Council of Forensic Organizations
Providing Information about Intercollegiate Speech and Debate
C. Thomas Preston Study Break Debate Tournament
- This event has passed.
C. Thomas Preston Study Break Debate Tournament
December 6, 2020
Dear Colleagues,
We are happy to invite you to the 2020 C. Thomas Preston Jr Study Break Debate Tournament, to be held Sunday, December 6th synchronously on 8 X 8 on www.forensicstournament.net. This tournament is an annual event that welcomes students who are new to debate. Our format and divisions are designed to nurture students within a relaxed, friendly environment. We encourage schools to bring their debate classes to this tournament. Several programs have made the Study Break a part of their debate class curriculum and continue to do so. We decided to do IPDA this year to make it easier for students to compete virtually; we will evaluate a return to NPDA next year.
The tournament features…
- a novice IPDA division with strict eligibility requirements
- a junior IPDA division for students with some college experience
- certificates for all participants in addition to awards for teams earning winning records
- nominal entry fees to allow for larger school entries
- an invitation for experienced undergraduates to judge…education for the varsity debaters and a
way to ease hired judge fees for schools!
- a one-day format that allows students and coaches to preserve some of their weekend for
non-forensic adventures!
- an opportunity to compete in IE’s on Saturday and debate on Sunday.
We promise a day of fun, along with excellent educational and competitive experiences. We hope to see you and your students virtually for this year’s Study Break—the 32nd in a long tradition of novice debate excellence! Come help us celebrate the debate activity and its collegiate future!
Sincerely,
Gina Jensen Tom Serfass
Tournament Director Assistant Director of Forensics
Director of Forensics Webster University
Webster University
Tournament Schedule
2020 C. Thomas Preston, Jr. Study Break Debate Tournament
Sunday, December 6, 2020
8:30 – 9:30 Tournament Check In
9:30 Topic Announcement
10:00 Round I
10:45 Topic Announcement
11:15 Round II
Lunch Break
12:45 Topic Announcement
1:15 Round III (powered hi/hi)
2:00 Topic Announcement
2:30 Round IV (powered hi/low)
4:00 Awards Ceremony
4:30 Topic Announcement
5:00 Finals Showcase Rounds of Each Division
Tournament Notes
Teams are encouraged to keep the spirit of this tournament in mind when entering students. For novice eligibility, students should have no experience in debate prior to the current semester. For junior eligibility students should have a maximum of less than four semesters of debate experience at the collegiate level. Additionally, we ask that novice teams who have competed in more than two tournaments this semester strongly consider entering the junior division. Additionally, we prefer that schools not enter junior teams who have extensive debate experience. In all cases, we encourage novice students who are in their first semester of college debate and have enjoyed competitive success to enter the junior division.
Please enter your students in divisions that will honor the intent and tradition of the tournament. We welcome your experienced and competitively successful debaters to experience the adjudication and teaching side of the activity as members of our judging pool.
We will use 5-2-6-2-3-5-3 time limits. Following the announcement of resolutions, teams will have 30 minutes of preparation time. There are no limits on access to materials, Internet, or pre-round coaching. Only materials prepared during preparation time, as well as the tournament invitation, can be used during the debate.
Team breaks and placings will be determined by (1) win/loss record, (2) adjusted speaker point totals, (3) speaker point totals, and (4) opposition record. Speaker awards will be determined by (1) adjusted speaker point totals, (2) speaker point totals, (3) speaker ranks, and (4) z scores.
There will be a judges’ lounge that will serve as a help desk and where we will distribute topics. We will ask all schools to check in to the judges lounge the morning of the tournament. Standby judges are also asked to report to the judges’ lounge. The link will be sent out in tournament notes.
Awards will be presented to…
- all participants–certificates or other appropriate awards
- the top two teams in each division
- the top speakers in each division (several recognized as entries warrant)
- the top 30% of teams in each division and/or teams with a 3-1 record or better
Fee Schedule and Judging Policy Study Break
Entry Fee: $25.00 per entry
Uncovered Entry: $80.00 per entry plus entry fee
Changes at Registration: $50.00 per change (name changes are not charged)
Each judge covers 2 debatrers. Unrestricted judges are preferred! Half-time judges must be free to be assigned the two rounds in which they are most needed. Experienced undergraduate students are welcome and encouraged as critics to either be hired out or cover your school’s entry.
Your judges willing to judge extra will be paid $10.00 per round.
Entry Instructions
The entry deadline is 5:00 Tuesday, December 1st. Fees will be assessed as of 5:00 pm on Wednesday, December 2nd. Entries will be accepted on www.forensicstournament.net
Phone (314) 968-7164
Email jensen@webster.edu
ALL entries will be confirmed. DO NOT ASSUME YOU ARE ENTERED until you receive a confirmation!
PLEASE NOTE…
We reserve the right to turn all schools away if entries are largely uncovered.
***Make checks payable to Webster Forensics and mail to***
Gina Jensen
School of Communication
Webster University
470 E. Lockwood
St. Louis, MO 63119