University of Washington-Seattle 

and Seattle University 

present the 2025 Seattle Classic Tournament

 

 

Hello,

 

The Debate Society at the University of Washington and the Seattle University Debate Union cordially invite you and your team to participate in our Seattle Classic! The 2025 Seattle Classic Invitational will serve as the first of many hostings offered by the debate teams at the University of Washington and at Seattle University. Coordinators Griffin Hehmeyer, president of the Debate Society at UW, and Jim Hanson, director of forensics at Seattle-U, envision this tournament as an annual celebration of debate and forensic excellence, fostering collaboration and education in the Pacific Northwest–ensuring adherence to the highest standards of forensics. 

The Seattle Classic is a two-day tournament that permits students to enter in IEs (as the Northwest NST qualifier) and IPDA or BP. 

It will take place on March 1st at Seattle University and March 2nd at the University of Washington. The tournament will adhere to the AFA-NST and Northwest Forensics Conference Codes of Ethics.

Please let us know if you have competitors, coaches, or critics who need ADA accommodation. Feel free to contact us with any questions you have about our tournament. We are so excited to welcome you to Seattle in March! 

 

 

 

Griffin Hehmeyer 

President of the Debate Society, The University of Washington 

griffheh@uw.edu

Phone: (425)-306-8639

 

Jim Hanson

Director of Forensics, Seattle University Debate team–Seattle University

hansonj@seattleu.edu 

Phone: (360)-536-198

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ETHICS & EQUITY PROVISIONS

All participants are expected to adhere to the AFA-NST and NFC Codes of Ethics. The Seattle Classic recognizes this to include fostering an environment of inclusion, equity, and respect. Participants and judges must ensure their actions uphold these standards. Additionally, recording any participant without their consent is strictly prohibited. 

https://northwestforensicsconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NFC-Code-of-Ethics-passed-Sept.-2017.pdf

 

HOTEL BLOCK: HAMPTON INN NORTHGATE (a few miles north of the University of Washington--about 5 miles north of Seattle University; accessible to light rail for either tournament)

Booking Link: https://www.hilton.com/en/book/reservation/deeplink/?ctyhocn=SEANGHX&groupCode=CHH90O&arrivaldate=2025-02-28&departuredate=2025-03-02&cid=OM,WW,HILTONLINK,EN,DirectLink&fromId=HILTONLINKDIRECT

 

ENTRY DEADLINE & REGISTRATION

Please complete entries via web registration at https://www.speechwire.com no later than:

 

Entry Deadline: February 24th, 2025 at 6:00 PM. (If you need extra time, please contact either griffheh@uw.edu or hansonj@seattleu.edu 

Drop Deadline: February 25th, 2025 at 11:59 PM. 

 

We require that you also enter your judges by that time. If you are unable to do so, please email Griffin Hehmeyer at griffheh@uw.edu. After February 25th, 2025 at 11:59 PM, fees will be assessed on your entry for any drops or adds (with late adds only possible if we have adequate judge coverage). Please make all entry changes directly on Speechwire until 5:00 PM on Wednesday, February 26th (which is the hard deadline for changes with late fees). 

Contact Griffin Hehmeyer (griffheh@uw.edu) with any questions about registration.

 

JUDGES & FEES

Judging Requirements

Schools MUST provide qualified judges for the tournament. Please limit your uncovered entries. We are restricting teams to a maximum of five uncovered IE entries, and two uncovered IPDA/BP entries from any one school.

 

One full-time IE judge covers 8 total individual events regardless of pattern. 

One full-time debate judge covers two debate teams or four contestants in IPDA. 

Judging will be N-1 for BP Debate with a minimum of 1 judge required for 1 team.

 

If we need to ask schools to drop teams due to judge limitations, programs with uncovered entries will be asked to drop first. 

 

School constraints may require us to move judges between debate pools. All debate judges are committed through the first elimination round, and judges from schools with advancing teams and speakers are committed through the next round AFTER their teams or speakers are eliminated. 

 

Fees: 

School Fee: $40 (waived for teams traveling from over 400 miles away)

IE entry: $10 per slot

Uncovered IE: $20 per slot (in addition to the entry fee)

BP entry: $80 per team

BP Uncovered: $150 per team (in addition to the entry fee)

IPDA entry: $40 per entry

IPDA Uncovered: $75 per debater (in addition to the entry fee)

Catering for Saturday (For each judge/debater/coach): $15

 

Food fees are mandatory for all attendees. Exceptions may be made for those who will be unable to consume the provided food due to health or religious concerns. 

 

Late Fees on top of registration fees & uncovered fees: 

Late Drop Fee: $24

Late Add Fee: $24

Late Judge Drop Fee: $24

 

We want to provide all the programs the chance to participate. If you have concerns regarding these fees, please contact Griffin Hehmeyer (griffheh@uw.edu) should you need any special assistance with tournament fees.

 

 

TOURNAMENT ADMINISTRATION NOTES 

 

Entries

In individual events, competitors are restricted to THREE EVENTS PER PATTERN. Students are responsible for making it to every round. Students who are triple-entered must keep in mind the timing conflicts and commitment to making it to scheduled rounds. We may not be able to offer make up rounds.  

