SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2020 and we hope that you can join us for the 2nd Annual Yellow Springs Fearless Forensic Festival -- a MS/HS Speech & Debate Tournament -- on Saturday, January 25th.

We are offering all OSDA events (except Policy Debate) for middle & high school with 3 Prelim Rounds & Finals for IE and 5 LD/PF/BQD rounds; there will be at least 4 hours of Congressional Debate divided across 3 sessions. Double entry rules are IE only, no extemp cross entry, DE in Duo must be with different partner and TE only by special permission. And, Bid Category must be declared before rounds begin. Note that we will be using the January Public Forum resolution this year.

Since we are using e-ballots at our tournament, please include your judges' emails when registering them, and you should also let your judges know that they may want to bring a laptop or tablet if they do not want to enter comments via their phones. Our tournament booklet will include the criteria for all speech & debate events as well as other important information. We will cover the e-ballot process during the judge meetings.

This will be a great opportunity for your students to hone their presentations & speaking/analytical skills before district qualifiers and the state/novice state tournaments. We encourage observation at our tournament to give students & potential participants the opportunity to learn and coaches the opportunity to develop their team members' skills. Parents are also invited to come to observe, and there are lots of shops, public art and other things to enjoy in and around Yellow Springs.

Also, we will have plenty of great local coffee for judges and coaches from The Emporium as well as food from Ha Ha Pizza, ice cream from Young's Jersey Dairy and lots of other goodies. We are a potluck community and we will keep everyone happy and well-fed.

The Top 6 in each category will receive signature awards, and we will have team sweepstakes and other special awards. The tournament will use our McKinney MS/YSHS (420 E. Enon Rd) for LD, PF & BQD and our Mills Lawn Elementary School (200 S. Walnut St) for Speech & Congress, with everyone gathering at Mills Lawn for the Awards Ceremony. You can register at either building, and we will have separate debate and IE tab rooms as well as concessions with plenty of options at both locations. There is ample parking at both sites, and buses will want to drop off IE competitors at the elementary school and park at the middle/high school.

So, pull out your favorite tie-dye apparel & peace sign jewelry and join us for a great speech & debate experience in our "Welcoming Village" - 'Everyone's Favorite Place'!

Please contact me via brianhoush@gmail.com or 937-776-9566 if you have any questions. Make checks payable to Yellow Springs Schools, and use the address below for POs.

Have a great day!

Brian Housh & Cindy Sieck

YS Speech & Debate Coaches