SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

Dear Speech and Debate Coach:

You are cordially invited to participate in the 3rd Annual Falcon Fiesta Speech and Debate Tournament hosted by Highlands Ranch High School at Highlands Ranch High School on February 8, 2025.

Events: The following events will be offered: CX Debate*, JV CX Debate*, LD Debate, Public Forum Debate, National Extemp, International Extemp, Drama, Humor, Poetry, Duo, Original Oratory, Informative, and POI. Three rounds and finals will be held in all events.

* Depending on the number of entries, we may combine the JV CX and CX pools. If this looks like it will happen, I will email all coaches with JV CX and CX entries for input on how we will handle JV case limits.

SATURDAY: All events will take place in person

Varsity Cross-Examination Debate, JV Cross-Examination Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and Public Forum Debate, National Extemporaneous Speaking, International Extemporaneous Speaking

Drama, Duo, Humor, Poetry, Program Oral Interpretation, Original Oratory, Informative

Entries: A maximum of five (5) entries per school will be allowed in each event. Additional entries can be placed on the waitlist and we will accommodate those entries if space is available.

Registration: All registration will occur at www.speechwire.com. Pre-registration will close at 5 PM on Wednesday, February 5th, or earlier if the tournament fills. Registrations are handled on a first-come, first-served basis. As always, we would appreciate knowing of any drops in advance of the tournament, in order to help with the scheduling of rounds and ordering of NSDA Campus rooms.

General Rules:

Each school (administration, teachers, and/or coaches) is responsible for ensuring they have proper parental permission for students to participate in an online tournament and to use the designated competition platforms.

A responsible coach must be available IN PERSON at all times.

Competition is open to 9-12 grade students representing the school in which they are officially enrolled and doing so with the permission of their school administration and/or coaches.

We will use CHSAA rules in all events.

Competitors double-entered in OO and Informative cannot perform the same speech in both events.

Rules for Double Entry:

CX, PF, and LD Debaters may not double-enter on Saturday

Congressional Debate students may double-enter in events on Saturday.

Students in events (Drama, Humor, Poetry, POI, Duo, OO, Info, Extemp) may double-enter in a maximum of TWO events on Saturday. Students are responsible for making it to their rounds. Students must pay attention to the schedule because we may not be using a full wave system—some events may occur in the same time period.

Students can only enter one Extemp event.

Extempers that double-enter risk losing part of their prep time.

Debate Topics:

We will use all current February NSDA topics in each of the debates

JV/Varsity CX Rules:

Please note: Depending on the number of entries, we may combine the JV CX and CX pools. If this looks like it will happen, I will email all coaches with JV CX and CX entries for input on how we will handle JV case limits.

Varsity CX Debate is open to all CX debate teams.

JV CX debate is limited to freshman and sophomore CX debaters or students in their first year of competition.

In JV CX, no Kritiks or counterplans are allowed.

Fees and Payment: The entry fee will be $10.00 per student in events—$20 per team (PF, CX, JVCX, Duo) based upon the pre-registration numbers on Wednesday, February 5th. Changes in pre-registration will be reflected in the final entry fees if made via the web site by 5 PM on February 5. After that time, net increases in entries will result in increases in final entry fees, while net decreases in entries will not reduce your final entry fees.

Please make checks payable to Highlands Ranch High School Speech and Debate Team and mail payment to:

Attn.: Katie Zook

Highlands Ranch High School

9375 Cresthill Lane

Highlands Ranch , CO. 80130

Inclusion & Equity Statement: At Highlands Ranch Speech & Debate Tournaments, we embrace and support the mission of our school district, the vision of our school, the CHSAA Speech and Debate Inclusion Statement, and the NSDA Harassment and Discrimination Policy. Please review additional information on these statements here.

The Highlands Ranch Speech & Debate program is committed to further developing equity, diversity, and inclusion in this activity. To that end, we have tried to remove some of the economic barriers that prevent teams from competing at tournaments, as well as taking steps to provide a more inclusive competition environment. Below are recent steps we have taken to increase access and affordability, as well as inclusiveness:

Any school with a Free or Reduced Lunch rate of 60% or more is entitled to a discount on their entry fees. Please email us directly to receive the discount.

Diverse panels of judges for outrounds.

An implicit bias judge virtual training required for all judges before ballots are released to them.

We will be implementing the practice of having Equity Officer(s) available to help address concerns throughout the tournament.

Judging: Judging: Each school is responsible for providing judges to cover their entries.

• Judges must be available for the three preliminary rounds and the final round--if you are dividing a judging requirement across multiple judges, please ensure there is judge coverage for the whole duration of the tournament.

• One judge must be provided for every two debaters (or portion thereof).

• One judge must be provided for every 5 events entries (or portion thereof).

• Judges must be entered in Speechwire by Wednesday, January 19th.

• Judges are responsible for checking for ballots at the appropriate times. We will be auditing judge usage after the tournament and will assess judge fees for missing judges and for judges who miss ballots.

• We all want tournaments to run quickly, and that is not possible if we do not have a solid judging pool--please do your best to ensure your judges are present for the duration of the tournament. We’d much rather have your judges than your money! If you are a new or rebuilding program with concerns about meeting your judge requirements, please reach out so we can work with you.

• NOTE: We will not be compensating judges--we leave judge compensation to each team’s discretion.

Awards: We will be awarding trophies or medals to all finalists. Additionally, numerous superior and excellent ribbons will be awarded.

Final Registration:Final registration for Saturday will be from 7:00 to 7:15 AM, with rounds beginning at 8:00 AM. Please plan to arrive at registration early. Schools not registered by 7:30 AM may be dropped from the tournament. If you are running late, please call 720-936-3634 so we can finalize the first rounds as quickly as possible. Awards are scheduled for 5:00 PM or sooner.

Location: The tournament will be held at Highlands Ranch High School

Questions, Comments, Ideas: Please feel free to contact Katie Zook at Highlands Ranch High School at 720-936-3634 (cell), or kmzook@dcsdk12.org

We look forward to hosting this tournament and hope you will be able to join us!

Sincerely,

Katie Zook

Social Studies Teacher

Speech & Debate-Head Coach

Highlands Ranch High School