DVC

DVC VIKINGS MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL INVITATIONAL

15-16 November 2025 for debate
16 November 2025 for speech

DEADLINE

5 Nov 2025
NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE

ELIGIBILITY

Open to middle and high school students

LOCATION

In-person at Diablo Valley College
321 Golf Club Rd, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

Information

Dear Coaches & Competitors,

You are invited to the return of the DVC Viking Middle & High School Invitational. We look forward to welcoming competitors, coaches, and judges back to the Diablo Valley College campus after a 10 year hiatus! Our goal is to host an event featuring a schedule that we think offers competitive rigor while also prioritizing the wellness of students, coaches, and judges who give their time to this activity that has so much to offer its participants. Furthermore, we recognize the importance of offering a high-quality yet reasonably priced event and have made a concerted effort to keep our costs lower than other invitationals throughout the season.

This tournament will offer divisions of LD, Public Forum, as well as the 12 CHSSA Speaking events. The tournament will take place from November 15th-16th 2025, at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California.

We hope to run this tournament for many years to come, so if you have any suggestions, comments, or recommendations to help us improve the tournament or have questions you would like clarified, please feel free to reach out to us. We look forward to seeing you and your team and wish you the best of luck!

Location:
We will be hosting the tournament in person at Diablo Valley College located at 321 Golf Club Rd, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523.

Events:

Debate
Lincoln Douglas (LD)
Public Forum (PF)
Speech
Dramatic Interp (DI)
Duo Interp (DUO)
Humorous Interp (HI)
Impromptu (IMP)
Informative (INFO)
Extemp (EXT)
Oratorical Interp/Declamation (OI)
Original Advocacy (OA)
Original Oratory (OO)
Original Prose and Poetry (OPP)
Program Oral Interp (POI)

Decorum
Please remember to conduct proper communication between competitors and judges. Students will not ask questions about decisions until the judge has submitted their ballot. Judges will not ask questions about arguments or speeches, with the exception of asking to see evidence, until decisions are submitted and confirmed. THERE IS NO RECORDING OF MINORS WITHOUT *PARENT* PERMISSION IN CALIFORNIA.

Events / Divisions
In debate events we will offer divisions based on entry count but hope to offer both Novice and Open. Open debate events will make every attempt to break all winning records up to a full double-octofinal round.

In speech we offer Open divisions in all CHSSA events including: Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Oratorical Interpretation (10 minute Declamation), Programmed Oral Interpretation (POI), Duo Interpretation, Original Oratory, Original Advocacy, Informative, Original Prose & Poetry (not to be confused with prose/poetry), Impromptu, Extemporaneous (Extemp is one category).

Speech will break to two Festival finals chambers if there are twenty-eight or more entries; in some events we may have more Festival final sections. Fewer than twenty-eight entries will break directly to Finals. Events with 51+ will break to 3 finals sections. Events with 85+ will break to 4 sections. Trophies will go to the top 7 cumulative ranked entries after the Festival Finals round. In the event that a division cannot support a full division, (less than one section) we reserve the right to collapse similar events but will do our best to avoid..

TOC Bids:
We will announce TOC bids as we receive approval. Since this is the first year, TOC bids are not guaranteed but we will do our best.

Divisions
The DVC Viking Invitational will offer a Varsity division in all events and attempt to offer a Novice division as well. If entries are inadequate after the registration deadline has passed, the Novice division will be collapsed into Varsity.

Eligibility / Novices

PUBLIC FORUM:
● Open to all HIGH SCHOOL competitors and MIDDLE SCHOOL competitors with 2+ years of experience.
● Novice: Open to all competitors who are debating their first year in the type of event (Speech/ Debate) they are entered in. In Teamed events, BOTH team members must meet this qualification. Any competitor in 7th and 6th grade can compete as a novice. 8th graders in their second year or less can debate novice. Any student 8th grade or higher in their third academic year of forensics or higher must go Junior Varsity or higher. Entries younger than 6th grade will not be allowed.

ALL OTHER DEBATE EVENTS:

Open: Open to all competitors.
Novice: Open to all competitors who are debating their first year in the type of event (Speech/ Debate) they are entered in. In Teamed events, BOTH team members must meet this qualification. Any competitor in 7th and 6th grade can compete as a novice. 8th graders in their second year or less can debate novice. Any student in their third academic year of forensics or higher must go varsity. Entries younger than 6th grade will not be allowed.

