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As you return to school from a (hopefully) restful holiday break, it’s time to plan your entry for the 2018 Florida Forensic League Hurricane Region Qualifying Tournament! This event will be held at Cypress Bay HS on Friday, February 2^nd and Saturday, February 3^rd, 2018.

This tournament is the gateway into participation in FFL activities for the remainder of the year. The top 10 entries in each event will qualify to compete at the State Championship tournament, which will be held on Friday, March 2^nd and Saturday, March 3^rd at Timber Creek HS in Orlando, FL. Whether or not your students qualify to the State Championship, participation at the Regional Tournament will allow your school to enter the Novice State Tournament in April.

1. If your school fails to enter the Regional Tournament, it forfeits the opportunity to attend Novice State and participate in Coach of the Year voting.

2. The number of qualifiers in each event is based on the number of schools that participate in the previous year’s Regional Tournament. Thus, it is imperative that every member school in the region send at least one student to compete at the qualifying tournament. If only a few schools in our region fail to participate, we could lose qualifying spots in 2018!

3. Every student you enter into the Regional Qualifying Tournament must be available to compete at the State Championship Tournament if he/she qualifies. There are substantial financial penalties for dropping from the State Tournament. Thus, you should make sure that every student from your school who wants to enter this tournament is available to compete on March 2^ndand 3^rd.

4. First-year students are welcome to attend the Regional Tournament and are eligible to qualify for the State Championship. They WILL NOT lose their eligibility to compete at Novice State. In theory, a novice could win the State Championship and still compete at Novice State the following month!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing you on the 2nd of February at Cypress Bay HS .

-- Meals and Directions: Tournament Host – Aly Fiebrantz – alyssa.fiebrantz@browardschools.com

Entry will take place on www.speechwire.com You must have a SpeechWire account to register for any of the FFL Tournaments.

***If you are entering Student Congress, you must submit at least one bill/resolution for the agenda. You may send as many items of legislation as students who are entering. Please send bills as a Word attachment and make sure they are in FFL format (see Student Congress manual) to Justin Weaver at

Only schools that are members of the league for 2017-2018 may participate at this tournament. Also, please remember that a school-approved adult must accompany students to the tournament and remain on site for the entire competition. If the school-approved adult is NOT the Head Coach or Assistant Coach on record with the league, then a letter signed by the school principal and printed on school stationery MUST be submitted with the school’s entry. The letter needs to specifically name the adult in charge. The penalty for failing to submit this document is disqualification of all contestants from the school involved.

Lincoln Douglas Debate International Extemp Humorous Interp. Program Oral Interp.

Each member school may submit up to six 6) entries per event, except in Group Interp. (1 entry per school).

Schools that purchased a membership supplement may enter up to four (4) additional entries per event, except in Group Interp. (1 additional entry). All entries on the supplement must be students in grades 6 – 8 (for middle school supplement) or 9 (for ninth grade supplement). Entering students in grades 10-12 on the supplemental form will result in automatic disqualification of those students. Enter mixed teams/units (eg: a 9^th grader and 11^th grader on a Policy Debate team) on the high school form.

Double entry and double qualification is permitted, except in Policy Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, Group Interpretation, and Student Congress. Also, cross-entry between U.S. Extemp and International Extemp and between Oral Interp and Program Oral Interp is prohibited.

Electronic Devices are permitted in debate, but students may not use the internet. The use of internet in extemp prep is at the discretion of the Regional Director. If internet in extemp prep his prohibited, any student found accessing the internet during rounds or in the extemp prep room may be disqualified.

In Extemporaneous Speaking, students can access information on jump drives, which will be screened by a tournament official/extemp prep room proctor. Competitors will be permitted to use the internet at all FFL Sanctioned Tournaments when internet access is publicly available. Publicly available being defined as – WiFi internet access is available to all students competing or all competitors will have access to desktop computers with internet availability. In the event that internet access cannot be made available to all competitors, contestants shall be prohibited from the use of any electronic retrieval system (recording or information retrieval system) now known or to be invented during any round in any event at any FFL-sanctioned tournament including the Extemporaneous Speaking preparation room(s), except that electric or electronic devices that are incapable of sending or receiving information between persons may be used for the sole purpose of keeping time. The League will make accommodations for students with disabilities in regards to the use of technology. Documentation of the disability must be provided ten days prior to the Regional Tournament and State Tournaments. The documentation must be available for review by the Executive Board.

--Policy Debate will use the 2017-2018 topic - Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its funding and/or regulation of elementary and/or secondary education in the United States.

