DC MEMORIAL

CANCELED, DO NOT SIGN UP
DEMPSEY CRONIN MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL

22-23 November 2025 for debate
23 November 2025 for speech

DEADLINE

16 November 2025
NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE

ELIGIBILITY

open to middle and high school students

LOCATION

Online through NSDA Campus

Information

ATTENTION EVERYONE:
These are the details from last year. The tournament officials have not posted anything for this year yet. You can still sign up, but please check back this page regularly for updates. Anything is subject to change.

Dear Colleagues:

We cordially invite you and your team to attend The Dempsey-Cronin Invitational, held on the weekend of November 23rd-24th, 2024. This tournament will be held on the NSDA Campus platform.

In Memory of Rev. James J. Dempsey and Mr. Marty Cronin
The tournament is named in honor of the late Rev. James J. Dempsey, S.J. and Director Marty Cronin. Father Dempsey was a longtime college coach at many notable institutions and co-founder of the collegiate Northern California Forensic Association. Mr. Marty Cronin was an outstanding teacher and coach for many years who serviced the community and helped create a competitive atmosphere where his students thrived. Cronin was president of the Douglas County Professional Education Association, an officer in the Nevada state high school forensic association and active in state politics. Both Fr. James J. Dempsey and Marty Cronin represented the best of this community. In accordance with their values, we hope to provide an educational and competitive event for your students.

Events and Divisions
This tournament will NOT be offering bids for NIETOC and is NOT designated as a bid tournament for the UK TOC. Our tournament is intended to provide additional opportunities for Middle School, Novice and JV competitors

High School

Debate
For high school debate students, we offer the following divisions: Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Public Forum Debate.
Speech
For high school speech students, we offer synchronous competition in all NSDA Main Speech Events (DI, HI, POI, Info, OO, Duo, Extemp) with the following exceptions: Extemp will be one division that will combine International and Domestic topics. Duo will be Asynchronous. We also offer a division of Declamation (also known as OI), a division of Impromptu Speaking, and a division of Prose and Poetry (to include both Prose & Poetry Interp and Original Prose & Poetry).

Middle School

Debate
For middle school debate students, we offer the following divisions: Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Public Forum Debate.
Speech
For middle school students, we offer a division of Middle School Impromptu.
Middle school students are also welcome to enter any of the high school speech divisions.

Logistics

Location/Platform

This competition will take place online on the NSDA Campus platform.
All competitors must be linked to a Tabroom.com account associated with their school in order to access their competition rooms.
All rounds will be single-flighted in order to reduce screen time for both competitors and judges.

Time Zone

Due to our school’s location in California, all times for the tournament will be on Pacific time.

Fines

Missed Ballot Fee for judges - $30 per missed ballot

Double Entry Limitations
Student Double Entry

Students are able to enter in one Debate event and up to 2 Speech events with the following exceptions:
Students who enter Extemp can only do Extemp during the Speech pattern, but may still register for a Debate event.

Judging Information
Judge Qualifications and Expectations

All judges are required to have a linked Tabroom account. This is to ensure they have access to both their ballots and the competition rooms on the NSDA Campus platform.
Judges covering high school competitors must be over the age of 18 and have graduated from high school.
Judges for Middle School events may be current high school juniors or seniors with significant forensics experience.
Judges should have significant experience with digital forensics competitions. Schools are responsible for preparing their judges in the use of Tabroom.com and for what to expect in a digital forensics competition. As a result, there will be no day-of-tournament judge training. Rather we encourage the use of the following resources ahead of the tournament to become prepared:
-> We encourage all judges to review the NSDA Cultural Competency resources (www.speechanddebate.org/judge-training/) and take the course. If you have newer judges, we strongly recommend the Adjudicating Speech and Debate course available via the NSDA (www.speechanddebate.org/judge-training/).
Finally, we expect all judges to act in a manner that is inclusive, equitable, and offers constructive criticism to the competitors, regardless of their background or experience.

Elimination Round Obligations

All Debate judges are committed to judge one round beyond when the last student from GSA is eliminated from competition in that division.
This means that if you have 3 PF judges and one of your PF entries advances to the Quarterfinal round, ALL 3 judges are committed to judge the Semifinal round.
All judges are obligated through the first complete elimination round.
For example, if the tournament runs a partial octofinal debate all judges are obligated through the quarterfinal elimination round.
All Speech judges are committed to the Final round.
Missed Ballot Fee - $30 per missed ballot

Event Specific Information

Public Forum:
Topics

We offer the Sep/Oct AND Nov/Dec NSDA topics in Public Forum debate for both Middle School and High School students.
Please pay close attention to the name of the division you have selected when registering your entries.

Coinflip Process

Teams will flip for sides and for speaking order in all rounds. Coinflips will be conducted online via Tabroom.com. Flips will become live one minute after pairing release, and the winning team will have five minutes to choose a side or speaking order. If the time elapses, either team may choose.

Evidence Expectations

In Public Forum, evidence must be made available to view upon request from either an opponent or judge.

Lincoln-Douglas:
Topics

For middle school students and high school students, we offer September/October AND November/December NSDA topics in Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Please pay close attention to the name of the division you have selected when registering your entries.

Coinflip Process

Teams will flip for sides in elimination rounds. Coinflips will be conducted online via Tabroom.com. Flips will become live one minute after pairing release, and the winning entry will have five minutes to choose a side. If the time elapses, either entry may choose.

Evidence Expectations

In Lincoln-Douglas, evidence must be made available to view upon request from either an opponent or judge.

Argument Restrictions

The tournament does not take a position on what types of arguments can be advanced by debaters on either side.

Extemp:

Extemp prep will start 30 minutes before the extemp round begins.

Impromptu:
Topic Distribution

Impromptu topics will be emailed to judges 15 minutes before a round is scheduled to begin.

Observer Policy

Coach Viewing
We will permit one coach from each school to be added to the backend of the tournament with limited access so they can enter and observe competition rounds.
We feel this will help you locate your students more efficiently and would help teams to troubleshoot potential tech issues.
This is a privilege. Under no circumstances is a coach to watch a round their competitor is not competing in. It can be revoked if we find out this has been violated.

Equity and Disputes
If, at any time during the tournament, there is a concern regarding equity or a dispute regarding a tournament procedure, we are requiring the individuals to fill out a google form so they can be contacted by the Ombudsperson and Equity Officer. The equity form will be located on our tournament tabroom page. Tournament Ombudspersons and Equity Officers are trained in the NSDA’s Belonging and Inclusion Station / Belonging and Inclusion Advocate processes.

Entry Price

One speech event and parent is judging $70
One speech event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $140

Two speech events and parent is judging $90
Two speech events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $170

One PF event and parent is judging $75
One PF event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $200

One PF event + 1 speech event and parent is judging $95
One PF event + 1 speech event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $240

One PF event + 2 speech events and parent is judging $115
One PF event + 2 speech events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $280

One LD event and parent is judging $95
One LD event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $245

One LD event + 1 speech event and parent is judging $115
One LD event + 1 speech event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $285

One LD event + 2 speech events and parent is judging $135
One LD event + 2 speech events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $325

Missed Ballot Fee for judges - $30 per missed ballot

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

TBA

Drop Fee

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

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email (make sure you have a Tabroom account) *

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

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
Maximum 1 debate event and 2 speech events, but if you are doing extemp you shouldn't choose a second speech event.

JUDGE PROVISION

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

Click here to complete the highly recommended 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

canceled, do not sign up

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

CANCELED, DO NOT SIGN UPDEMPSEY CRONIN MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL

22-23 November 2025 for debate23 November 2025 for speech