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FCDI State Championship
General information This is a High School tournament in Florida. View manager contact information FCDI State Championship This is a Middle/High School tournament in Sarasota. Please carefully read all information below and in the invitation in order to ensure you do not miss important information. The Florida Civics & Debate Initiative State Championship, to be held April 18th and 19th, 2026 at New College of Florida, 5800 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota, FL 34243 and State College of Florida. This tournament will be live, in person, two day tournament. On Saturday, April 18th, high school competition will take place at New College of Florida and middle school competition will take place at State College of Florida. On Sunday, April 19th, all rounds (elimination rounds for both middle and high school) will take place at New College of Florida. This tournament offers middle school and high school competition (no novice division will be offered). Students must qualify to compete at the State Championship. Please do not register students on SpeechWire for the State Championship -- only judges. Qualifying students and teams have already been registered in SpeechWire An important note about judges at the State Championship:
Important information about the high school Ronald Reagan Presidential Debate scholarship: the runner-up will receive a $25,000 scholarship, the two semifinalists will each receive a $15,000 scholarship, and the four quarterfinalists will each receive a $10,000 scholarship. Read more here. EVENTS and DIVISIONS: middle school and high school will be offered at the State Championship. Middle school students may not "play up" and compete in the high school division. No Double Entry. Coaches will be asked to select an event for any students qualified in more than one event. EVENTS INCLUDE:
FEES: FCDI member schools pay no general registration fees. Non-FCDI schools pay $5.00/student. All schools may incur a late drop fee after the registration deadline. Please note the change in payee for registration fees below- Please make checks payable to and mail to: Florida Education Foundation 325 W. Gaines Street Suite 1524 Tallahassee, FL 32399 *If a coach subimits a check with the incorrect payee, the coach is responsible for mailing a corrected check to the address above. Observers are allowed. Please do not take photos or videos in competition rooms. Please send speech scripts for OO, INF, and DEC and the image and media release form (pg 96 of the FCDI Handbook and linked here) to the FCDI at FCDI@fldoe.org at least 72 hours prior to the tournament. TOPICS: Topics for some events may be pre-announced (see below). Participants should familiarize themselves with potential topics/resolutions and prepare accordingly. Public Forum Topic: Resolved: The US federal government should eliminate the Senate filibuster. Lincoln-Douglas Topic: Resolved: Corporate influence over government poses the greatest threat to the democratic process in the US. Ronald Reagan Presidential Debate Topic: The FCDI State Championship will use the 2026 Ronald Reagan Debate Series Regional Invitational Topic - Resolved: As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary of self-governance, the Electoral College should be replaced by the popular vote in Presidential elections. Impromptu Topic Areas:
Extemporaneous Debate Topic Areas:
Extemporaneous Speaking Topic Areas:
We the People: A Citizen Showdown Topic Areas:
Legislative Debate Topics: Legislation will be found in the "Files for Download" tab when released. NOTE: Students who compete in debate events must be ready to argue both sides of an issue. Academic debate is an intellectual activity and is not about personal advocacy. Lodging: A hotel block has been reserved at the hotels provided in the invitation email. Rooms are first come, first served. Teams are responsible for booking and submitting payment for their lodging.
Optional Early Tournament Check In: Coaches will have the opportunity to check their team in early on Friday, April 17th from 6:30 – 8:30 PM at the Hampton Inn & Suites Sarasota Airport (975 University Parkway, Sarasota, Florida 34243). Optional Judge Training Sessions: Three optional but highly recommended judge training sessions will be held prior to the tournament.
Additional information, including the tournament schedule, campus map, and information packet, will be shared before the tournament. JUDGES: FCDI JUDGING REQUIREMENTS Because tournaments rely on volunteer judges, recruiting and training judges is vital. Judges must be trained via the Canvas courses provided by FDI to fulfill your judge obligations. Please message learning@floridadebate.org with the names of your judge(s) and email addresses to be added to the course (email addresses must be able to receive external mail and must not already be associated with another Canvas account). If you bring judges that are not trained, the missing judge fee will apply. The FCDI requires teams provide judges proportional to the number of students they have registered for a given tournament. Should the tournament need judges of a specific type, judges may have to take a ballot in an event type for which they were not registered. For every two debate entries (individuals or teams) or part thereof, one debate judge must be registered. For every five speech entries or five or pegislative debate entries (or part thereof), one speech judge must be registered. Please note: the middle school and high school divisions will compete on different campuses on Saturday. No judge can cover middle and high school entries simultaneously. Teams who do not have the required number of judges will have their competitors dropped before the tournament. Additional speech, debate, and judging resources can be found here: HANDBOOK LINK Adults and coaches may judge any division. FCDI alumni and qualified varsity students may judge the middle school and novice divisions. Judges must be trained. It is the affirmative duty of the coach to ensure that all judges (except students) must be approved as vetted volunteers through their district’s volunteer system. At every FCDI tournament, a team member will present a judge orientation, event overview, and answer any final questions judges may have. On-site judge training will always be available to any judge that needs assistance one hour before the tournament begins. Please encourage new judges to arrive early to take advantage of this training. If a judge misses a round, other than in the case of an emergency, the team they are representing will be charged a $100.00 missed round fee. COACHES: All teams must have either a coach or assistant coach present at every event the team participates in for the duration of the tournament. If an FCDI registered coach cannot attend the tournament, coaches may designate a proxy coach on a per tournament basis. This change must be asked for in writing and approved by the FCDI. Proxy coach requests must be submitted with a letter from the principal stating that the proxy coach is approved to supervise the students. Any team found in violation of this rule will be disqualified from the tournament and asked to leave. A letter will also be sent to the school principal notifying them of this rule violation. TOURNAMENT CONTACTS:
Kendall Lindsay The Florida Civics and Debate Initiative is proud to partner with the Florida Debate Initiative, which oversees our tournament operations and manages the Regional Ambassadors who help bring our mission to life. FLORIDA DEBATE INITIATIVE CONTACT INFORMATION:
Abraham López
Email address: alopez@floridadebate.org
Claude Smith Mailing address 325 W.Gaines St., Suite 1524 SpeechWire Tournament Services - Copyright 2004-2026 Ben Stewart. All Rights Reserved. Terms of use - Privacy and Security Policy
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