SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

Sponsored by the Apple Valley High School Forensics Team, Parent Boosters, American Legion Post 1776

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021 at 5:00pm. After this date and time, drops will be allowed but NOT refunded.

LOCATIONS: All rounds will be held synchronosly (with the exception of duo) using Live.Speechwire.com and NSDA's Campus platform.

JUDGES: You must provide one judge per six entries. Please make sure your judges have linked accounts and access to the platforms used prior to the tournament. Judges are obligated for the entire tournament, regardless if there are still entries from their school competing.

We have a limited number of judges available for hire for a fee of $150.00. Please email luke.ostrander@district196.org if you are in need of a hired judge, and we will try to accommodate your request.

VARSITY means the competitors are in their second, third, fourth year of the activity. NOVICE means first year competitors in the activity.

FEES: All entries except Duo are $8. Duo entries will cost $16. There is a flat school registration fee of $25.00 used to facilitate the additional costs of using NSDA's Campus platform. Please make checks payable to "AVHS Speech and Debate Alumni Association." Fees are final as of 5:00pm Wednesday, February 3rd. After that time, new adds will not be allowed and drops will not lower your total registration fee.

If you have any questions regarding payment, please contact luke.ostrander@district196.org

A fee of $150.00 per uncovered judge for the tournament will be assessed and must be paid the day of the tournament.

CHANGES: If you need to make changes to your registration, please make them directly on Speech Wire until the website is closed down. Please update your changes before making your way to school on the morning of the tournament. As we are doing the schedule on-site, it would help to know of changes sooner versus later.

CATEGORY RULES AND TIME LIMITS: We will honor both MSHSL and NSDA rules. All thirteen MSHSL speech events will be offered, as well as Program Oral Interpretation (POI) in the Varsity division only! For a copy of MSHSL rules, go to the MSHSL website at www.mshsl.org. As an FYI to out-state schools, at MN invitationals competitors do not need to provide copies of material for verification--while it is stated in the rules, this is only done at the section and state tournament level.

All NSDA events will follow NSDA rules. Please visit the NSDA website at www.speechanddebate.org for rules. Because we are a NIETOC bid tournament, students in both Prose and Drama will receive bids, per the updated qualification rules. Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking finals will include cross-examination. If you have questions about events, please contact us.

NIETOC: As mentioned above, we are a NIETOC bid tournament site. Students competing in Drama, Prose, Duo, Extemporaneous, Humorous, Informative, Original Oratory, and POI have the ability to earn a bid that will get them one step closer to competing at the NIETOC National Tournament in 2021. For more information visit their official website.

ENTRIES: We have no limits on entries per team, but will go to a waitlist once individual events are capped. We will allow double entering for both varsity and novice, except for discussion competitors - competitors in discussion may only single enter. Students entered in a draw event may only double enter in a non-draw event; You may not double enter in two draw events.

Only experienced varsity competitors may triple enter and in non-draw events only. Please use caution when triple entering any varsity student. It is important that we stay on schedule.

Extemporaneous Speaking: IX and USX topic areas are posted! Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking finals will include cross-examination.

Extemporaneous Reading Prose: All sections in zero, all sections of six, all sections of 12

Some of the Extemporaneous Reading cuttings MAY include multiple chapters/poems in order to reach a full 7-minute performance.

Storytelling will draw from the MSHSL list of stories 1-10. Students in varsity and novice will draw for all four preliminary rounds and elimination rounds. Students cannot repeat a story/draw through semifinals.

Discussion: The Discussion tasks will be taken from Section I of the MSHSL outline of this year's topic. Tasks will not be posted in advance of the tournament. The discussion outline is available at the MSHSL website.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT: There will be four preliminary rounds and a final round for Novice competitors. We will also be offering quarterfinals in the Varsity division! This means we will hold four preliminary rounds, a quarterfinal round, a semifinal round, and a final round for Varsity competitors.

BREAKS: Students in the Varsity division will have the opportunity to advance to quarterfinals finals after the first four preliminary rounds. The top speakers in each elimination round will advance to the next round. The Novice division will break to finals following round four. Novice final rounds will take place during the Varsity quarterfinal round.

AWARDS: In lieu of having physical awards/trophies this year, the value of each award/trophy will be donated to a non-profit charity - TBA.

CHECK-IN: Friday and Saturday check-in should be done by each team by the set time to make sure all of your competitors are present and their technology is working. You may use the squad room on Speechwire or any other video conferencing program.

GOLDEN APPLE AWARD: The Golden Apple Award recognizes the outstanding achievement and dedication of an individual in the speech community. This may include a head coach, assistant coach, judge, tab room worker, friend of the speech community, etc. Introduced in 2009, the Speech Golden Apple Award is designed to parallel the Debate Golden Award, which is given out at the Minneapple Debate Tournament in November. The Golden Apple will be awarded at the Minneapple Speech Tournament Awards Ceremony.

Luke Ostrander
Email address: Luke.Ostrander@district196.org
Phone number: 5155705832

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