BERKELEY

CAL INVITATIONAL UC BERKELEY

14-16 February 2026

DEADLINE

13 Jan 2026
NO DROPS/REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE

ELIGIBILITY

Open to middle and high school students

LOCATION

In-person at UC Berkeley OR online
Tournament Map

Information

Greetings,
This is your formal invitation to the 2026 Cal Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament, to be held February 14-16, 2026.We plan to hold a mix of speech and debate events in-person, as well as online-only divisions for some events.
Please note that our exact event mix, including which events will be online, is still TBD and subject to change. We hope to make final decisions in Fall of 2025.
We anticipate a similar schedule to last year, with two main time blocks (Speech + CX and LD/PF). Speech will be patterned in each Speech time block to allow for double entry.
Unfortunately, we will have significantly fewer rooms on campus in 2026 than prior years, due to the University decommissioning one of our main classroom buildings. As such, our entry caps are likely to be lower, and some divisions will likely need to be moved online.

Events and Divisions (Tentative)

Lincoln Douglas
TOC LD
Open LD
JV LD (Online)
Novice LD (Online)
Public Forum
TOC PF
Open PF
JV PF (Online)
Novice PF (Online)
Middle School PF (Online)
Pattern A Speech
Dramatic Interpretation (Pattern A)
Humorous Interpretation (Pattern A)
Impromptu Speaking (Pattern A)
Original Oratory (Pattern A)
Pattern B Speech
Duo Interpretation (Pattern B)
Informative Speaking (Pattern B)
Program Oral Interpretation (Pattern B)
Extemporaneous Speaking (Pattern B, no double entry in Pattern B)

- We reserve the right to cancel or combine divisions with insufficient entries, and will notify participants in advance of any COVID-related changes.
- All divisions will receive trophies for all elimination round participants.
- There will be 4 preliminary rounds of individual events, 5 preliminary rounds of JV/Novice/MS Debate divisions, and 6 preliminary rounds of TOC/Open Debate divisions. Specific event schedules will be released on Tabroom in advance of the tournament.

Double Entry Policy
Students may double enter in-person in speech and debate, and may double enter in speech events. Double entries are limited to 2 events per pattern, as listed above, except Extemp, which cannot enter other Pattern B events.
All double entry is at a student’s own risk. No accommodations will be made for a student missing a round due to double entry.
Students may only participate in elimination rounds in one event due to scheduling - students clearing to elims in multiple events will have to choose which event to continue in.

TOC Qualifiers
TOC divisions are a Tournament of Champions qualifier in the following:
Double Octafinals in Silver PF
Octafinals in Gold PF
Octafinals in LD
Speech events according to size

Entry Limits
The following events currently have entry caps:
Varsity LD (180 total entries, max 8 per school)
JV LD (100 total entries, max 8 per school)
Novice LD (60 total entries, max 4 per school)
Varsity PF (180 total entries, max 8 per school)
JV PF (120 total entries, max 8 per school)
Novice PF (60 total entries, max 6 per school)
Middle School PF (60 total entries, max 6 per school)

Per-school caps do not mean you are guaranteed that number of entries, they are the maximum number you can enter in each event. We will do our best to raise these caps if we're able to secure additional competition space, and will may admit more than the per-school limit if there are unused slots after the entry deadline.
We do not currently anticipate entry caps in speech events, though this may change closer to the event.
Please do not email us to ask for exceptions to the caps or to ask about the waitlist.

Topics
Lincoln-Douglas Debate will use the 2025-2026 January-February NSDA topic.
Public Forum Debate will use the February 2026 NSDA topic.

Divisions Eligibility Restrictions

Both the TOC and Open divisions of debate events are open entry for 9th-12th grades.
JV divisions are open entry, but are primarily intended for students who have not yet competed in Varsity.
Novice divisions are intended for students in their first full year of competition. Middle School participation or e.g. minimal competition in a different event does not necessarily preclude a student from being entered in Novice.
Middle School PF is for students in grades 6th-8th. Students in 6th-8th grade MUST be entered in the appropriate middle school division, and are not eligible to compete in HS divisions.

Rules
Events generally follow CHSSA rules (chssa.org). Debate events follow TOC/NSDA rules for things like side flips and internet usage rules. In the event CHSSA does not cover an event or scenario, we defer to NSDA rules (speechanddebate.org). Some events may have specific rules modifications; these may be communicated by the respective tabroom staff, or printed directly on the ballots provided to judges.

