event that is full, we will send you a refund for those entries.

The very witty invitation can be found here. The tournament will take place on Friday and Saturday, November 13 and 14, 2009.

Information for the tournament is now online on Tabroom.com; registration will open tomorrow, September 1, at the same site.

The tournament’s official web site can be accessed by clicking here.

The seventeenth annual Yale Invitational takes place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 2, 3, and 4, 2009. The tournament awards bids to the TOC to quarterfinalists in Lincoln-Douglas debate, octafinalists in Public Forum debate, and to Super Session participants in Student Congress.

“This year,” notes Pam Cady Wycoff, “we are pleased to announce that not only will we continue to award an octafinals bid in Varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate, we are now an octafinals bid tournament for Public Forum Debate in the Open Division as well. The MinneApple will offer three divisions of Lincoln-Douglas debate and will break to double octa-finals in varsity. We have many marble apples looking for a home! If you have any questions please let us know.”

“It is our hope that we can assist you in getting your students excited and involved in forensics while opening up the Fall 2009 forensics season with a success,” Dennis notes.

The invitation follows.

—

2009 1st Annual Robert Garcia Invitational

Saint Francis High School

September 25-27, 2009

Dear Colleague,

Saint Francis High School invites you to participate in the first annual Robert Garcia Invitational to be held Friday, September 25th through Sunday, September 27th, 2009. It is our hope that we can assist you in getting your students excited and involved in forensics while opening up the Fall 2009 forensics season with a success.

The schedule for the tournament includes five preliminary rounds of debate and three preliminary rounds of individual events (with a break to octofinals in all debate events (unless entries facilitate larger/smaller breaks) and a break to finals in individual events). California High School Speech Association rules will be used as a guideline, but discretion is at the hands of the tournament director.

Due to campus space constraints, the invitational will be a varsity-only event. Please take note of the entry limits on the pages that follow. Competitors who reach octofinals in debate or finals in individual events will receive awards. The sweepstakes awards will be awarded to the top three schools. Speaker awards will be given to the top five competitors in Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, Parliamentary, and Policy Debate.

You will find the tournament schedule on the website. The deadline for entries is Thursday, September 17, 2009 before 4pm Pacific Standard Time. You will not be refunded your entry fee for any drops after this date. Due to the nature of this tournament, there will be absolutely no adds at registration. We do not accept email entries.

Please enter your squad on Joy of Tournaments as soon as possible (and when available). We take entries on a first-come, first-served basis and the tournament will likely fill up before the official deadline. While we will make every effort to accept all entrants, it may be necessary to limit entry in some popular events. We will take as many entries, up to 50 per event, with all other additional students being placed on a waitlist.

Schools are required to bring qualified judges. One judge will cover one of the following: two debate teams, four Lincoln-Douglas debaters, or five entries in individual events. Schools are required to provide one judge for every two debate teams in elimination rounds up to one round past that school’s dropping from competition. Please call if you have any questions about your judging obligations. Schools will pay a penalty for uncovered judges: $90 per uncovered Team Debate judge, $80 per uncovered LD judge, and $60 per uncovered IE, Parliamentary, or Public Forum judge. Schools will also be fined $20 per round for missed ballots. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE bring your own qualified critics. While there will be some available for hire, we would much rather have your critics than your money. The tournament committee will resolve any disputes that arise during the tournament.

Registration will be at the Library of Saint Francis High School on Friday, September 25th from 3:00 pm to 3:30pm. For those schools not participating in debate, registration for individual events will be on Saturday, September 26th from 7:30 to 8:00am. We strongly advise you to register on Friday if at all possible. Turn in your fees at registration.

We hope to make the Robert J. Garcia Invitational a successful and exciting tournament. With your help, it will be done. We are looking forward to seeing you.

