John Lewis SVUDL Invitational

2024 — NSDA Campus, CA/US

An Updated Invite with this year's tournament info will be posted soon.

Dear Colleagues,

The Silicon Valley Urban Debate League (SVUDL) presents:

The John Lewis SVUDL Invitational, formerly known as the SCU Dempsey-Cronin (aka SCU 1).

The Silicon Valley Urban Debate League has taken ownership of the SCU Dempsey Cronin, and will be running a hybrid Speech and Debate invitational to be held the weekend before Thanksgiving, from Nov 22-24.

All proceeds from this tournament will go to the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League, a local nonprofit organization that helps students uncover and hone the power of their voices, so they can confidently step into their full potential as professional and community leaders.

SVUDL is pleased to continue to honor the legacy of the late Congressman John Lewis by naming this Speech and Debate tournament after him. Born near Troy, Alabama in 1940, Congressman Lewis devoted his life to securing civil rights, fair and equal access to voting rights, and was a tireless soldier who literally and repeatedly risked his life in the movement against racial segregation and injustice.

We are also pleased to announce that we are again a NIETOC designated bid tournament for those interested in the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions. We are also designated as a bid tournament for Speech and Public Forum for the Tournament of Champions, held by the University of Kentucky. We are happy to announce that for this year, the TOC has designated us as a quarterfinals gold and octo finals silver bid for Public Forum. All eligible Speech events, for varsity divisions, will also be eligible for TOC bids.

This will be a hybrid tournament, with all Speech events and Congress held in person at Silver Creek High School in San Jose, CA. All other Debate events (LD, PF, Parli, Policy) will be held online using the NSDA Campus platform.