We expect attendees to abide by the NSDA's Harrasment and Discrimination Policy:
https://www.speechanddebate.org/harassment-discrimination-policy/

We have a designated Equity Officer, you can contact the tournament to be put in touch with them.

JUDGES, PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

Judge Commitments

All judges are committed through the first elim on Monday (usually the Double or Triple Octafinals depending on event size), or one round beyond the elimination of your teams, whichever is later.
Even if your school doesn’t have any teams in elimination rounds, your judges are still committed through the first elimination round on Monday. Elim judging commitments also apply in all divisions of an event so if you have a JV team in your Varsity judges are still committed and vice versa.
Note that you are responsible for covering your judging obligations in all time slots - marking a judge as unavailable means you will need to provide another judge that can cover the obligation during that time slot.
All judges must be 18 years or older, and not currently enrolled in high school.
All judges must have a valid phone number entered in Tabroom.

Fines
The penalty for a judge failing to report to an assigned round is $100 per round. This fine is assessed even when a replacement judge is found.
All entry fees and any other penalties/fines must be paid in full before a team will be allowed to advance to the elimination rounds (or the next elim).

Decision Times
Decision times will be strictly enforced. Policy rounds must be decided two hours after the announced start time, and LD/PF rounds must be decided fifty five minutes after the announced start time.

COVID Safety Protocols
All attendees are solely responsible for following all guidelines from your institution. The Cal Invitational accepts no responsibility or liability for the health of tournament attendees. All participation in the tournament is at your own risk.
Vaccination against COVID-19 is strongly recommended for all tournament attendees. However, there is no tournament vaccination requirement.
We will utilize the best practices and any rules and regulations required by the University or recommended by the CDC. We will keep attendees updated with specific policies as we get closer to the event.

Divisions Eligibility Restrictions

Both the TOC and Open divisions of debate events are open entry for 9th-12th grades.
JV divisions are open entry, but are primarily intended for students who have not yet competed in Varsity.
Novice divisions are intended for students in their first full year of competition. Middle School participation or e.g. minimal competition in a different event does not necessarily preclude a student from being entered in Novice.
Middle School PF is for students in grades 6th-8th. Students in 6th-8th grade MUST be entered in the appropriate middle school division, and are not eligible to compete in HS divisions.

Maverick Entries
Maverick teams are not permitted to enter prior to the tournament. If a team becomes maverick due to illness of a partner during the tournament, the ill debater may miss no more than 2 debates to be able to return and continue debating. Mavericks may win the debate. Mavericks will not be permitted to clear to elimination rounds.

We look forward to hosting you!

OTHER LOGISTICAL DETAILS

Hotel Information (if needed)
You should not make non-refundable travel arrangements until your entries have been cleared from the waitlist.
The following hotels have blocks for the tournament:
< Coming soon >

Campus Food Information
Due to UC Berkeley campus policy, food and drink (besides water) are prohibited in all campus buildings.
UC Berkeley is also a "Zero Waste Campus" and takes the commitment to sustainable waste management very seriously. Failure of our tournament attendees to abide by these policies would seriously jeopordize our ability to host this event in the future, so please help us by paying attention to the following guidelines and sharing this information with everyone on your team:

No food in the competition buildings. Please eat outside, off campus, or in a designated food area.
There will be a designated food area in the courtyard outside Dwinelle Hall. If you plan to deliver food for your students to eat on campus, please do so in that area, and follow the directions for waste disposal.
Berkeley has an amazing number and variety of food options within very short walk of campus - we strongly recommend eating off campus at any of the local restaurants, and disposing of your trash there, rather than on campus.
Please have everyone on your team bring their own reusable water bottles - there are ample filling stations throughout campus, and it goes a long way to reducing trash to avoid single-use water bottles.
Please avoid disposing of any single-use plastic on campus. That includes things like candy wrappers, chip bags, soda bottles, straws, etc.

Extemp Topic Areas
Topic areas for Extemp will be posted in mid-January.

Parking Information
We do not have parking passes available for purchase this year. However, there are plenty of options available in the immediate vicinity of campus, some free.

Street parking is free on Sunday and Monday (but NOT on Saturday).