 

 

Collapsing Divisions: 

We will refer to NFC guidelines to determine whether an event is collapsed or not. Novice and open divisions (for events with both divisions) will be collapsed if there are fewer than 9 contestants entered in the division. Lower divisions will always be moved up. Junior division will be collapsed if there are fewer than 12 contestants in the division. 

If we run into issues with entries, divisions or availability of judges, we reserve the right to impose the following restrictions as needed.

Team Limits– We reserve the right to restrict team entries as needed for the tournament.

 

 

DIVISIONS (DEBATE & IEs)

All competitors must be undergraduate students representing official college or university forensics programs.

The tournament director reserves the right to reassign divisions to any student who is improperly placed in a novice or junior division. If a team or individual is found to be in violation of any eligibility rule after a tournament has begun, that person or team will be disqualified from that event for the remainder of the tournament, at the discretion of the tournament director.

 

 BP DEBATE & IEs

 

All entries will be competing against others regardless of their level of experience. There will be no separate divisions, and all competitors in both British Parliamentary Debate and Individual Events will participate in the same open category. In BP Debate, we will advance novice debaters to separate elimination debates, and in IE’s, novice competitors will be eligible for separate awards and possibly have a separate breakout based on the number of entries. 

 

 

IPDA

Novice Debate: 

A novice is a competitor with no significant high school experience, is in their first two semesters of competitions, who has not advanced to elimination rounds at more than two tournaments in IPDA. Coaches should refrain from placing students with two or more years of high school experience in novice divisions.

 

Junior Debate:

A junior competitor is one who has not competed for more than four semesters, and who has not advanced to elimination rounds in the junior division at more than two tournaments in IPDA. 

 

Open Debate:

Any student is eligible to participate and may be entered in open division IPDA regardless of class standing or experience. In general, a senior division competitor will be in their third or fourth full year of collegiate

 

 

 

DEBATE & IE GUIDELINES

The guidelines for debate divisions and formats follow the standards adopted by the Northwest Forensics Conference (see “bylaws” section in “archives” at northwestforensicsconference.com). Individual events will follow NFC guidelines for placement of students in divisions. 

 

BRITISH-PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE

 

We will follow the WUDC rules found at WUDC RULES 

 

IPDA DEBATE (N, J, O)

 

We will follow the official IPDA rules found at http://www.ipdadebate.info/constitution—bylaws.html. 

 

INDIVIDUAL EVENT GUIDELINES 

 

We will follow the official AFA-NST rules found at

https://sites.google.com/site/afanietnew2/products-services/event-descriptions

 

 

DIRECTIONS

 

Maps and Saturday School/Prep Rooms at SU:

 

Seattle University’s campus Map, Parking, Light Rail, Disability Parking, etc.

 

Seattle U will announce School/Prep Rooms shortly before the tournament begins. Check in, draw, and General Assembly will commence in the Pigott Auditorium (Room 104). 

 

Maps and Sunday Prep Rooms at UW:

 

Directions to campus and the campus map for UW is available at https://www.washington.edu/maps/.

 

Check in and Main room for draw and prep at UW will be in Denny Hall [Denny Hall (DEN), Klickitat Ln, Seattle, WA 98105]. 

 

 

 

 

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

(all times are in Pacific Standard Time [PST])

 

SATURDAY, March 1st - SEATTLE UNIVERSITY 

Draw will be in Pigott Auditorium

Extemp Draw Rd 1 8:30

8:45 IE 1A (Pattern A includes Extemp, Informative, Persuasive, etc.)

10:00 IE 1B (Pattern B includes Prose, Poetry, Impromptu, etc.)

Extemp Draw Rd 2 11:15

11:30 IE 2A

12:45 – Lunch in Pigott Lobby (provided by the tournament)

1:15 IE 2B

2:30 -- Break

3:00 IE Finals

4:45 IPDA/BP Round 1 (IPDA prelims double-flighted)

6:30 Pizza Break provided by the tournament/IE Awards

7:15 IPDA/BP Round 2

 

SUNDAY IPDA SCHEDULE

Sunday, March 2nd - UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Draw will be in Denny Hall 303. 

9:00 IPDA/BP Round 3

11:00 IPDA/BP Round 4

12:45 Lunch

1:45 IPDA Q/BP Elim 1

3:45 Debate Awards

4:30 IPDA S/BP Elim 2

5:15 IPDA Finals as is needed

 

 

AWARDS

 

All IE finalists will be recognized

 

EVENT PATTERNS (divisions offered)

IE: 

Pattern A

Communication Analysis (CA)

Duo Interpretation

Impromptu Speaking

Informative Speaking

Poetry Interpretation

Editorial Commentary (Ed Com)

 

Pattern B

After Dinner Speaking (ADS)

Dramatic Interpretation (DI)

Extemporaneous Speaking

Persuasive Speaking

Program Oral Interpretation (POI)

Prose Interpretation

 

Debate: 

IPDA: 4 preliminary rounds plus elimination rounds.

BP: 4 preliminary rounds plus elimination rounds.

 

(vr24)