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PBCFL Grand Finals
General information This is a High School tournament in Florida. View manager contact information The Palm Beach Catholic Forensic League The Barbara Dale Lauder McCall "Grand Finals" Tournament DATE: Saturday, February 21st 2026. Dreyfoos School of the Arts. 501 S Sapodilla Ave, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 You are invited to attend the Palm Beach Catholic Forensic League Grand Finals competition at Dreyfoos School of the Arts. Grand Finals is the National Qualifier for the PBCFL, and the top SIX finishers in each event from this tournament will qualify to compete at the Grand National Tournament of the National Catholic Forensic League (aka/"CatNats") in Washington DC, over Memorial Day Weekend (May 22-25). COACHES: If you have any concerns or questions about the Grand Finals entry process (script legalities, formats, judge requirements, etc.), PLEASE contact PBCFL President Traci Lowe or Vice President of Individual Events Quentin Scruggs. This will allow you to be walked through the process smoothly in advance, and save you a ton of grief down the road! Students may compete if they meet these requirements. No student shall be allowed to compete in the Grand Finals tournament if their school has not attained league membership by the NCFL deadline AND if they have not competed in at least TWO NCFL tournaments that season. One league tournament consists of four (4) rounds or a complete Congressional Debate day where the individual earned points. Competition at no more than one reciprocal CFL tournament may count toward the two-tournament requirement. Competition at a Florida Forensic League (FFL) regional tournament, a National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) tournament, or any other non-PBCFL function, may not count toward this two-tournament requirement REQUIRED PAPERWORK Since we have many rules to uphold for the national office, it is imperative that you follow all rules for required paperwork Coaches must have available original copies of manuscripts to the tournament in case of a challenge. Inability to provide an original manuscript could lead to disqualification of the entry. Coaches must have available original copies of all oratories. Inability to provide an original manuscript could lead to disqualification of the entry. One item of legislation MUST be submitted by ALL schools with Congressional Debate entries. Congress legislation must be submitted in appropriate format, and cannot have been used by the school prior in the competition year.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
Events offered: Declamation, Dramatic Performance, Duo Interpretation, Extemporaneous Speaking, Oral Interpretation, Original Oratory, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, and Congressional Debate. NOTE: Informative Speaking, Program of Oral Interpretation, and World Schools Debate are NOT offered. No double entry allowed. Entry limits: maximum of six entries per event per school. You may only enter a maximum of 3 students per congress chamber. (The PBCFL reserves the right to collapse houses and modify this rule when necessary.)
ONLY SIX ENTRIES ARE ALLOWED PER EVENT PER SCHOOL. THIS IS NON-NEGOTIABLE.
TOURNAMENT GUIDELINES:
This is the Grand Finals qualifying tournament for NCFL Nationals Any student will be allowed to compete in Declamation, Dramatic Performance, Duo Interpretation, Extemporaneous, Oral Interpretation, Original Oratory, Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, and Congressional Debate as long as they have fulfilled the PBCFL two-tournament requirement. All schools must register on the Speechwire.com website in order to legitimately participate in this competition. The legislation will be posted as full text on the PBCFL website (www.pbcfl.net) and on Speechwire.com NEW COACHES (first- and second-year in particular) should plan on judging (choose an event group!)
ENTRY PROCEDURES and REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
You may register up to 6 entries/teams in each event and up to 6 entries in Student Congress. You may only enter 3 students per congress chamber. (The PBCFL reserves the right to collapse houses and modify this rule when necessary.) Once registration closes, houses may be balanced and students may be shifted to another chamber. All efforts will be made to keep the same group of students together. No changes will be made after the Tuesday 3 p.m. drop deadline ... please plan accordingly. Double-check your registration. No student will be added to the tournament on the morning of the tournament.
PREPARATIONS BEFORE THE TOURNAMENT:
Assign the authorship speech to one person from your school in each chamber. Because full-text legislation will be on-line, it is each school's responsibility to access legislation in advance. DOUBLE-CHECK your entries. If a student is not listed on your registration they will NOT be added on the morning of the tournament. Make sure all your students have signed a behavior/attire contract
REGISTRATION ON SATURDAY:
Be at the tournament host cafeteria by 7:30 a.m. to do attendance and submit debate and speech event drops by 7:45 a.m. (Congress attendance will take place during Session 1.) Extemp Draw for Round 1 is at 7:45 a.m. Students/programs that are late may be dropped from the tournament by league officers. Check your registration carefully; there will be a "hidden drop fee" for any drop that is not reported at registration. Refer to the chamber breakdown list in order to make sure all competitors know where to report. Make sure all judges check their email and text messages for ballot assignments.