--Lincoln-Douglas Debate will use the January/February topic - Resolved: Plea bargaining ought to be abolished in the United States criminal justice system.

--Public Forum Debate will use the February topic Resolved: The United States should abolish the capital gains tax.

--Student Congress will follow the FFL Congress Manual. Entries will determine the number of chambers; if there are two or more chambers, there will be a Super Congress. All schools must submit legislation (see ENTRY PROCESS above). Legislation will be available on the speechwire.com Regional website after noon on Thursday, 1/25/18.

--Extemporaneous Speaking Events – Topic Areas Have Been Posted On The New FFL Website

1. There is a 30-second grace period in these events. A contestant who goes beyond the grace period may not be ranked first in that round.

2. All contestants must have a copy of their piece/oration available for review by tournament officials. Failure to present a copy of the applicable document and evidence of publication will result in disqualification.

3. FFL has enacted many changes during the Fall Vote. The membership needs to be aware of all of rule changes. These rule changes are listed on the FFL Home Page under “Results”. FFL is actively

working to update the Governing Documents, however coaches should review/familiarize themselves with these changes.

4. The name of each contestant’s piece/oration must be recorded on speechwire.com. The piece on the website must be used at BOTH regionals and state. The penalty for changing pieces at either Regional or State competition is immediate disqualification.

1. No contestant or student observer shall enter or remain in a contest room without a judge present. The penalty for violation of this regulation shall be immediate disqualification from the tournament.

2. One room will be designated for Policy debaters to prep between rounds. An adult proctor will supervise that room.

3. Vandalism of property by any person at an FFL tournament shall result in immediate notification of school and/or local police authorities. The Board of Directors shall notify the principal of the school associated with the vandal(s) in writing and insist upon appropriate remuneration. In the case of vandalism by a contestant, the additional penalty of immediate disqualification from the tournament shall also apply.

Reviewing the following documents in advance of the tournament will help to ensure that your students comply with all FFL rules and regulations. Questions regarding these rules should be addressed to the Tournament Director.

You should review the general tournament rules with your students; it is strongly recommended that you ALSO print a copy of the event-specific rules and give them to your students so that they can make sure they are in compliance.

This document prescribes rules of behavior that are generally observed by all contestants and adults at forensic contests. If you have inexperienced contestants and/or judges, you should give them a copy of this document.

You should give a copy of this document to each of your contestants in Student Congress.

You should give a copy of this document to each of your judges. There will be no copies available at the tournament.

5. Ballots for debate events, speech master ballots, speech contestant critique sheets, and protest forms are also available for download from the above web page.

1. All judges should be properly trained using the statewide judging manual. Please make sure that each of your judges has their own copy; the tournament will not provide them.

--Speech/IE, Including Congress: One judge for every five entries or fraction thereof. Each Duo/Group Interpretation team counts as one entry only.

The Tournament Director reserves the right to disqualify students from any school that is unable to meet its judging quota.

Each Contestant: $25.00 ($7 for FFL; $3 for regional expenses; $15 for dinner / lunch)

This is a “per student” entry fee; thus events with 2 people per entry pay 2 fees; Group Interp. pays as many entry fees as there are students in the group; THERE IS NO ADDITIONAL FEE FOR DOUBLE ENTRY

Extra Dinner & Lunches: $5.00 each per day (purchase for all coaches, judges, observers, etc.)

Fees are due at registration; no exceptions! Checks should be made payable to “Cypress Bay High School”

Registration will be open until Tuesday, January 30th at 5pm. Drops after that point will forfeit the entry fee.

Drops the day of the tournament (beginning at 8am) will result in Drop Fees of $10 per instance in addition to the forfeiture of entry fees.

Final Registration: 3:00pm - 4:00pm. Any school not registered at 4:00pm will be eliminated from competition. Round One will begin shortly after 4:00pm.

The format for each event will depend on the number of entries received. There will be 2 rounds on Friday afternoon and evening and all remaining rounds will commence on Saturday morning at 8:30am. The Tournament Director will publish the number of preliminary and elimination rounds (if any) along with any power-matching schemes at final registration.

Plan for an awards ceremony beginning in the late afternoon or early evening on Saturday.

Contestant meals are included in the cost of entry. Additional meals for coaches, judges, parents, observers, etc. are $5.00 each and must be ordered on speechwire.com as well

The tournament will be “closed campus.” Any contestant found leaving campus is subject to disqualification.

Justin Weaver
Email address: justin.weaver@browardschools.com
Phone number: (954) 790-8160

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