Sincerely,

Doug Dennis

Forensics Moderator

TOURNAMENT EVENTS

Debate Pattern

* Team Debate

* Lincoln-Douglas Debate

* Parliamentary Debate

* Public Forum Debate

Events Pattern

* Dramatic Interpretation (DI)

* Humorous Interpretation (HI)

* Duo Interpretation (DUO)

* Oratorical Interpretation (OI)

* Impromptu (IMP)

* Expository Speaking (Expos)

* Original Oratory (OO)

* Original Advocacy (OA)

* Extemporaneous Speaking (EXT)

DEBATE RESOLUTIONS

Team Debate:

Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase social services for persons living in poverty in the United States.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate:

We will use the September-October National Forensic League topic for Lincoln-Douglas Debate.

Public Forum Debate:

We will use the September National Forensic League topic for Public Forum Debate.

DOUBLE & TRIPLE ENTRIES

Students may only double enter in events if and only if the events are not in the same pattern (for example, you can do a pattern A and a pattern B, but not two in any pattern). Furthermore, students doing extemporaneous speaking or policy debate may not double enter at all. No triple entries.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS
Please remind students to stay on campus during the competition. We will sell a variety of foods at reasonable prices. We also ask that students respect the campus and classrooms. Rooms will be monitored and any student found tampering with any items will be disqualified. The judge should be the first to enter and the last to exit the classroom. Judges will be asked to turn in the names of students violating this rule. We are trying to keep tournament costs to a minimum; any damage to property will result in disqualification. Moreover, in concurrence with California law, any student caught smoking in view of the campus will be disqualified as well.

ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS

Click on the Registration button at the top of this page. Make all entries via this website. You may make changes, drops, and additions to your entry via this website.

IMPORTANT DATES

Sept 17: Last day for adds and drops without penalty (4pm PST)

Sept 25: Registration at the Library from 3:00pm – 3:30pm. Schools participating in debate must register on this date.

Sept 26: Registration for schools not participating in debate in the Library from 8:00am – 8:30am

LODGING INFORMATION

This year the tournament hotel will be the Courtyard Marriott in Cupertino, CA, which is less than 10 minutes from Saint Francis High School. We have worked out a rate of $99 per night (plus tax) for a single and $109 a night for double beds. A limited number of rooms are available, so make your reservations early.

Courtyard Marriott

10605 North Wolfe Rd

Cupertino, CA, 95014

408-252-9100

ENTRY LIMITS PER SCHOOL

Team Debate – 4 teams

Parliamentary Debate – 4 teams

Public Forum Debate – 4 teams

Lincoln-Douglas Debate – 4 competitors

Individual Events – 4 competitors / teams per event

Questions can be directed to Doug Dennis at dougdennis@sfhs.com

Friday, September 25, 2009

3:00pm Registration, schools competing in debate (3:00pm – 3:30pm)

4:00pm Team Debate, LD, Parli, PF Round 1

6:00pm Team Debate, LD, Parli, PF Round 2

8:00pm Team Debate, LD, Parli, PF Round 3

Saturday, September 26, 2009

8:30am to 9:30am Final Registration for IE’s (Any final drops in IEs)

9:00am Team Debate, LD, Parli, PF Round 4

10:45am Extemp Prep

11:00am Individual Events Round 1

12:45pm Team Debate, LD, Parli, PF Round 5

2:30pm Extemp Prep

2:45pm Individual Events Round 2

4:15pm Extemp Prep

4:30pm Individual Events Round 3

5:15pm Team Debate, LD, Parli, PF Round 6

8:00 Octafinals: Team Debate, LD, Parli, PF


Sunday, September 27, 2009

9:00am Quarters: Team Debate, LD, Parli, PF

11:00am Extemp Prep

11:15amFinals: Individual Events

1:00pm Semis: Team Debate, LD, Parli, PF

3:00pm Finals: Team Debate, LD, Parli, PF

4:30pm Awards Ceremony
——————————————————————

School Fee $25.00

Individual Events $10.00

Duo Interpretation $20.00

Lincoln-Douglas Debate $35.00

Team Debate $50.00

Parliamentary Debate $40.00

Public Forum Debate $40.00

Uncovered IE, Parli, PF Judge $60.00

Uncovered LD Judge $80.00

Uncovered Team Judge $90.00

——————————————————————

Please make checks payable to

Saint Francis High School

The invitation follows.