Maverick Policy
Our tournament will not allow Maverick entries in any format of debate.

EVENT RULES:
We will adhere to NSDA rules (section 2 of High School Manual) for all national circuit events: this includes Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, Policy, Congress, SPAR, DI, Duo, HI, Info, IX, NX, OO, and POI. We will be following CHSSA rules & regulations for all California state events, which include Parliamentary Debate, IMP, OI, OA, and OPP.

PROTESTS/RULES CONCERNS:
If a question arises regarding the rules during a round, please have a coach submit this form within 30 minutes of the completion of the round in question.

Judging Obligations

All VARSITY/Novice and SPEECH judges must be adults qualified to judge the division they are covering. Novice LD, Open and Novice Public Forum, Open and Novice Parli, and Congress may be used in other events.
Open PF judges MUST have a paradigm and experience.
Speech judges will be used in all speech events.

Elim Commitment:

All Speech judges are committed for all Speech rounds.
For Varsity Debate elimination rounds, all judges are obligated to judge the first full elimination round AND one round beyond their last school’s best competitive finish (Example: If your last team drops in the first Elim you are committed through the second elim). Whichever requirement is later will apply.
For example, if your school has a competitor in the octafinals, then your school’s judges are all obligated through the quarterfinals. This rule ensures the best panels for elimination debates. Please make appropriate logistical arrangements that honor these requirements.

Penalty for Missing Rounds

There is a $50 per round penalty for any judges who miss their rounds. Please advise your judging staff that the team will be charged if they do not attend their debate rounds. We prefer not to charge any teams for missing debate rounds, and this nuisance fee is only assessed to discourage judges from missing debates to ensure a high-quality experience for all competitors.
Please ensure your judges who do not currently have a ballot report to the Judges Lounge/Library 15 minutes before the posted round start. They will be dismissed when we start all rounds. If your judge is called for in the Judges’ Lounge/Library while pushing ballots, you may be fined if they do not answer.

Double Entry Rules

Novice Students:
- May enter one debate event and up to two speech events.
- Exception: If entering Extemp, may only single-enter in speech but still compete in one debate event.
Varsity Students:
- May enter one debate event and up to two speech events.
- Exceptions: Round 3 of Speech is concurrent with Varsity Elimination Rounds.
Double-entered competitors will:
- Be scheduled later in Speech Round 1 if double-flighted.

Responsibilities of Double-Entered Students:
   •   Must manage time effectively to attend both events.
   •   Coaches may need to choose which event the student continues if advancing in both debate and speech.

Additional Notes
   •   Judges accompanying teams must have a tabroom set up and linked.
   •   Students are expected to adhere to DVC’s School’s code of conduct and behave responsibly.

Entry Price

One speech event and parent is judging $70
One speech event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $150

Two speech events and parent is judging $90
Two speech events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $190

One LD event and parent is judging $100
One LD event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $250

One LD + one speech event and parent is judging $120
One LD + one speech event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $300

One LD + two speech events and parent is judging $140
One LD + two speech events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $350

One PF event and parent is judging $90
One PF event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $200

One PF + one speech event and parent is judging $110
One PF + one speech event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $240

One PF + two speech events and parent is judging $130
One PF + two speech events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $280

There is a $50 per round penalty for any judges who miss their rounds

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

Click here to view the full schedule:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/tabroom-files/tourns/36647/postings/63336/DVCSchedule.pdf

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

Before you proceed with the registration below, make sure ALL PARENTS have signed the following liability form. Failure to do so will result in the tournament dropping you without a refund.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14ImOcIhDugzO31QPzGm9fW9nwVQ57HVGcLDcviICKm0/edit?tab=t.0

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

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 *

Signed Parent Form *

Max file size: 20MB

EVENT SELECTION

Make sure you have checked the double-entry policies We are not responsible for schedule conflicts.

Division *

Novice Open

JUDGE PROVISION

Penalty for Missing Rounds

There is a $50 per round penalty for any judges who miss their rounds. Please advise your judging staff that the team will be charged if they do not attend their debate rounds. We prefer not to charge any teams for missing debate rounds, and this nuisance fee is only assessed to discourage judges from missing debates to ensure a high-quality experience for all competitors.
Please ensure your judges who do not currently have a ballot report to the Judges Lounge/Library 15 minutes before the posted round start. They will be dismissed when we start all rounds. If your judge is called for in the Judges’ Lounge/Library while pushing ballots, you may be fined if they do not answer.

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

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