For Saturday, or if you can't find street parking Sunday/Monday, there are several paid parking lots available on or near campus. The easiest way to pay for campus parking is with the PayByPhone app, instructions for download and use can be found here:

https://pt.berkeley.edu/PayByPhone

Here are the most convenient campus lots with their PayByPhone Location Code:

Here are additional paid lots near campus:

Full 2026 Covid Guidelines
https://www.tabroom.com/index/tourn/index.mhtml?webpage_id=32712&tourn_id=35299

Entry Price

ONLINE
Novice/JV LD and parent is judging $150
Novice/JV LD + 1 Speech and parent is judging $235
Novice/JV LD + 2 Speech and parent is judging $320
Novice/JV LD and parent is OPTING OUT of $300
Novice/JV LD + 1 Speech and parent is OPTING OUT of $400
Novice/JV LD + 2 Speech and parent is OPTING OUT of $490

IN-PERSON
Open/TOC LD and parent is judging $210
Open/TOC LD + 1 Speech and parent is judging $295
Open/TOC LD + 2 Speech and parent is judging $380
Open/TOC LD and parent is OPTING OUT of $370
Open/TOC LD + 1 Speech and parent is OPTING OUT of $465
Open/TOC LD + 2 Speech and parent is OPTING OUT of $560

ONLINE
MS/Novice/JV PF and parent is judging $125
MS/Novice/JV PF + 1 Speech and parent is judging $210
MS/Novice/JV PF + 2 Speech and parent is judging $295
MS/Novice/JV PF and parent is OPTING OUT of $285
MS/Novice/JV PF + 1 Speech and parent is OPTING OUT of $380
MS/Novice/JV PF + 2 Speech and parent is OPTING OUT of $475

IN-PERSON
Open/TOC PF and parent is judging $140
Open/TOC PF + 1 Speech and parent is judging $225
Open/TOC PF + 2 Speech and parent is judging $310
Open/TOC PF and parent is OPTING OUT of $300
Open/TOC PF + 1 Speech and parent is OPTING OUT of $395
Open/TOC PF + 2 Speech and parent is OPTING OUT of $490

One Speech Event and parent is judging $135
Two Speech Events and parent is judging $220
One Speech Event and parent is OPTING OUT of $255
Two Speech Events and parent is OPTING OUT of $350

Each person in a PF/Duo team would be responsible of providing their own judge, so one PF/Duo team would need to either provide two judges, both pay the judge fee, or one of each option.

Registration will not be complete until payment is received.

NOTE: We will charge set up fees if we have to create tabroom.com accounts for judges. It is recommended you do so on your own.

Schedule - PST

Tentative Schedule
We plan to use a similar schedule to last year, with some minor modifications. The below is tentative and subject to change as we finalize our room availability. During the tournament, the schedule remains subject to change as necessary.

Speech events are split into two patterns (see above), which will take place back-to-back in each speech round timeslot. Pattern B events will start approximately 1 hour after the listed start time. Extemp draw is 30 minutes before the start time of each Pattern B.

SATURDAY
Saturday 7:45a Speech Round 1
Saturday 10:00a PF/LD Round 1
Saturday 12:30p Speech Round 2
Saturday 3:00p PF/LD Round 2
Saturday 5:30p Speech Round 3
Saturday 8:00p PF/LD Round 3

SUNDAY
Sunday 7:45a Speech Round 4
Sunday 10:00a PF/LD Round 4
Sunday 12:30p Speech Elim 1
Sunday 3:00p PF/LD Round 5
Sunday 5:30p Speech Elim 2
Sunday 8:00p PF/LD Round 6

MONDAY
Monday 8:00a Debate Elim 1
Monday 9:00a Speech Elim 3
Monday 10:30a Speech Elim 4 / Debate elims continue
Monday 1:00p Debate elims continue
Monday 3:30p Debate elims continue
Monday 6:00p Debate elims continue
Monday 8:30p Debate elims continue

Drop Fee

Drop fees will be the same amounts as the entry fee PLUS any fees the tournament charges us for late drops. Drop requests should be made to Victor and Nadia.

Please do not drop out last minute to avoid being charged these fees.

Contact Info

Victor Rivas Umana
Contact email: [email protected]
Nadia Budiman
Contact email: [email protected]
Or [email protected]

Registration Form

STUDENT INFORMATION
Suggested attire for the tournament can be found here.
More tournament resources can be found here.