—

Registration is now open for the 2009 James M. Langan Invitational hosted by Scranton High School on November 6th & 7th, 2009. We look forward to providing both Varsity and Novice competition in Speech, Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Congress Events. This year’s tournament will include free wireless internet, three full meals, great looking awards for top finishers in each division, and a lot of “True Scranton Hospitality”.

Due to a new food service provider beginning in the district our entry fees will be $15/student entry. This includes registration, three meals (2 dinners and 1 lunch), a light breakfast on Saturday, and awards.

The tournament website is located at (http://www.scrantondebate.com/2009langaninvitational/). Here you will find all the necessary tournament information along with a link to register on Joy of Tournaments. If you have any questions regarding the tournament please email me at Langan.Invitational@gmail.com.

We also plan on hosting a Policy Round Robin on Wednesday November 4th and Thursday November 5th, 2009. This Round Robin will be extremely inexpensive and is being planned to be held in one of the most well established law firms in Northeastern Pennsylvania. We have also been able to secure the same tournament hotel rate for the Round Robin at the Radisson – Lackawanna Station Hotel. All interested teams/directors should contact me at Langan.Invitational@gmail.com. Invitations will be sent out in early September.

Please join us in Scranton to kick off the fall season. We look forward to seeing you.

–
Brian Manuel
Tournament Director
James M. Langan Speech and Debate Invitational

The tournament has no entry deadline or entry limit per school, but schools might consider registering sooner rather than later: the Meadows School can accommodate up to sixty Lincoln-Douglas debaters and fifty policy teams. Last year, the tournament was a qualifier to the TOC at the semifinal level.

The full invitation is available here.

—

Colleagues,

The Greenhill Debate team cordially invites you to attend the 23rd annual Greenhill Fall Classic Debate Tournament on September 12th – 14th, 2009. Registration is open at http://www.joyoftournaments.com/tx/greenhill/info.asp.

Last year, even Mother Nature via Hurricane Ike (five hours south on the coast), could not dampen the competition. In past years, over 100 schools, 100 policy debate teams and 120 Lincoln-Douglas debaters from 24 states competed in the Fall Classic. We expect an outstanding and competitive field this year as well. Entries must be received by Tuesday, September 1st. However, we recommend you enter at the earliest possible date. We have been full long before the deadline in the past several years so please enter early to ensure entry. Those coaches requesting a second team or third Lincoln Douglas debater will be notified no later than August 22nd to give you at least 21 days to purchase airline tickets if need be. Please read the section on the entry procedures. All entries must be submitted on the joy of tournaments website. Please do not email or call in entries – they will not be accepted.

We are proud to announce that we have a new host hotel, The Intercontinental Hotel – Dallas, 15201 Dallas Parkway, Dallas, Texas 75001. The hotel is a quick 5 minute drive from the Greenhill campus. After negotiating with this newly renovated property they have offered amenities that will benefit all those attending the tournament including substantially reduced rates, free internet access, a free continental breakfast for debaters, coaches and judges on Monday morning and updated rooms for all. The hotel is located within 2 miles of 120 restaurants. We respectfully request that all tournament guests stay at the Intercontinental Hotel.

Registration will take place on Friday evening at the Intercontinental Hotel between 7:30 and 10:30 p.m.

The finals of the Greenhill policy and Lincoln – Douglas Round Robins will be held starting around 7:30 pm on Friday night, September 11th, at the Intercontinental Hotel – Dallas. We invite your squad to come and see the final round.

We hope you can attend this year’s Fall Classic!!

Aaron Timmons

Director of Debate
Greenhill School

Registration will take place at Joy of Tournaments.

Last year, hundreds of students from over twenty states competed in the tournament’s four competitions — Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Team Debate (policy), Public Forum Debate, and Legislative Debate (Student Congress) — where they vied for handsome awards and top honors at one of the national circuit’s oldest events.

