Welcome to our 5th MAST on Tuesday January 28th at Stoneman Douglas High School!

 

LOCATION:

Stoneman Douglas High School

5901 Pine Island Rd, Parkland, FL

 

ARRIVAL:

You MUST arrive for the tournament between 1:15pm and 1:45pm. If you arrive after 2:00 pm you will not be allowed to enter until after 3 pm. 

Everyone will stay in the cafeteria until Stoneman Douglas has dismissed and round 1 is ready to begin (hopefully around 3:15 pm). The judge lounge will be in the media center. EXT prep is in room 162

 

COMPETITORS:

Competitors must wear ID at all times. Competitors may not roam the school. They must be in the auditorium, cafeteria or in their round at all times.

 

REGISTRATION:

Please follow the instructions on this page to register your entries. 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 MSD and sufficient judge numbers.

No double or cross entries are allowed.

 

DEADLINES:

Registration for NEW ENTRIES will close on Friday January 24th at 12pm. At that time as many students will be released from the waitlist as judge numbers and available space allows. Changes (drops or name changes) can be made until 12 pm on January 28th. Any changes after that, please email Janell McLeod: the school name, student who is dropping, and her/his event. 

Pizza orders will close Thursday January 23rd at 3pm.

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

 

PRE-ORDERED MEALS: 

-Lunch Pizza Pie Pre-Orders closes on THURSDAY January 23rd  at 3pm. 

-Pre-order pizza pies for student lunch are 1 pie at $16 per every 4 students. Each student will receive 2 slices and a water.

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

-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 checks payable to “Stoneman Douglas High School”.

 

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. 

Reminder: Novice Coaches (0-3 years) must judge at least 1 round per tournament.

 

If you want to use varsity judges, you must fill out the request form to receive judges from the pool.

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.

***Proof of NSDA record is required. (NEW!)***

 

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

 

Judge Check-In:  Media Center

-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.

 

TOPICS:

Lincoln-Douglas 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.

 

Public Forum Debate – 2025 January Topic: Resolved: The African Union should grant diplomatic recognition to the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state.

 

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 mASTs all teams MUST use the Novice Policy Packet. 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 "U.S. Congress" and "Latin America"

 

Impromptu topic areas will be released at the tournament.

 

Congress:

Congress legislation for the entire first semester was sent in multiple Monday HS 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.

 

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

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, the author in the "author" section and the website or ISBN number in the respective section.

 

 

 

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

(vr24)