RULE REMINDERS:
No student member shall use an original oration, a non-original oration, an original informative speech, or a selection of poetry, prose, or drama during a given league season that has been used by the student in any tournament of a previous season(s). No school shall substitute a non-registered competitor in the place of a registered competitor on the day of the competition. This includes “event-shifting.” PRESIDING OFFICER: Please remind Congress judges that the PO gets 2 speech ranks (equivalent of 2 speeches = up to 12 points) and that the PO can be ranked. SPEECH COMPETITORS: Students who are in Speech events CANNOT wear AirPods, headphones, etc. when performing. ORAL INTERPRETATION: While there are no rules governing binders, they should be the smaller 5x8.5” black binders. Students could also use plastic sheet covers for their pages to reduce distracting page turn sounds during performances.
JUDGE QUOTAS:
CONGRESS: 1 judge per every 6 entries or fraction thereof SPEECH/INTERP: 1 judge for every combination of 5 entries or fraction thereof PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE: 1 judge for every 2 entries or fraction thereof LINCOLN DOUGLAS DEBATE: 1 judge for every 2 entries or fraction thereof Register ALL judges on Speechwire.com
ENTRY FEES:
$20 per student MEALS: $10 for adult meals. Coaches must order meals for all entries, adult judges, judge trainees, and coaches. Students: TBD Adults: TBD DROP FEES: Tuesday, February 17th, at 3 p.m. is the deadline for registering students. At this time, schools are responsible for the $10 lunch fee (students, judges, coaches, observers), even if they are dropped from the tournament. Wednesday, February 18th, at 3 p.m. is the last opportunity to drop students before the website shuts down. At this time, schools are responsible for the $10 registration fee, the $10 lunch fee, and a $10 drop fee ($30 total per student). $100 - judge drop fee for any no-show judge on Saturday morning. In addition, you will be required to drop students until the team meets the judge quota. $50 - missed judge rounds (hidden judges). TOPIC AREAS: EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING: TBD LINCOLN DOUGLAS DEBATE: The January/February Topic. Resolved: The possession of nuclear weapons is immoral PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE: The February topic. Resolved: The Federal Trade Commission should establish a federal regulatory framework for sports betting
CONGRESS-SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
CONGRESS-SPECIFIC INFORMATION: NEW: Chambers will be randomized; schools may no longer designate specific students from their program to be in chambers together. All full-text legislation must be emailed as a Microsoft Word attachment in the proper format no later than 3pm Friday February 6th 2026 Legislation will be posted ASAP Send legislation to pbcflcongress@gmail.com. NOTE: All legislation must be Federal in nature. No State legislation is allowed. NOTE: Good legislation has good arguments on BOTH SIDES. For example, “increasing the penalty on drunk drivers” is heavily weighted towards the affirmative. “Confiscating the cars of drunk drivers” has room for negative arguments. The PBCFL encourages schools to submit legislation addressing a variety of topics and issues. Inherently, some legislation may be of subject matters considered sensitive or controversial. In an effort to preserve the educational nature of the activity, the officers of the PBCFL reserve the right to seek revisions of, or reject, any legislation deemed inappropriate. Schools may send no more than ONE piece of legislation for this tournament. It is imperative you designate your legislation clearly. The best way to do so is to save and send your legislation with the following designation: month_nameofschool_legislationtag.doc (january_wellington_globalwarming.doc) ACTIVE LEGISLATION: Legislation should be up and running through the PBCFL web site (www.pbcfl.net) and on Speechwire. You will be notified via email when the legislation is active. All chambers will set an agenda on the day of the tournament. LEGISLATION TEMPLATES: Legislative templates are available for use on http://www.pbcfl.net; they can be accessed through the "Legislation" link. The PBCFL encourages schools to submit legislation addressing a variety of topics and issues. Inherently, some legislation may be of subject matters considered sensitive or controversial. In an effort to preserve the educational nature of the activity, the officers of the PBCFL reserve the right to seek revisions of, or reject, any legislation deemed inappropriate. Improperly formatted legislation can be rejected at the discretion of league officers. Legislation must be formatted following NSDA rules, we are no longer using CFL formatted bills CHAMBER REMINDERS: Direct Questioning is required as part of chamber proceedings. Extending the questioning period is not allowed, nor are two-part questions. All authorship/sponsorship and first-negative speeches have a mandatory two-minute questioning period. All other speeches have a mandatory one-minute questioning period. Each legislative item must go through at least one complete cycle (three speeches). Recency resets for Session 2. Recesses are allowed under PBCFL rules, with a maximum of 10 minutes of recess per session. At least 2 hours of debate must take place each session. Recess time is included in this total. The 2 hours begins once the first speech of a session begins. There is 30 minutes prior to the morning session that should be used for electing presiding officers, setting dockets, etc.
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