Last year, Bronx Science had a bid to the TOC at the quarterfinal round in Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Public Forum Debate, at the semifinal round in Team Debate, and at the top six level for Legislative Debate.

The champion in Lincoln-Douglas Debate receives the Richard B. Sodikow Award; the top speaker receives the Peter Colavito Award. Sodikow founded the Bronx Science program in 1969 and established the New York City Invitational at Bronx Science shortly thereafter. Colavito was one-half of the only close-out in the history of the TOC. (The top speaker at the Bronx Round Robin receives the Jonathan Koppell Award, completing the close-out.) Colavito also won a number of other major competitions including the Malcolm A. Bump Memorial Tournament and the Wake Forest National Earlybird.

The champions in Team Debate receive the Big Bronx Bowl; the top speaker receives the Eric C. Raps Memorial Award. The award is named in the memory of Raps, who reached the final round of the TOC in 1978. (He was valedictorian of his class at Bronx Science and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University.)

The champions in Public Forum Debate receive the David Yalof Trophy, who achieved considerable success across the forensic events in the 1980s. He was the 1984 National Champion in Lincoln-Douglas. The top speaker is recognized with the Gloria Cabada-Leman Award. Cabada was a top policy debater and extemporaneous speaker in high school, and later became the top speaker at the National Debate Tournament in college.

Finally, the champion in Legislative Debate receives the Joseph Giovannelli Grand Gavel. Giovannelli was a policy debater who — with his partner Andy Gelber — reached the finals of the Barkley Forum for High Schools and won the Wake Forest National Earlybird; at his final tournament, he became the first Bronx Science competitor to achieve significant success in Student Congress by placing second at the 1974 NCFL Grand National Tournament.

The tournament is also planning a policy round robin in New York City; those interested in further details should contact Stefan Bauschard.

The invitation appears below.

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The Westchester Classic
Lakeland High School

NEW FOR 2009-10: ZERO ENTRY FEES WITH THREE FREE MEALS, EXPANSION TO A 2ND BUILDING, POLICY ROUND ROBIN IN THE CITY, WIRELESS ACCESS FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS, UPDATES VIA TWITTER, FULL AWARDS CEREMONY

You are cordially invited to The 34th Annual Westchester Classic held at Lakeland High School the weekend of February 26th – 28th, 2010. We will offer competition in novice and varsity divisions of Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, and Public Forum debate. We are pleased to announce that a Tournament of Champions bid will once again be awarded to the semifinalists in Policy.

Location: Lakeland High School
Shrub Oak, New York

Dates: February 26h – 28th

Topics:

Policy – The 2009-2010 resolution

Lincoln-Douglas – The January/February resolution

Public Forum – The February topic

Divisions:

Varsity Policy: As mentioned above, a TOC bid will be awarded to the semifinalists of this division. Ordinal mutual preference sheets will be available.

Novice Policy: Regular novice division

Varsity Lincoln-Douglas: Community preference sheets will be available in this division

Novice Lincoln-Douglas: Regular novice division

Varsity and Novice Public Forum

There will be a separate breakout for JV teams competing in the varsity policy and Lincoln-Douglas divisions. This means that those teams marked as eligible for JV, who do not break in the varsity division, will compete in a separate elimination bracket.

ENTRY FEES: THERE ARE ZERO *ENTRY* FEES FOR THIS EVENT. THIS INCLUDES THREE FREE MEALS FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS

Hired judging:

$150/3 rounds of needed commitment
If not hiring, you must supply:
1 judge for every 2 policy teams
1 judge for every 3 LDers
1 judge for every 3 PF participants

Note: You must indicate the judging that you are providing by February 15, 2009. If you have not entered your judges, we will assume that you need to hire judges and we will go about hiring the necessary number of debates. If you then decide to provide your own judging, you must still pay the hiredjudge fee. There is no way for us to otherwise run the tournament, and it is not reasonable for Lakeland Debate to have to pay the costs of your mistakes. You cannot escape this penalty by not attending the tournament – we will send a bill to your principal with an explanation.

DROP FEES:

In order to prevent massive over-registration and last minute dropping for our free tournament, we have instituted drop fees.

