SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

You and your team are invited to the Valparaiso Novice/Varsity Speech Tournament on Saturday, November 9, 2019. We will be offering all 14 IHSFA Current Speech Events. Registration will be entered on SpeechWire (www.speechwire.com). Please have all entries in by 5:00 p.m. (CDT) on Tuesday, November 5, 2019. Final Registration will begin on the day of the tournament at 7:00 a.m. and end at 7:30 a.m. (CDT). Extemp Draw will begin at 7:45 a.m. Radio contestants should report to Radio Prep. room by 7:50 am. First rounds will begin at 8:00 a.m. (CDT) except for Extemp & Impromptu. No drops may be picked up on the day of the tournament.

PARDON OUR DUST: As you may know, Valparaiso High School is still under construction. Please ask your students and judges to respect our building and to refrain from taking materials that don’t belong to them, as well as to refrain from making more work for us and our custodians. Thank you in advance for your efforts on our behalf.

ENTERING RESTRICTIONS & JUDGING: Teams may enter a maximum of 20 entries with a limit of 4 students in each division per each event that will count for sweepstakes points. Hopefully, this will level the playing field for smaller programs. A novice is a first-year competitor with no previous experience prior to September 1, 2019. Each team must provide one judge for every five entries or fraction thereof. That means 6 entries = 2 judges. You may enter a non-sweepstakes team for additional entries. A student entered on the school’s sweepstakes team MAY NOT ALSO be entered on a non-sweepstakes team.

DOUBLING: Contestants may double at their own risk with the following exceptions:

Extemp contestants may not double in the other Extemp event. Extempers may double only in Impromptu, Informative Speaking, and Original Oratory.

Rounds: All events will go 4 straight rounds. Impromptu Rounds 1 & 3 will start 30 minutes later to accommodate Extempers who are doubling.

Round 1: Pre-written 5-minute newscast including, commercial, music lead-in & lead-out

Discussion will follow the IHSFA rules found on the ihsfa.org website. Topics/Artifacts will be posted following the close of registration Tuesday evening, November 5th.

Extempers will draw before 1st and 3rd rounds. Speakers will use their 3rd round topic for 4th round.

COMBINING SECTIONS: We will combine novice and varsity contestants if numbers are too low in an event. However, we will re-rank novice scores when competing against varsity. Their original ranks will only be considered for tie-breaking purposes. (We have high hopes that SpeechWire will let us do this!)

MEALS: There will be no scheduled break in competition for lunch; however, food (including breakfast items) will be available throughout the tournament with lunch being served from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. or until all the food has been consumed.

AWARDS: The top eight places in each division shall receive ribbons (or certificates) and earn sweepstakes points. Varsity sweepstakes point values shall be 8 down. Novice point values shall be 8 down. We will offer 5 sweepstakes trophies.

ESTIMATED TIME OF AWARDS: 3:30 p.m. (CDT) With your help, we will run a rapid awards session.

ARRIVAL AND FOUL WEATHER DELAYS: Should inclement weather cause us to delay the start of the tournament or cancel it entirely, we will contact you via the contact number you provide in the registration by 5:30 a.m. CDT.

Please direct all inquiries to: Mary Fridh @ mafridh@gmail.com or 219-363-6618. (On the day of the tournament, I will only be reachable by email, since our building doesn’t allow my cellphone to receive calls or texts.)

The Valparaiso Speech, Debate, Mock Trial Coaching Staff: Mary, Abigael, Andy, Brian & John

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