FCDI Online C High School

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General information

This is a High School tournament in Florida.

View manager contact information

A video tutorial of how the tournament will operate can be found here: https://youtu.be/oCWKZEu6h9w

You are cordially invited to the Florida Civics & Debate Initiative Online C High School, to be held March 8. This will be a virtual synchronous tournamnet. 

This FCDI Tournament offers, high school novice, and high school varsity competition. All schools are welcome to compete in this tournament.

All competitors will compete in 3 rounds.

REGISTRATION WILL CLOSE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5th, 11:59PM EST.

EVENTS and DIVISIONS: We offer middle school, novice, and varsity divisions. If numbers allow, we will offer separate middle school and novice divisions. We reserve the right to combine divisions. No Double Entry.  If a coach submits the same student for two events, that student will be automatically disqualified for both events.

EVENTS INCLUDE:

• Lincoln Douglas Debate (LD)
• Public Forum Debate (PF)
• Extemporaneous Debate (EXTD)
• Declamation Speaking (DEC)
• Dramatic Performance (DP)
• Informative Speaking (INF)
• Impromptu Speaking (IMP)
• Original Oratory (OO)

TOPICS: Participants should familiarize themselves with potential topics/resolutions and prepare accordingly.

NOTE: Students who compete in debate events argue both sides of an issue. Academic debate is an intellectual activity and is not about personal advocacy.

TOPICS: STUDENTS SHOULD PREPARE SPEECHES ON THE TOPIC OF THEIR EVENT/DIVISION 

Lincoln Douglas Topic: Resolved: The United States ouhgt to preserve the right to bear arms for maintaining individual liberty and/or public safety.

Public Forum Debate Topic: Resolved: Social welfare programs should require able-bodied recipients to work to receive benefits.

Extemporaneous Debate Topic Areas: 

Round 1: Crime and Punishment

Round 2: Domestic Policy

Round 3: Employmnet

Impromptu Speaking Topic Areas:

Round 1: Civics and Governmnet

Round 2: American History

Round 3: Opinions

JUDGES:  FCDI JUDGING REQUIREMENTS

Because tournaments rely on volunteer judges, recruiting and training judges is vital. The FCDI requires teams provide judges proportional to the number of students they have registered for a given tournament. 

For every five spech entries, one judge must be registered. For every two debate entries, one judge must be registered

Teams who do not have the required number of judges will incur a fee of $10.00 per judge short and/or may have their competitors dropped from the tournament. New teams will not incur this fee during their first year.

Tournamnet Schedule 

Additional speech, debate, and judging resources can be found HERE

LD = Pages 39-41, and the rubric on page 38

            PF = Pages 42-46, and page 38

            EXD = Pages 45-46, and page 38

            LEG = Pages 47-53

            DP = Pages 65-69

            DEC = Pages 55-58

            IMP = Pages 59-64

            INFO = Pages 70-73

            OO = Pages 74-78

Adults and coaches may judge any division. FCDI alumni and qualified varsity students may judge the middle school and novice divisions. Judges must be trained. It is the affirmative duty of the coach to ensure that all judges (except students) must be approved as vetted volunteers through their district’s volunteer system.

At every FCDI tournament, a team member will present a judge orientation, event overview, and answer any final questions judges may have. On-site judge training will always be available to any judge that needs assistance one hour before the tournament begins. Please encourage new judges to arrive early to take advantage of this training.

If a judge misses a round, other than in the case of an emergency, the team they are representing will be charged a $100.00 missed round fee.

FEES: FCDI member schools pay no general registration fees. Non-FCDI schools pay $5.00/student. All schools may incur a late drop fee.

Please make checks payable to and mail to:

Florida Debate Initiative, Inc.

87 Geneva Drive

Oviedo, FL 32765

DAY OF TOURNAMENT CONTACTS:

David Fechtel, dfechtel@floridadebate.org, (813) 295-4079

Florida Civics and Debate Initiative Contact Information

John Duebel
Director, Florida Civics and Debate Initiative 

Email address: John.Duebel1@fldoe.org
Phone number: 850-245-0504

The Florida Civics and Debate Initiative is proud to partner with the Florida Debate Initiative, which oversees our tournament operations and manages the Regional Ambassadors who help bring our mission to life.

Florida Civics and Debate Initiative Handbook

Click here to view the FCDI handbook

Manager contact information

David Fechtel
Email address: dfechtel@floridadebate.org
Phone number: 8132954079

Mailing address

Florida Debate Initiative
87 Geneva Drive
Oviedo, FL 32765