$10/person for every person dropped after February 1, 2010
$15/person for every person dropped after February 12, 2010
$25/person for every person dropped after February 22, 2010

There are no fees for substitutions.

Drop fees are due at registration.
Housing:

We offer housing to the first 150 participants who request it. The earlier you get your requests in, the better the chance you will have of acquiring housing.

Note:All housing requests and changes should be made through Joy of Tournaments. Any specific requests, questions, or concerns regarding housing must be directed to Taylor Roth at taylor.h.roth@gmail.com

Lodging:

For coaches, judges, and/or parents, there are hotels in the area.

Peekskill Inn: This is the best value in the immediate area. More information can be found at their website. http://www.peekskillinn.com/

There are additional hotels in Newburgh — about 30 minutes.

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=hotels+newburgh+new+york&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&safe=active

Airports:

The closest airports are Newburgh (30 minutes) and Westchester (25 minutes), but LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark are within driving distance (1 (Laguardia, Newark) – 2 hours (JFK)).

Policy Schedule

Please note that at this time the details of this schedule are tentative because the middle school releases one hour later than the high school. While we know that varsity policy will be held in the high school, the exact number of participants registered in the other events will determine what building they are held in.
Friday, February 27th:
12:30-2 pm Registration
2:45pm Round 1 (pairings at 2:15)
— ALL coaches (including those not judging) must cease coaching by 2:40
— ballots due by 5pm
5:15 pm Round 2
— ALL coaches (including those not judging) must cease coaching by 5:10
— ballots due by 7:30
(EAT DINNER BETWEEN THE END OF ROUND 2 AND THE START OF ROUND 3! IT IS FREE IN THE CAFETERIA)
8:15 pm Round 3
— ALL coaches (including those not judging) must cease coaching by 8:10
— ballots due by 10:30
10 pm Housing in auditorium

Saturday, February 28th:
8 am Round 4 (pairings at 7:00am)
– ALL coaches (including those not judging) must cease coaching by 7:55
— ballots due by 10:15
11 am Round 5
– ALL coaches (including those not judging) must cease coaching by 10:55
— ballots due by 1:15
2 pm Round 6
– ALL coaches (including those not judging) must cease coaching by 1:55
— ballots due by 4:15
5 pm Octos (soph breakout quarters) (soph breakout semis; 7pm — soph breakout finals)
– ALL coaches (including those not judging) must cease coaching by 4:55
— ballots due by 7:15
8 pm Quarters
– ALL coaches (including those not judging) must cease coaching by 7:55
— ballots due by 10:15

Note: We will finish both novice and varsity Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum on Saturday. We also intend to finish the JV breakout and novice policy on Saturday as well.

Sunday, March 1st

Semifinals and Finals in varsity policy — 8 & 11am

L-D & PF Schedule

Friday, February 27th:
12:30-2 pm Registration
3 pm Round 1 (pairings at 2:15)

5 pm Round 2

8 pm Round 3

10 pm Housing in auditorium

Saturday, February 28th:
8 am Round 4 (pairings at 7:00am)

11am Round 5

2 pm Octos (PF quarters)

5 pm Quarters (PF semis)

7pm Semis (PF finals)

8pm Finals

– ALL coaches (including those not judging) must cease coaching by 7:55
— ballots due by 10:15

Note: We will finish both novice and varsity Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum on Saturday. We also intend to finish the JV breakout and novice policy on Saturday as well.

Sunday, March 1st

Semifinals and Finals in varsity policy — 8 & 11am

We have a very well-run, well-judged, and competitive tournament. Attendants last year had nothing but complimentary things to say in terms of the quality and hospitality of our tournament. We hope you will consider joining us.

Registration will be made available online through the Joy of Tournaments. If you have any questions, except those regarding housing, feel free to contact Stefan Bauschard at Stefan Bauschard AT gmail DOT com.

“This February,” the letter explains, “we will enhance and improve the tournament in many ways both large and small. Many of these improvements originated with our friends in the LD community, and we thank each and every one of you who contacted us directly with constructive suggestions.”