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email (DO NOT USE PARENT'S EMAIL) *

Student Phone Number *

Does the student have a Tabroom account? *

Yes and it is linked with GSA's account(s) Yes but it is not linked and we need you to add to your roster No but I will create one before submitting registration No but I will pay the additional $35 setup fee

If this is your first time competing, make sure to first create a Tabroom account here: https://www.tabroom.com/user/login/new_user.mhtml
It's super simple and quick (<1 minute), but follow the guidelines here in case anything is confusing: https://docs.tabroom.com/Sign_Up

PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION
Your email address will be the one included when we send the logistics email.
Parents are responsible for bringing their child to UC Berkeley on their own.

Parent Name *

First

Last

Parent Email *

Parent Phone Number *

EVENT SELECTION

Students may double enter in-person in speech and debate, and may double enter in speech events. Double entries are limited to 2 events per pattern, as listed above, except Extemp, which cannot enter other Pattern B events.
All double entry is at a student’s own risk. No accommodations will be made for a student missing a round due to double entry.
Students may only participate in elimination rounds in one event due to scheduling - students clearing to elims in multiple events will have to choose which event to continue in.

Partner Name (write N/A if none) *

First

Last

JUDGE PROVISION
DO NOT SIGN UP TO JUDGE IF YOU CANNOT MAKE THE SCHEDULE COMMITMENT. KEEP IN MIND THAT YOU WILL NEED TO JUDGE ON MONDAY AS WELL.
The penalty for a judge failing to report to an assigned round is $100 per round.

Will you (parent) be judging at this tournament? *

Judge Name *

Judge email (Must be linked to a tabroom account. Register first at tabroom.com before completing this sign up) *

Judge phone *

Does your judge have a Tabroom account? *

Yes No but I will create one before submitting registration Not judging

Does your judge understand that he/she is responsible for the entire tournament schedule and that missing a round incurs fines from the tournament? *

Yes, understood Not judging but understood as well

I confirm that I will be available to judge on Monday as well. *

Yes, I confirm and understand that failure to show up will result in fines. Not judging

Click here to complete the mandatory Cultural Competency judge training course

Signing up a judge without having a Tabroom account will result in us charging you for the set up fee.
You can do this easily on your own by going to tabroom.com. It literally takes less than a minute.

First time judging?
This is a great collection of short videos that one of the leagues have put together to learn each event: click here.
There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.
Click here to find other training and official certification resources. Or watch our Youtube playlist here.

Tournaments encourage judges to have a paradigm on their Tabroom account, which can be a few sentences on your preferences of debating styles, etc. See here for example. It doesn't need to be this long, but make sure to add something before you sign up. For example: "I am a parent, please speak clearly and slowly and avoid technical jargon".

More tournament resources can be found here.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

I will keep a copy of this form for reference. *

YES

We are signing up with the understanding that my child will work to be ready by the tournament date. If we choose to drop out because my child is not ready that will be considered when making assessments for future classes. *

YES

I understand that if I fail to drop the tournament before the deadline that I will still be responsible for the fees of both my son or daughter, along with that of his or her partner and the fines. *

YES

I understand that if payment is not received we won't be registered and our spot will be given up to someone else. *

YES

I confirm that I have completed all necessary paperwork for this tournament. *

YES

I understand that The Golden State Academy has no control over tournament entries other than the initial sign up. I understand that my child's priority will be based on either the last time I signed up OR the date paid, whichever is latest. *

YES

I understand that my child must check in and check out periodically at the tournament with the coach and that if I do not my child will be barred from participating in following tournaments. This is to ensure coaches can see where students are at competitively and to give any initial feedback for improvement. *

YES

I understand that I can check my entry status through tabroom.com. *

YES

I am a consenting adult. I understand that by submitting this form I agree to all that has been covered. *

YES

Submit/take to payment

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.
Check our home page for the schedule!

School year Hours

M-F: 3:45 pm - 8:30 pm
Sun: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Telephone

510-270-8480
510-470-0531

Email (preferred)

For more info email us at: [email protected]

Locations

Fremont: 200 Brown Rd #201, Fremont, CA 94539

Cupertino: 20432 Silverado Avenue Suite 211, Cupertino, CA 95014

Aborn Institute: 2804 Riedel Road, San Jose, CA 95135

Dublin: Loving Tree Academy, 6693 Owens Dr, Pleasanton, CA 94588

CAL INVITATIONAL UC BERKELEY

14-16 February 2026

Information

​Entry Price

Schedule - PST

Drop Fee

Contact Info

Registration Form

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.Check our home page for the schedule!

School year Hours

Telephone

Email (preferred)

Locations

Entry Price

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.
Check our home page for the schedule!