YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED TO ENTER YOUR STUDENTS TO COMPETE AT THE 2019 IHSFA STATE DEBATE TOURNAMENT on Friday & Saturday, January  25-26, 2019.

LOCATION: Southport High School, 971 E. Banta Rd. Indianapolis, IN 46227

 

ONLY SCHOOLS REGISTERED WITH THE INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL FORENSIC ASSOCIATION WHOSE CERTIFICATION FEES ARE PAID FOR THE 2018-19 SEASON WILL BE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE.

REGISTRATION FOR THE IHSFA STATE DEBATE TOURNAMENT: Registration will be through SpeechWire Services at www.SpeechWire.com. 

Preliminary Registration will open Tuesday, January 8, 2019 by 5:00 PM Eastern Time.

Preliminary Registration will close at 9:00 PM (EST) Monday, January 21, 2019. 

[Any changes in entries after the above deadline must be emailed to: Mary Fridh (ad@ihsfa.org)]

 

REGISTRATION FEES and CAP: 

Schools may enter the following: 

Policy Debate: $20 per team (maximum 4 teams)

Public Forum Debate: $20 per team (maximum 4 teams)

Lincoln Douglas Debate: $12 per debater (maximum 4 debaters)

            World Schools Debate: $6 per debater (maximum 2 teams consisting of 3 to 5 debaters)

Congress: $6 per congressional debater (maximum 4 legislators)

        Presiding Officers: $0

*(Presiding Officers have been pre-selected by the IHSFA Board of Directors and their respective 

          coaches have been notified by Scott Woodhouse, Congressional Debate Chair.)

 

Please NOTE! If a registered judge does not appear for an assignment, the judge/team will be fined $25 per incident.

 

FEE PAYMENT/DEADLINES:

Once you have entered your team on SpeechWire, you may print a fee statement through SpeechWire for your school's Treasurer or Accounts Manager.

Payment should be made out to Indiana High School Forensic Association or IHSFA. 

DO NOT MAIL FEES! BRING YOUR CHECK TO REGISTRATION ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2019.

ALL Fees must be paid AT registration on Friday, January 25, 2019. (This includes school certification fees). 

 

JUDGES REQUIREMENTS:  

Policy Debate and Public Forum Debate: 1 judge per EACH entry (four teams = 4 judges).

Lincoln Douglas Debate: 1 judge for 1-2 entries, 2 judges for 3-4 entries. 

Congress: 1 judge for 1-4 entries. 

World Schools Debate: 1 judge

* Please note that in order for a judge to count for your team's entry, he/she must be present for both days of competition, or you must enter additional judges who will be available for a given day of competition. Head Coaches must be present and be available to judge the entire tournament!

 

ONLINE REGISTRATION OF JUDGES:

 You will register Judges online with SpeechWire, but it is also important to complete the IHSFA JUDGE RATING CARD for each judge. The link will be sent to you when you enter the tournament.  This questionnaire will allow us to schedule judges based on availability, to code judges properly for experience, and to avoid assigning judges to rounds in which they may have a conflict due to affiliations with more than one school or team. You will need to complete a questionnaire for each judge you are bringing.

 

THE DEADLINE FOR DROPPING STUDENT ENTRIES WITHOUT PENALTY (other than the original entry fee) IS FRIDAY, January 25, 2019, by 10:00 AM (EST).

 

PLEASE NOTE THESE TOURNAMENT MANUAL REQUIREMENTS CONCERNING STATE DEBATE: 

 

G. Fees, Fines, and Penalties

      o Registration fees will not be reimbursed once the entry has been received.

      o Failure to register by the deadline is a fine of $50.00.

      o Entry drop on the Friday of the State Debate Tournament (after 10 AM) is $25.00 per entry.

      o A school is fined $25 per round for each judge or fraction thereof unavailable at the time the round is set. 

Any fines imposed because of any check returned by the bank due to insufficient funds, closed bank accounts, or any additional fines/fees, are the responsibility of the school/school corporation submitting that check in addition to the original amount for which the check was written. 

 

JUDGES:  While teams enter judges for specific debate events, all judges must be prepared to judge any of the five debate events. This is necessary. The Tournament Manual instructs judges to be available and to be prepared to judge all five events. We attempt to honor requests (and specialties), but the nature of our tournament makes this impractical. Please be flexible and accommodating.  All judges are expected to be available for the entire tournament, until they are released by the Executive Director, Samantha O’Conner.

*If you have or know of independent neutral judges, please send me (Mary Fridh - ad@ihsfa.org) their names and their current and previous school affiliations.

 

STRIKE LIST:  A strike list of registered judges will be available Wednesday night, January 23rd. on SpeechWire.

Each school may have a maximum of 3 strikes of three individual judges for all debate events. Strikes will NOT apply for judges in Congress. 

 

DEADLINE FOR STRIKES: 5:00 PM (EST) Thursday, January 24th.  Please list your 3 judges (maximum) to strike and the school the judge represents and send them to Mary Fridh ad@ihsfa.org by 5:00 PM (EST) Thursday, January 24th.

 

RESOLUTIONS/LEGISLATION: 

Policy: 

Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce its restrictions on legal immigration to the United States.

 

Lincoln-Douglas: January/February 2019 

Resolved: The United States ought not provide military aid to authoritarian regimes.

 

Public Forum: January 2019 Topic:

Resolved: The United States federal government should prioritize reducing the federal debt over promoting economic growth.

 

World Schools Debate Prepared motions will be as follows: (topics will be posted on the  IHSFA website (ihsfa.org) and added here when available)

Round 1: This house believes that US elections are unfair and need immediate reform.

Round 3: This house would ban candidates' use of social media during political campaigns

Semi-final Round: This house believes that the United States should withdraw all military presence from the Middle East within 2 years.

 

Congress Legislation for State Debate can be found on the IHSFA Website (ihsfa.org)

 

Additional forms and information can be downloaded from SpeechWire including the tentative two-day schedule of events as well as the application for the Robert E. Brittain Mental Attitude Scholarship for a graduating senior who has competed in debate.

 

Hotel Information--as you look for hotels, keep in mind that the 2019 IHSFA Debate Tournament will be held at Southport High School, 971 E. Banta Rd. Indianapolis, IN 46227. 

REMEMBER: Final Registration on Friday, January 25, is from 3:30 - 5:00 PM with a meeting for ALL JUDGES at 5:00 PM

We look forward to seeing you on January 25-26, 2019. 

 

Samantha O'Conner, Executive Director

Mary Fridh, Chief Operating Officer and Tournament Manager.

 

(vr)