HARVARD DEBATE

Harvard Debate Council International Tournaments

2-3 May 2025

DEADLINE

28 April 2025
NO REFUNDS AFTER THE DEADLINE

ELIGIBILITY

Open to MS/HS students

LOCATION

Online through Zoom

Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Harvard Debate Council is delighted to announce the continuation of the Harvard Debate Council International Tournaments, a series of online tournaments to be held throughout the year. We hope to provide a series of competitions offered at times that will allow students around the globe (American students included) to compete against each other. All tournaments will take place on Friday and Saturday evenings in the Americas and on Saturday and Sunday mornings in Asia.

The spring tournament will be hosted on May 2 &3 (US/Canada) and May 3 & 4(Asia). Please note, however, that we will use the NSDA April PF topic.

We look forward to hosting you at these upcoming events.

LOGISTICS
The tournament will be conducted online via Zoom.

DIVISIONS
We will offer three divisions of public forum debate – open, novice, and middle school.
The novice division is intended for high school students in their first year of competition.
The middle school division is intended for students in the sixth through eighth grade.

TOPIC
We will use the NSDA’s April PF topic that was announced March 1, 2025.
All divisions will have four preliminary rounds with single flights. Each division will clear to the octafinals round if entries allow. The quarterfinals through finals will be single-flighted.
All divisions will use National Speech & Debate Association time format and rules.

GENERAL TOURNAMENT RULES

Judge Requirements

All judges provided by schools must be qualified, which at a minimum means a high school diploma.
All judges are bound by the codes of conduct governing activities at Harvard College and those promulgated by the NSDA. Judges will be required to attest that they have read and understand these codes of conduct before being able to judge. Instructions will be provided closer to the start of the tournament.
Judges may not simultaneously judge at any other tournaments. If we discover that you are doing so, we will remove you from the judge pool and notify the other tournament.
Any complaints about judge qualifications must be addressed to the tournament director prior to or immediately after the competition involved. All tournament directors have been authorized to impose penalties against schools whose judges do not appear for the rounds to which they have been assigned.

Online Technology Policies: Recording, Observers, Platforms

Recording: For the privacy and protection of students and other participants, any recording of speeches is prohibited, with the exception that students are permitted to record their own speeches.
Observers: Unaffiliated observers are not permitted. Only registered students, coaches, and parents of registered students may observe.
Alternative Platforms: For the safety of all participants, no one (judge, coach, student) may switch their rounds to an alternative video platform outside of the tournament hosted zoom rooms in classrooms.cloud. If anyone suggests moving to an alternative platform, please alert tournament personnel immediately. Judges who move to a separate platform will be fined as if they did not judge their rounds and removed from the tournament.
Judge Video: The tournament believes that competitors deserve to be able to see their judges as much as possible. Accordingly, to the maximum extent possible, the cameras of competitors and judges should be on (and on them) while a student is speaking and during RFDs. Brief pauses are understandable. To the extent needed, cameras can be off to enhance streaming quality.

Entry Price

PF debate and parent is judging $100
PF debate and parent is OPTING OUT OF judging $225

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.

Tentative Schedule

Please note that all times are in EASTERN STANDARD TIME (EST).
Green listed times have been converted into PST.

Tentative Tournament Schedule
Pairings will be released approximately 15 minutes prior to start time.
All participants should report to the online rooms within 5 minutes after pairings are released.
All participants must return to and remain in the online rooms 10 minutes before the start time.

Day One: Friday, May 2 (ET)
R1 7:00 PM --- 4:00 PM PST
R2 8:00 PM --- 5:00 PM PST
R3 9:30 PM --- 6:30 PM PST
R4 11:00 PM --- 8:00 PM PST

Day Two: Saturday, May 3 (ET)
Octas 7:00 PM --- 4:00 PM PST
Quarters 8:30 PM --- 5:30 PM PST
Awards (Main Zoom Room) 9:30 PM --- 6:30 PM PST
Semis 10:15 PM --- 7:15 PM PST
Finals 11:30 PM --- 8:30 PM PST

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

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

* 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

Partner Name *

First

Last

Choose your event *

HS Novice PF HS Open PF MS PF

JUDGE PROVISION
Another PF tournament has created these easy-to-use PF judging guidelines and powerpoint. Please take a look at both of them if this is your first time judging.
PF Judging Guidelines
PF Judging Slides

ATTENTION: Judges are still required to judge on DAY TWO even if their children do not make it past DAY ONE! Please do not sign up to judge if you cannot commit to the two-day schedule.

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

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

Harvard Debate Council International Tournaments

2-3 May 2025

Information

​Entry Price

Tentative Schedule

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!