CMSF

16TH ANNUAL CALIFORNIA MIDDLE SCHOOL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
(CMSF STATE)

16-17 May 2026

DEADLINE

9 May 2026
NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE

ELIGIBILITY

Open to 3rd-8th graders

PLATFORM

Online through
forensicstournament.net and 8x8

Information

Greetings to all middle school speech and debate clubs and schools!

California Middle School Forensics is proud to announce the 16th annual California State Championship. This tournament is meant to encourage healthy competition at the state level and provide an opportunity to sharpen competitive speeches before the national tournament.

The schedule may need to be extended, depending on interest in events. For example, in previous years, additional elimination rounds for Impromptu and SPAR have been needed to accommodate the number of entries. We will try to notify teams of any schedule changes as soon as possible.

Topics:
- LD Topic: Resolved: The United States military ought to abide by the principle of non-intervention.
- PF Topic: Resolved: The United States should eliminate the President’s authority to deploy military forces abroad without Congressional approval.
- Extemp: US Domestic, Economy, Asia, Europe, Africa
- Impromptu: All divisions will use concrete nouns, abstract nouns, and proverbs for prelim rounds and quotations for elimination rounds.

Rules/Event Descriptions:
All events will follow CMSF rules. For full list of event descriptions, tournament procedures, and round design, please go to SCJFL.org and click on the RULES & BY-LAWS. Please note: some tournament procedures in the by-laws are unique to this state tournament only. Such rules and procedures are marked as “CMSF,” but in the absence of such indications, all other SCJFL rules will apply. If you have any questions about rules or procedures, please feel free to reach out through the e-mail below.

Postings:
Postings will be sent to each student before the round begins from forensicstournament.net. It is imperative that competitors and judges verify their email with this website. If you've never done so before, you will receive a verification link by email within 24 hours of registering for the tournament.

Awards:
All competitors advancing to an elimination round shall be awarded for doing so. The tournament shall award school sweepstakes awards for the top three overall schools. Points shall be calculated in accordance to the CMSF rules and by-laws.

Double-Entry:
We have designed the schedule for this tournament with great care. While we have tried to provide students with the opportunity to compete in as many events as possible, this comes at a potential risk. We ask that students carefully consider the schedule before deciding to enter multiple events. The tournament will not delay rounds for students who did not attend a round on time. Furthermore, students who insist on doing both speech and debate events may risk missing lunch breaks. Competitors who are doing more than one event per pattern are encouraged to check in with their judges at the beginning of the round to ensure that the judge doesn't end the round before the competitor shows up to compete. We will not re-run events for competitors who miss their round.

Judges:

One of our biggest concerns is that we do not run late.
We require each judge to use a laptop or mobile device to record onto ballots.
All judge training shall be the responsibility of that judge.
Schools who register judges that are not well-equipped or properly trained may be fined delay of tournament fees.

Events:

Middle School Debate Events:
Debate Events (Competitors may only enter one)

Lincoln-Douglas Debate (April NSDA topic)
Public Forum Debate (April NSDA topic)

Middle School IE/Speech Events (Competitors may enter up to four):

Assigned Platform (3 min. maximum)
Declamation (10 min. maximum)
Dramatic Interpretation (10 min. maximum)
Duo Interpretation (10 min. maximum)
Extemporaneous Speaking (30 min. of prep / 7 min. maximum)
Humorous Interpretation (10 min. maximum)
Impromptu (7 min. bank)
Informative (visual aids are allowed, 10 min. maximum)
Persuasive (visual aids are permitted, 10 min. maximum)
Poetry (use of manuscript required, 7 min. maximum)
Program Oral Interp (use of manuscript required, 10 min. maximum)
Prose (use of manuscript required, 7 min. maximum)
SPAR
Speech to Entertain (visual aids are permitted, 10 min. maximum)
Storytelling (5 min. maximum)

Elementary School Events (Competitors may enter up to four):
Elementary is defined as 5th grade or younger.

Assigned Platform (3 min. maximum)
Congress
Declamation (5 min. maximum)
Duo Interpretation (6 min. maximum)
Impromptu (7 min. bank)
Informative (visual aids are allowed, 5 min. maximum)
Persuasive (visual aids are permitted, 5 min. maximum)
Poetry (use of manuscript required, 5 min. maximum)
Prose (use of manuscript required, 5 min. maximum)
SPAR
Storytelling (5 min. maximum)

FINES - PLEASE READ ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE JUDGING!

Late changes - $25
Competitor no-show - $35 (event fees will not be refunded after deadline)
$200 dropped judge fee (per day) after May 14th, 2026
$25 No-show judge fee (first offense); $50 No-show judge fee (second and subsequent offenses)
Judges who do not write sufficient feedback to the competitors will be fined $10 per round. Unsatisfactory ballots will be determined by the tabulation staff.

*please accept all ballots that have been sent to your email or wait in the standby room when you don't get one to avoid these charges

Entry Price

One speech event and parent is judging $75
One speech event and parent is opting out of judging $175

Two speech events and parent is judging $100
Two speech events and parent is opting out of judging $200

One PF event and parent is judging $75
One PF event and parent is opting out of judging $225

One PF + one speech event and parent is judging on both days $100
One PF + one speech event and parent is opting out of judging $250

One PF + two speech events and parent is judging on both days $125
One PF + two speech events and parent is opting out of judging $275

One LD event and parent is judging $90
One LD event and parent is opting out of judging $240

One LD + one speech event and parent is judging on both days $115
One LD + one speech event and parent is opting out of judging $265

One LD + two speech events and parent is judging on both days $140
One LD + two speech events and parent is opting out of judging $290

FINES - PLEASE READ ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE JUDGING!

