BLYTON

FORENSICS UNIVERSITY FALL CLASSIC

3 November 2024 for speech link submission deadline
6-8 November 2024 for asynchronous speech judging

DEADLINE

3 Nov 2024 @11.59 pm PST
INCLUDING SPEECH LINKS

NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE
JUDGE DROPS AFTER THIS DATE WILL INCUR A $200 FEE

ELIGIBILITY

Open to middle and high school students

PLATFORM

Asynchronous, online through NSDA Campus

Information

WHO
Meet Blyton. He’s a bear -- a polar bear, to be exact, who can handle whatever winter months or anything else our long season throws at him. He can compete in any category and in-person or online. He is unbearably excellent at every event. Blyton would like to invite you to a tournaments named for his namesake async online December 18- 22, the Blyton Speech Invitational for NOVICES (grades 4-12). This tournament is managed by the Kentucky High School Speech League (Steve Meadows, Executive Director) and open to students worldwide.

Contests will be offered for all NOVICE (first year in their Division) competitors in grades 4-12. Novice for middle schoolers means any student in grades 4-8 in Speech contests (forensics events) for the first year. For high school, any 9th grader is considered a Novice to the Senior division as well as any student competing in Speech contests (forensics events) for the first year. No experienced students may compete in this meet, even if they only went to one forensics tournament last year (unless they are 9th graders new to Senior Division).

In years past, this tournament has been open to Kentucky students only. Again this year, we are opening up the contest worldwide, BUT we will name a Kentucky champion in each event. So if an out-of-stater wins an event, there will be two Champions for the event -- the Kentucky Champion and the Event Champion. If a Kentucky kid wins the event, there will be one Champion. Three entries total will be recognized with medals in each event as Champions or Finalists. Students will receive medals or enamel pins; all will bear Blyton’s likeness.

These two tournaments and the bear himself are named after Gifford Blyton, a longtime University of Kentucky Debate coach who became the Executive Director of the Kentucky High School Speech League afterward and helped save the League during a time of fiscal crisis. Our Blyton Book Award given each year for 8th and 12th grade students remains one of the top honors students can be awarded in speech and debate. He’s also inspired our League mascot’s name.

This is a GREAT opportunity for newer teams and for your rookies to get some recognition! So often, the newbies get knocked around a bit their first year. This contest is designed to encourage them.
WHENThe Blyton invitational for Speech events (Junior and Senior) will be held asynchronously online the last school week of December and through that weekend.
Students/coaches may upload videos from Sunday, December 15, through Wednesday, December 18 at 5 PM Eastern. Judging will take place Thursday-Sunday December 19-22 online; awards will be announced Monday evening, December 23, online.

HOW
Each entry will be judged three times over the four days of judging. Kentucky tiebreaker rules will break all ties.

RANKS TOTAL (LOWEST)
RECIPROCALS OF RANKS TOTAL (HIGHEST)
RATINGS TOTAL (HIGHEST)

There will be no sweepstakes (team) awards. Here are the steps for video submission:

Record a performance. Kids can do this on their own or with you.

Note: the camera should stay STILL – kids can move, but not the camera. No editing the videos – one continuous take, please. For limited prep events, it’s perfectly fine for kids to time themselves or for coaches or someone else to give them time signals.

Upload the video to an online service. By far the easiest to do is YouTube, which is owned by Google, so most folks already have a Google ID they can use to create a YouTube account. Set the video to Unlisted (NOT Private) on YouTube, and then copy the link.
Coaches upload this link in the Entry Details section on Tabroom (click the Edit button next to each entry from the Entry tab and paste the link in the "Link to performance video" box).
Judges get four days to watch three rounds of videos and rank them. The video awards happen on YouTube.

