Welcome to our 5th AST Novice High School Tournament on Thursday, January 16th at Fort Lauderdale High School.

 

LOCATION:

Fort Lauderdale High School

1600 NE 4th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33305

 

ARRIVAL:

-You MUST arrive for the tournament between 1:15pm and 2:15pm. If you arrive after 2:15 you will get caught in Fort Lauderdale's dismissal traffic and could miss/forfeit the first round.

-Please see the Metal Detector and ID video in the Tournament Procedures section of the Canvas Coach Corner.

*Students cannot be allowed onto FLHS Campus prior to 1:15pm. They also must go directly to the cafeteria as soon as they are allowed onto the property as several students were “exploring” the campus which cannot be allowed. Students must remain in the cafeteria when they are not in round.

 

COMPETITORS:

ASTs are for NOVICE debaters in their first year of high school debate (9-12).

 

REGISTERING ENTRIES:

ENTRY CAPS:

-Remember, each school may only initially enter FIVE students in all events except Congress, in which you can enter TEN. Any entries over that number will go on the waitlist, which will be cleared pending available space at Fort Lauderdale High and sufficient judge numbers.

-No double or cross entries are allowed.

 

DEADLINES:

-Student lunch pizza pie pre-orders close on FRIDAY, JANUARY 10TH. 

-Registration for NEW ENTRIES close on TUESDAY, JANUARY 14TH.

At that time, we will begin releasing competitors off of the waitlist if team judge numbers and room space allow.

-Competitor changes (drops or name changes only) and judge drops/name changes/adds can be made until the day of the tournament.

***NO LATE ADDS. Do not bring competitors who are not registered to the tournament.***

 

JUDGES: Judges are required for any tournament to run, and schools are required to cover their entries. (1 judge covers 2 debate entries, or 1 judge covers any combination of 5 speech/congress entries.) Please make sure you do not bring more students than you have judges to cover. Reach out to competitors' family members, teachers, and mentors for judge help. Coaches can judge too. NEW - Novice coaches (0-3yrs) are required to judge at least one round.

 

VARSITY JUDGES:

Varsity debaters with at least 150 NSDA points, currently enrolled and competing in debate, and who are not in their first year of high school debate are welcome to attend and judge.

***(NEW) Proof of NSDA record is required. Until we can get a location created to upload in Speechwire, please email sarah.beauchamp@browardschools.com a PDF or screenshot of your NSDA record for any varsity judges you are using.

***If you have varsity debaters who can judge and/or P.O. for Congressional Debate, please email sarah.beauchamp@browardschools.com directly with their names and put it into the notes section of the judge.

 

Judge Check-In:  2nd Floor of the Cafeteria, Arrival is between 1:15-2:15.

-First-time judge:  You should have received an email from Speechwire to follow and create an account.

-Judged before:  It is important to make sure you have logged into live.speechwire.com and are able to sign in with the same email address you used previously. Once signed in, please make sure the cell number is correct/added to your account.

-In order to have a smoother start to the tournament, it is a huge help for all judges to arrive on time, have checked-in, and have logged into live.speechwire.com prior to coming to the tournament. If for whatever reason you cannot initially log in, click "Forgot Password" but use the same email you entered.

-Electronic Device: All ballots are electronic, so judges will need to bring a working, charged, smart phone, tablet, or laptop (preferably with a keyboard) to complete the eballots.

 

Judge During Round:

-Click "Start Round" after they confirm the correct competitors are in the room with them.

-Type comments while students are speaking, which will expedite the tournament. Comments are open for editing overnight, but results must be submitted asap.

-Save/submit ranks, points, and decisions when the round is finished. We cannot move on to the next round or close the tournament until all ballots are submitted.

 

PRE-ORDERED MEALS: (NEW!) School Issued Checks Only!

-NO OUTSIDE FOOD DELIVERIES (DoorDash/UberEats).

-Lunch Pizza Pie Pre-Orders opens on TUESDAY, JANUARY 7TH and closes on FRIDAY, JANUARY 10TH 

-Pre-order pizza pies for student lunch are 1 pie at $16 per every 4 kids (2 slices and a bottle of water per kid).

-Pizza is not sold by the slice at concessions.

-Concession prices vary due to the concessions being a fundraiser for the host school’s program.

-We will not hold the tournament rounds from starting if the concession lines are long.

-Add pre-ordered pizza pies by clicking “Tournament home” on the left column, then click “Update your meal order” in the middle of the screen.

-Print your final invoice to request a check from your school under “Current Invoice” on the left column of Speechwire. Make school checks payable to “Fort Lauderdale Debate”.

 

TOPICS:

Public Forum (PF) Debate – 2025 January Topic:

“Resolved: The African Union should grant diplomatic recognition to the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state.”

 

Lincoln Douglas (LD) Debate - 2025 January/February Topic:

“Resolved: The United States ought to become party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and/or the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”

 As stated in the beginning of the year, starting Nov./Dec. AST LD Topic will follow the varsity/NSDA topics for the rest of the year.

 

Policy Debate, the 2024-25 Topic:

“Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in copyrights, patents, and/or trademarks.”

In addition, at the ASTs all teams MUST use the Novice Policy Packet but are not limited to it. The Novice Policy Packet can be accessed at the NDCA website: http://www.debatecoaches.org/ and click on the Google Drive.”

 

Extemp topic areas will be “US Congress” and “Latin America”

              -Competitors move to the Extemp. Prep. Room 506 at 3pm for round one draw.

              -Competitors return to the Extemp. Prep. Room 506 after round one to draw for round two.

              -Students may use the provided index card (they may not use their own or paper) during their speech, but should not be reading directly from it.

 

Impromptu topic areas will be released at the tournament.

 

Congress:

Congress legislation for the entire second semester was sent in email updates and is posted in the BCPS Coach Corner Canvas course. It is also accessible electronically here in Speechwire under the "Files for Download" section. Per usual, chambers might not debate all 4 bills if time does not allow.

 

(NEW!) Interpretation (DI, DUO, HI, POI) and Declamation (DEC):

Once you have updated your entries, go to the left column on Speechwire called “Piece Registration”. For each INTERP and/or DEC entry, you are required to include the Entry Title in the “title” section and the website or ISBN number in the “author” section.

 

More information may be sent out as the tournament approaches. Please let your mentor know if you have any questions.

 

 

 

 

 

(vr24)