Dear Forensics Friends,

On behalf of Northern Virginia Community College, the NOVA Forensics Team is delighted to invite you to the Washington DC metropolitan area on Saturday, October 26^th, 2019 for the Richard J. Ernst Invitational. The tournament will be held on the Alexandria, Virginia campus of Northern Virginia Community College in the Bisdorf building. Our tournament features strong competition, a variety of food and wellness perks for your students and a talented tabulation staff for an efficient tournament experience. We will provide ceramic themed awards created by NOVA art students for all events and also offer high quality plaques and trophies for final round participants and team sweepstakes award winners!

This year, in addition to offering competition in 11 AFA sanctioned individual events; the Richard J. Ernst Invitational will also offer IPDA Debate! There will be four preliminary rounds and two elimination rounds in IPDA Debate. Phi Rho Pi rules govern IPDA debate. In the round, students doing IPDA will be given a choice of 5 resolutions (2 policy, 2 fact/value, 1 metaphor). Negative will strike first; Affirmative will strike second, and so on until one resolution is left. As per Phi Rho Pi rules, students ARE allowed to consult electronic devices and/or the Internet during prep time. Students are NOT allowed to use these devices during the round. Group prep and/or coach preparation is verboten.

In addition, after the Richard J. Enst Tournament on Saturday, the NOVA Alexandria campus will host an exciting Southern Northern Atlantic Forensics Union (SNAFU) Tournament on Sunday, October 27^th, 2019.  The Sunday, SNAFU Tournament will also feature all 11 AFA sanctioned events and also NPDA debate. Please see Speechwire for more information.

Best,

Nathan Carter, Ph.D.

Associate Professor/Director of Forensics

Northern Virginia Community College

nacarter@nvcc.edu (703) 845-6573 {Office}