The complete letter is available here on VBD.

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Greetings Lincoln-Douglas Debaters & Coaches:

We write with exciting news about the Harvard LD tournament. This February we will enhance and improve the tournament in many ways both large and small. Many of these improvements originated with our friends in the LD community, and we thank each and every one of you who contacted us directly with constructive suggestions. We will always welcome them.

The improvements we anticipate for 2010 fall into four broad categories: judge assignment, tournament administration, tournament venue, and a completely new competition. We are also introducing a new traveling championship trophy for the tournament proper.

Judge assignment. Starting in 2010, Harvard will employ a system of “community preferences” with a limited number of strikes for each debater whose school’s judges have posted their judge paradigms to the wiki. This system allows all of you to provide a community assessment of who the preferred judges are; we will in turn assign those best judges to the most critical rounds. To those who came to judge last year and felt they were neglected, we humbly apologize, and ask for you to give this new system a chance.

Administration. The ballot desk will for the first time be run by members of the Harvard Debate Council directly responsible to our coaching staff for their demeanor. The triple-octafinals will be double-flighted with separate panels for varsity and JV. Results, perhaps even written ballots, will be posted after each round, and the elimination bracket will be released at the end of prelims.

Venue. We are doing our best to provide a suitably furnished and private space for each debate. Room reservations cannot be finalized for months yet, but our hope is to move LD back to the main campus, with ample judge hospitality space in Boylston Hall, and easy access to all the transportation and amenities of Harvard Square.

First Annual Harvard Lincoln-Douglas Round Robin. We have secured space in the Student Organization Center at Hilles (the venue for last year’s tournament) in which to host an LD round robin tournament prior to the invitational. It is our hope that this tournament will attract the very best debaters from around the nation. We are consulting our friends in the LD community on such questions as size, schedule, who to invite, etc., and will have further details presently.

The Jacob Morris Nebel Award. The Bronx High School of Science, which won the 2009 tournament in both LD and policy debate, is donating a new traveling trophy in Lincoln-Douglas debate that will match the splendor of the existing policy trophy. The trophy will be awarded to the champion in LD debate. Bronx Science has moved to name this award in honor of Trinity Preparatory School’s Jake Nebel, who debated the varsity final round an unprecedented three times. He was champion in 2008 and placed second in both 2007 and 2009; in addition, he was champion of the JV tournament in 2006.

Everyone at Harvard Debate is committed to doing whatever is necessary to keep the tournament a truly world class event. We hope and believe that these changes will go a long way towards doing so. Your input and suggestions are most welcome.

Sincerely,

Dallas Perkins
Sherry Hall
Coaches of Debating

Minh A. Luong
Elizabeth Brannen
LD Tournament Directors

Geoff Smith
Team Captain

On Sunday January 10, 2010, the National Public Forum Challenge III will take place. This will again be a by-application-only tournament featuring sixteen Public Forum teams. Team will compete in “Challenge” rounds where the winners pick their opponents for the $1500 scholarship offered to the finalists!

Information about the Laird Lewis can be found by clicking here; information about the Challenge can be found here.

Former LD debater Pam Brown and Austin Kase are the tournament directors; Marc Wallach is coordinating the hired judges. (He is also seeking out judges in the Northeast who would like to judge. If interested, be sure to contact him!) Chris Palmer is coordinating tabulation; please contact him with general questions.

The Yale Invitational will take place on October 2, 3, and 4, 2009. The tournament invitation is available on Tabroom.com.

“This year, we have moved the tournament to a new weekend, February 13-14,” the invitation explains. “We are aiming to offer an uniquely on-time, affordable, and quality competition on this weekend. We have early commitments to attend from schools from throughout the Northeast, as well as Virginia, the Carolinas, and Florida. The LBC is a great opportunity to visit our beautiful city, and to find out what our university has to offer students. Finally, all proceeds from the tournament go to promote urban high school debate programs in Philadelphia, thus staying within the high school forensics community.”

Click here to access the invitation.