66th Annual Perry Speech & Debate Tournament

Perry High School — Massillon, Ohio

Friday, 10/30/26 & Saturday, 10/31/26

 

Dear Coaches,

 

The Perry Speech & Debate Team is excited to invite you to the 66th Annual Perry Speech & Debate Tournament!

 

This year's tournament will feature a hybrid two-day format, with virtual debate preliminary rounds Friday afternoon/evening followed by in-person debate and all high school speech competition Saturday.

 

We are excited to continue the tradition of bringing together programs from across Ohio and beyond for a large, competitive tournament while offering students significant preliminary-round competition and meaningful elimination opportunities.

 

Tournament details (building addresses, schedule, maps, etc.) Can be found on the "files for download" page here in SpeechWire.

 

Tournament Locations

Friday: All debate rounds (Policy, LD, and PF) will be held virtually.

Saturday: Competition will take place across the Perry Local Schools campus. 

 

Tournament Structure

Policy Debate - 5 preliminary rounds (3 virtual Friday and 2 in-person Saturday), with a planned break to semifinals (quarterfinals if the numbers warrant it). Break rounds are open for observers. We will be using the 2026-2027 NSDA Topic: Resolved: The United States federal government should establish national health insurance in the United States. 

 

Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum Debate - 6 preliminary rounds (4 virtual Friday and 2 in-person Saturday), with a planned break to octafinals. Break rounds are open for observers. We will be using the 2026 Nov/Dec topic in LD, and the 2026 Nov topic for PF (both released by the NSDA on Oct 1).

 

CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE--We will host two preliminary sessions and a final session (all Saturday, in person). We will be utilizing the October 31 docket assigned from the OSDA (see OSDA Congress page for download; available Oct. 10) for preliminary round legislation.  Final Round Legislation is three bills from the 2026 NSDA Nationals Docket. These will be available to all attending schools on SpeechWire on Oct. 10th (under "files for download" for this tournament). Congressional debaters will advance to finals by chamber, not merged results. Final round is open to observers.  

 

Individual Events:  We will offer a total of 4 rounds of competition (all Saturday, in-person). The fourth round will be for all competitors, but certain rooms in round 4 will be labeled as semifinal rooms for each event.  Following the tabulation of round 4/semifinals, a final round will occur for those that qualify. Final rounds are open to observers. Due to time constraints, there will be no cross-ex in the final rounds of extemp. All speech events are eligible for NIETOC bids. 

 

 

Double Entry Policy: Students are encouraged to double enter across speech events. However, due to prep room scheduling and draw logistics, students may NOT enter in both US Extemp (USX) and International Extemp (IX). A student entering Extemp may cross-enter into any other non-prep speech event. 

 

Individual Events Categories for registration include:

Declamation

Dramatic Interpretation

Duo Interpretation

Humorous Interpretation

Informative Speaking

International Extemporaneous Speaking

Original Oratory

Program Oral Interpretation

United States Extemporaneous Speaking

 

Extemporaneous Speaking draw times will begin 30 minutes prior to the corresponding round.

 

Awards

Awards are tentatively scheduled for approximately 4:15pm with hopes of it being sooner. As always, we will recognize the top six in each event and each champion will receive the "Perry Chair."  All other recognized individuals will receive a medal and the top six schools will receive sweepstakes trophies.

 

Registration

Registration will be completed through SpeechWire. This tournament fills quickly; entries may be subjected to a waitlist. 

Registration deadline: Competitor entries by October 16, 2026. Judge information by October 21, 2026.

Drops/changes deadline: October 26, 2026. Waitlisted entries will be notified of acceptance or denial by October 28th. 

Entry fees: $15 per policy team; $6 per person in all other events (Duo and PF teams = $12). Make checks payable to Perry Local Schools. The school's W-9 is available on the "files for download" page.

 

Although we are not running divisions within events, please use the following designations when registering your students:

NOVICE - Any student that is a first year competitor. We will recognize the "top novice" with an award.

JV - ONLY use this division IF you have more than four entries in a division. (Ex: you register 5 INFOs; mark the top four Varsity and the fifth JV)

VARSITY - any student that is not a first year high school competitor.

 

Judge Requirements:

This is expected to be a large tournament, and providing sufficient qualified judges will be essential to maintaining the published schedule.

Each school will be responsible for providing judges according to the following ratios:

Policy: 1 judge per 1-2 teams

Lincoln-Douglas: 1 judge per 1-2 entries

Public Forum: 1 judge per 1-2 teams

Congress: 1 judge per 6 entries

Speech: 1 judge per 5 entries

Judges are expected to remain available through the school's required obligation and may be used in elimination rounds when applicable.

Schools unable to meet their full judging requirement should contact tournament staff before the registration deadline. Hired judging, if available, will be limited and subject to an additional fee.

 

Coaches should ensure that all judges:

Have an active account on SpeechWire as we will utilize E-ballots. 

Have a working phone and email address entered in their profile.

Check postings promptly.

Submit ballots immediately following each round.

Are familiar with the event(s) they are assigned to judge.

Because Friday debate is virtual, virtual judges must have reliable internet access, functioning audio/video capability, and an appropriate location from which to judge.

 

Friday Virtual Debate

Links and virtual-room information will be distributed through SpeechWire.

Friday Debate registration and judge check-in will open at 3:00 PM. 

Saturday Check-In

Saturday registration and judge check-in will open at approximately 7:15 AM.

All schools should be fully checked in and prepared to begin competition by 7:45 AM.

Because debate and speech will operate in separate buildings, coaches with entries in multiple categories should plan accordingly. Campus maps and building assignments for each event are available on the "files for download" page. There will be no shuttle for students at satellite buildings; each school is responsible for transporting students to PHS for the awards ceremony. 

 

Food:

Please support our team by purchasing food and drink from our Booster Club. A cafeteria will be open at each building. 

 

Questions? Contact Director Melody Woodson for assistance. 

 

We look forward to welcoming everyone to Perry for another great year of competition!

 

Melody and the Perry Speech & Debate Coaching Staff

(vr24)