Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Illinois State Forensics Union and Western Kentucky Forensics Team, we cordially invite you to participate in the 5th Annual Lincoln-Douglas Spring Tournament, to be held on the Illinois State University Campus February 16th and 17th, 2019. The weekend will be comprised of a 6 round LD only tournament with an outround break commiserate with entries. To simulate the NFA National Tournament as closely as possible, the tournament will be run with both a warm room as well as releasing the full bracket prior to the start of outrounds. For the purpose of this tournament, novice will be designated as a student that does not have 2 semesters of debate experience in college or high school.

Each program must cover at least 50% of their entry to ensure that the judging pool is diverse and qualified. The Illinois High School State Speech Tournament is that weekend and hiring will be limited. We also want to ensure quality comments and judging occurs as this is a warmup for nationals. Additionally, in an effort to increase the quality of the judging pool we are offering one free slot per clean judge above a team’s commitment (this must be a judge that can judge your students). We recognize that there is a lot of talent in the Midwest that we do not have contact information for; therefore, we will pay that judge if you assist in getting them hired above your commitment in addition to offering your team a free entry slot.

The top 5 speakers will be awarded for the tournament in open and the top novice speaker will also be awarded. All debaters advancing to outrounds will receive awards. The novice division may be collapsed into the open division if there are insufficient entries. However, the top novice speaker and top novice will be recognized at awards.

Entries and Judging – Teams must cover 75% of their entry

Covered Debate Entry $50.00 (1 Judge covers 2 debaters)

Uncovered Debate Entry $150.00 ($50 entry fee + $100 uncovered fee)

Each judge provided covers two entries. All judges are required to be available 1 round past the elimination of their competitors; however in order to maintain a high quality judge pool, we ask that judges stay as long as possible. We also ask that each judge submit a judging philosophy prior to the start of the tournament to be made available to all participants.

Entries are to be submitted online to Tabroom.

ENTRIES DUE:

5:00 pm (CST) Tuesday, February 12, 2018. Mark your calendars!

Any adds or drops after Thursday, February 22nd will be assessed a $10 additional fee per change.