Late changes - $25
Competitor no-show - $35 (event fees will not be refunded after deadline)
$200 dropped judge fee (per day) after May 14th, 2026
$25 No-show judge fee (first offense); $50 No-show judge fee (second and subsequent offenses)
Judges who do not write sufficient feedback to the competitors will be fined $10 per round. Unsatisfactory ballots will be determined by the tabulation staff.

*please accept all ballots that have been sent to your email or wait in the standby room when you don't get one to avoid these charges

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

Middle School Schedule:

Saturday:
8:00 a.m. Round 1 - Speech/IEs
9:30 a.m. Round 2 - Speech/IEs
11:00 a.m. Round 3 - Speech/IEs
1:00 p.m. Round 1 Debate
2:30 p.m. Elim 1 - Speech/IEs
4:00 p.m. Round 2 - Debate
6:00 p.m. Elim 2 - Speech/IEs
7:30 p.m. Elim 3 - Speech/IEs (if needed)

Sunday:
8:00 a.m. Round 3 - Debate
9:30 a.m. Round 4 - Debate
11:00 a.m. Round 5 - Debate
12:30 p.m. Octas - Debate
2:00 p.m. Quarters Debate
3:30 p.m. Semis Debate
5:00 p.m. Finals Debate
8:30 p.m. Awards

Elementary School Schedule:

Saturday:
8:00 a.m. Round 1 (All elementary events)
9:30 a.m. Round 2 (All elementary events)
11:00 a.m. Round 3 (All elementary events)
2:30 p.m. Elimination Round 1
4:00 p.m. Elimination Round 2
6:00 p.m. Elimination Round 3

Sunday:
8:30 p.m. Awards

Although the tentative schedule lists the start and end times, please keep in mind that there are various factors that may arise during a tournament that can cause rounds to be delayed. Therefore, if you are signing up for this tournament, please make sure you do not double book yourselves on these dates. Keep your schedule open and DO NOT leave the tournament without notifying the GSA chaperones first.

Drop Fee

Changes or drops after the deadline will be charged a nuisance fee. 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.

Competitor Guide
Judge Guide
Tournament Best Practices

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email *

Student Phone Number *

If I have not done so in the past, I need to verify my email and agree to the competitor waiver from the Forensics website. I will look out for the notification requests in the next 24 hours. *

YES I UNDERSTAND

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
Make sure you have checked the schedule carefully.
If you wish to double or triple-enter, you are responsible for your own schedule. We are not responsible for conflicts.

JUDGE PROVISION

If you are signing up to judge, you must be available for the entire tournament schedule of your child's division (eg. if your child is competing in middle school, you need to be present for the whole middle school tournament.

Judges are obligated to be on standby for each round. If you do not get a ballot, please go to the help room and wait there in case you get called to cover for a no-show judge. This tournament is very strict in using fines for enforcing punctuality and judge presence, so make sure to follow all their rules to avoid getting charged.
Judges who do not accept their assigned ballot will be charged a $20 no-show fee for the first offense. Each subsequent no-show from the judge will warrant a $50 charge. Judges can avoid this fee by coming to the judge standby room for their ballot assignment; sometimes e-mails delay delivery for any number of reasons that are outside the control of the tournament staff. By coming to the standby room, judges can be messaged their ballot directly so that they aren’t marked as having missed the round.
Judge drops after the registration deadline will be charged a $100 no-show fee.
Judges who do not write sufficient feedback to the competitors will be fined per round. Unsatisfactory ballots will be determined by the tabulation staff.
See good ballot examples here

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

Judge Name *

Judge email (do not leave blank if judging) *

Judge phone *

Parents who are planning to judge must first complete the following certification process.
https://www.nationalonlineforensics.org/judgeacademy1

I confirm that I have completed the judge certification process. *

YES I CONFIRM Not judging

TOURNAMENT UPDATE REGARDING JUDGE BALLOTS:

We will need to begin implementing a fine for blank/nearly blank ballots.
Oral Critiques: No ballot may be returned without a written reason for decision. Oral commentary is not considered a substitute for the written ballot.
Judges who are unfamiliar with events may be removed from the tournament at the discretion of the tournament staff, and fines may be applied.
A good concept in writing a ballot is the compliment sandwich (write a compliment, add some constructive feedback, and end with another compliment). It is frustrating for students to receive a speech ballot that says, “Great job!” with a 5th place ranking and with no actual useful feedback.

Please confirm that, *

I HAVE READ THE BALLOT UPDATE ABOVE AND UNDERSTAND THAT I NEED TO WRITE A THOROUGH WRITTEN BALLOT WITH USEFUL AND CONSCTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK OR I WILL BE FINED. IF TIME IS RESTRICTED, I WILL MAKE SURE TO SUBMIT A RFD FIRST, THEN RETURN AND FIX MY FEEDBACK ONCE THE OTHER ROUNDS ARE OVER. Not judging

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.
Click here to find other training and official certification resources. Or watch our Youtube playlist here.

Next, we found this judging guideline from the platform that we will be using.
Also, if you are using eBallots for the first time, check out how they work on this link here.
There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.

*Judges changes after the deadline will be charged a $20 judge nuisance fee. Judge drops after the registration deadline will be charged a $100 judge no-show fee.

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 forensicstournament.net. *

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

16TH ANNUAL CALIFORNIA MIDDLE SCHOOL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP​(CMSF STATE)