Dear Coach and Speakers, 

Welcome to The Avon High School Speech & Debate Tournament on November 11, 2023, located at 7575 E County Road 150 S, Avon, IN 46123.  We are looking forward to providing your students and judges with an awesome competition experience. 

DIRECTIONS AND PARKING 

Please drop off students at Door 33 (west side of building) and park in bus parking lot (east side of building) 

REGISTRATION DEADLINE 

All Registration will be done on www.speechwire.com. No emails, faxes or paper entries will be accepted. We strongly encourage that entries be made as early as possible (like right now, so you don’t forget) Registration will be locked (meaning no adding of entries can be added) on Wednesday, November 8th at 5:00 p.m..  Coaches will be able to make name changes and such until Thursday, November 9, 2023.  

TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE 

This tournament will offer both Varsity and Novice divisions in Speech events, although rounds will be mixed. We will offer SPEECH, CONGRESS, and DEBATE. Congress and Debate will not offer Novice segmentation. 

Timing: Registration and last-minute drops start at 7:00 a.m. Tournament will start @ 8:00 a.m. Extemp Prep @ 7:30 a.m., report to room  School Library. 

Important Note: Due to ongoing construction at AHS, we must limit the tournament to 450 total entries in speech. Please submit your registration as soon as possible to ensure your team's representation. 

Entry Per Team: 40 speech event entries, 2 WSD Teams, and  8 Congress. Any additional entries must be granted by the Tournament Director. Only the first 450 entries across all schools will be accepted. 

Event Limitation: None. You can enter as many students in any event as long as you do not breach the team cap of 40 entries. 

Rounds: 

SPEECH: 4 consecutive rounds. 1 judge in rounds 1-3, 2 judges in round 4.  

WSD: 4 rounds, 1 judge in each round.  

CONGRESS: 2 sessions.   

Student Doubling Permitted:  

SPEECH: Yes. (Except Discussion) All doubling is done at the student's risk. 

WSD No.  

CONGRESS No. 

Non - Sweeps Team Allowed: At the discretion of the tournament director. Please contact Linda Langford directly if you are looking to do this. 

Pickup Drops Allowed: NO 

CONGRESS: The Congress designated docket will be posted no later than 10/27/2023. 

WORLD SCHOOL DEBATE: Prepared topic posted no later than 10/27/2023. 

DISCUSSION 

We will be using the Socratic Seminar format.  Artifacts will be posted on the Speechwire for download on November 6th, 2023. No electronic devices will be allowed to be used or seen in the round.  Students who bring electronic devices to the round will be instructed to place those devices on a table away from the competition until the round is over.   

EXTEMP - Extemp PREP is School Library 

Internet Usage is permitted in your prep-time.  Extemp will draw rounds 1 and 3.  They will give their 1st round speech in round 2 and round 3 speech in round 4.  

Students need to report to Extemp Prep each round.  On non-draw rounds  (2 and 4 - students may use the prep time to edit their speech, do new research, etc.)  They will still speak in the order in which they are scheduled. Note cards are not allowed. 

BROADCASTING 

We will follow the new broadcasting format.  The radio prompts will be available on Monday, November 6th, 2023. after 5:00 pm.  BROADCASTING students must go to BROADCASTING first. Students may not use any prepared outlines in this event. 

FORMAT  

Rd 1: News Program (Music leadin/leadout, Commercial, Newscast)  5 min. 

Rd 2: Prewritten editorial  2 min. 

Rd 3: On The Spot  2 minutes to prepare, speak for 2 minutes 

Rd 4: News Program (Re-use Round 1 material)  5 min. 

Note: DEBATE and CONGRESS judges may be asked to judge SPEECH events. Rarely, but in some instances, qualified SPEECH judges may be asked to judge WSD or CONGRESS. Every effort will be made to ensure judges remain in their expected event while ensuring all resources are used effectively. 

THIS IS AN E -BALLOT TOURNAMENT. All judges should return their signed and properly scored ballots and completed critique sheets at the end of each round electronically.  Please note and communicate to your judges: All judges must submit critiques and/or reason for decision in order for ballots to be accepted. All judges MUST bring a device, i.e., laptop or tablet for judging.  We will not have devices to loan.   

TOURNAMENT RULES: We will follow the rules established for ISSDA. 

CONCESSIONS: There should be no leaving the building as food for students will be served in the cafeteria. Additionally, please discourage the use of food delivery services and encourage your students to use our concessions. The ongoing construction makes use of these services especially problematic. Complimentary food for judges, coaches and bus drivers will be available. 

JUDGES LOUNGE: Advanced Learning Center Media Center 

AWARDS: Ribbons to individual students 1st  through 6th in each division and event. 

TOURNAMENT DIRECTORS 

Tournament Directors: Devin Noyes, Linda Langford 

Questions: If you have any questions please contact Linda Langford @ lklangford@avon-schools.org  

We want to thank you for coming to the Avon High School Speech & Debate Tournament. 

Warmly, 

Dev and Linda