If you do something else besides use YouTube and Unlisted status, you risk getting your entry dropped as kids often leave Google Drive videos locked. I am a one-man band for this tournament and don’t have the hours to check for locked videos. YouTube is really easy to use. Just use YouTube. We’ll all be happier. 😊😊
For limited prep events (IMPROV, IMPROMPTU, EXTEMP), the topics will be posted on the Tabroom site on Sunday morning (12/15). The coaches will be on the honor system with their students to film with the time limits in place; they should record the prep time of the impromptu and improv kids but not the extempers.
Duo teams must BOTH be novices.
TABROOM.COMJudges will use Tabroom.com to access their ballots. And, after the tournament is over, students can see their ballots on Tabroom.com and use those comments from their judges to help them improve their performances. Competitors must have Tabroom accounts to see their ballots.

AWARDSAwards will be mailed out between Christmas and New Year’s.
EVENTS OFFERED
Senior Speech Division   Junior Speech Division
Grades 9-12   Grades 4-8
Declamation   Declamation
Dramatic Interpretation   Dramatic Interpretation
Duo Interpretation   Duo Acting Extemporaneous Speaking   Extemporaneous Speaking Humorous Interpretation   Humorous Interpretation Impromptu Speaking   Impromptu Speaking
Improvisational Duo   Improvisational Duo
Informative Speaking   Oratory
Oratory   Poetry
Poetry   Prose
Program Oral Interpretation   Storytelling Prose
Storytelling

All events will use Kentucky rules and time limits, which are what most folks expect around the world (NSDA and CFL compatible for most events, though we offer longer time for Storytelling); for our Handbook, browse here.

For our ballots for each of the events, browse here. This includes summary of rules, judging instructions, etc.

JUDGESJudges must be available for all three rounds. Judges must have a Tabroom account.

KHSSL Video for Judging Virtual Tournaments--Judges, be sure to watch this if you are unfamiliar with judging online contests!

TECH TIPS
#1
For judging, you can use 2 devices: 1 for the video & 1 for your ballots. You can log into Tabroom on each device. Or you can use a desktop computer, open 2 tabs and position them so you can see the video (one tab) & type on the other one (the ballot) at the same time (that’s what Mr. Meadows does when he judges at a desk, and it works swell).

#2
When judging, try to use a fairly large screen to watch the videos. If you’re trying to watch videos on a phone, you may be losing facial expressions, etc. because the screen is so small.

#3
KHSSL rules require that cameras stay still when filming; competitors may move around as they wish in the camera frame including leaving/re-entering the frame.

#4
KHSSL Best Practices for Virtual Tournaments; you can probably guess what this is about.

LIMITED PREP PROMPTS & INSTRUCTIONS
You can access it in the google docs below once you are ready to record your video
TBA - will be released on 12/15 morning

Entry Price

One event and parent is judging $50
Two events and parent is judging $60
Three events and parent is judging $70

One event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $120
Two events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $130
Three events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $140

Each person in a Duo team would be responsible of providing their own judge, so one 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

Please note that all times are in EASTERN STANDARD TIME (EST).

LIMITED PREP PROMPTS & INSTRUCTIONS
You can access it in the google docs below once you are ready to record your video
TBA - will be released on 12/15 morning

SPEECH VIDEO SUBMISSION DEADLINE - 16 December 2024 @11.59 pm PST
Please send the link to Nadia or list it here on the registration form

SPEECH JUDGING SCHEDULE - 19-22 December 2024

Judges must be available for all three rounds.
Awards Announced - Morning of December 23, 2024

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

LIMITED PREP PROMPTS & INSTRUCTIONS
You can access it in the google docs below once you are ready to record your video
TBA - will be released on 12/15 morning

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.

Parent Name *

First

Last

Parent Email *

Parent Phone Number *

EVENT SELECTION

Students are able to enter in as many speech events as possible.
Make sure to list the unlisted Youtube links here or send to Nadia by 3 November 2024 and please label the title to include the event that you are doing.
!!! Please make sure you are submitting a video that is unique to this tournament. Do not use videos that have been used for other tournaments !!!
Lastly, keep in mind that you can only enter in an event once. For example, you can only choose IMP once. You can select other events along such as OI, but you cannot choose IMP twice.

JUDGE PROVISION
Please make sure you are available for the asynchronous speech judging schedule and that you won't submit your judging duties late. Details above.
Descriptions of each event can be found here.

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 No but I'll pay the additional $35 setup fee 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

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