GFCA Varsity State Tournament Book

GFCA Varsity State Award Photos

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Dates and Location

· February 9-10, 2024

· Congress – Friday, February 9^th

· Speech – Saturday, February 10^th

· Lincoln Douglas & Public Forum – both days

· Policy – both days (beginning at noon on Friday)

· Adjustments on the above may be made to comport with bylaws if numbers are higher than expected.

· In Person at Marist School

Events Offered

• Congress
• Dramatic Interpretation
• Duo Interpretation
• Extemporaneous Speaking
• Humorous Interpretation
• Impromptu Speaking
• Informative Speaking
• Lincoln Douglas Debate
• Original Oratory
• Policy Debate
• Program of Oral Interpretation
• Public Forum Debate

Entry Qualifications

GFCA Member Schools may enter up to four entries in each of Policy, Public Forum, and Lincoln Douglas, eight entries in Congress, and six entries in each speech event at the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship. Entries must have attended at least two invitationals that meet State Championship minimum entry requirements hosted by schools in Georgia. (3.2.2.1)

Judging Qualifications

· Policy — In order to count for a school's judging obligation in Policy Debate at the Varsity State Tournament, individuals must have judged at least eight (8) rounds at the high school level in Policy Debate since June of the year before the state tournament. (3.2.5.1.2.1)

· LD and PF — In order to count for a school's judging obligation inPublic Forum or Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the Varsity State Tournament, individuals must have judged at least (8) rounds at the high school level in that debate event in the current and/or school year preceding the state tournament. (3.2.5.1.2.2)

· Speech — While we do not have specific round requirements for speech, please do make sure your judges are familiar with the speech events offered at the tournament.

Please ask debate judges to make sure they have an updated judge philosophy on Tabroom.com — it really helps the students that they are judging!

Entourage Rule Reminder

At the Varsity tournament, any adult attending the tournament that contributes to the competitive debate effort in Policy, Public Forum, or Lincoln Douglas for a school must be entered into a judge pool for a minimum of two preliminary and/or elimination rounds; for Speech, anyone attending the tournament that contributes to the competitive effort for a school must be entered in the judge pool. This includes any volunteers contributing debate or speech work. If the judge’s rounds are included in their team's obligation owed, the judge will be obligated for elimination rounds. (3.2.5.1.2.3)

Please reach out to me (jonwaters7@gmail.com) if you have any questions about how this might apply for your particular school.

Judging Obligations

Because this is a State Championship and we want to guarantee the best possible, see the bylaw below (3.2.5.2)

At the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship, judges fulfilling a school’s obligation are obligated two full roundspast that school’s exit from the tournament in that judging pool. The round obligations are for preliminary rounds only. All judges are obligated for the first two elimination rounds unless covered by additional judges in missing timeslots. If judges need to be timeblocked, other judges should be entered to fulfill that timeblock obligation. For example, if a school owes 6 rounds of policy debate for a 5 round preliminary tournament, the school would need to supply two judges to fulfill those preliminary round obligations and both judges would be obligated to judge at least the first two elimination rounds. If a judge cannot cover the elimination round obligation, an additional judge should be supplied to cover that obligation.

Guidelines for Combining or Canceling Divisions

At the Varsity Speech & Debate State Championship, if registration closes and the division has not met this requirement, the event will be offered during the Supplemental Asynchronous Forensic Activity. The event will forfeit its points in its respective sweepstakes formula. If the event still does not meet the minimum entry requirements, the event will be canceled. (3.1.3.1.2)

Hired Judging

We will have a limited amount of judging available to hire from the tournament. If you know you will need a hired judge, please submit this request ASAP when registration opens so we can make sure to meet as many needs as possible. No hired judging requests will be accepted after January 24 at noon. There is no guarantee that the tournament will be able to meet hired judging requests. Schools should expect to cover their own judges.

Forms to Submit

Each school must submit a School Eligibility Form (one per school). The completed form should be uploaded to Tabroom.

Entry Fees

Entry fees are $60 for Congress, Lincoln Douglas, Dramatic Interp, Extemp, Humorous Interp, Impromptu, Informative, Oratory, and Program of Oral Interp.

Entry fees are $120 for Policy, Public Forum, and Duo Interp.

Meals – Dietary Restrictions

Friday dinner for debate and congress competitors and Saturday lunch for all the competitors will be included in the cost. It is important that all coaches enter dietary restrictions for students into tabroom to be sure we have an accurate count. To do this, go to tabroom and click on the “Competitors” tab. Then, on the right side, there will be a blue button that says “Dietary Preferences.” Click there to enter preferences for individual members of your team.

Other Notes

LD will be using the NSDA January/February topic. PF will be using the NSDA February topic.