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The Golden State Academy
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    49TH HARVARD NATIONAL FORENSICS TOURNAMENT

    18-20 February 2023

    DEADLINE
    7 February 2023
    NO REFUNDS AFTER THE DEADLINE
    ELIGIBILITY
    Open to MS/HS students
    PF only

    PLATFORM
    Online through NSDA Campus

    Information

    Dear Coaches,
    We are delighted to invite you to attend the Forty-Ninth annual Harvard National Forensics Tournament, which will be held in person on Presidents' Day Weekend, Saturday, Sunday, & Monday, February 18-20, 2023.
    All judges will be required to use electronic ballots in all divisions.


    Event Specific Rules, Procedures, and Eligibility
     
    The Public Forum Debate Tournament
    Two divisions will be online: Beginner International PF & Open International PF.

    Online Divisions
    We will offer two online international divisions for students who are unable to travel to Cambridge, including those from the United States.

    Topic
    NSDA PF February

    Divisions
    The Open International Division is open to all participants.
    The Beginner International Division is open to students in their first or second year of competition; it is intended for middle school and novice high school competitors.

    Vital Stats: 
    • Varsity and Junior Varsity: 6 Preliminary Rounds, Clear to Triple Octafinals. 
    • Novice, Middle School: 5 preliminary rounds, clear to Doubles or Triple Octa-finals based on entries.  JV International Schools – Breakout to Quarterfinals.
    • Beginner and Open International Online: 5 preliminary rounds, clear to Doubles or Triple Octa-finals based on entries.
     
     
    General Tournament Rules 
     
    Judge Requirements 
    • All judges must be qualified, which at a minimum means a high school diploma.
    • All judges must be available for all preliminary rounds, the first elimination round, and for one round beyond elimination of the last contestant from the school that the judge represents in the tournament.
    • All judges should be flexible as to which division the judges are assigned. So even if your child is competing in the beginner division, you might be asked to judge the open division and vice versa.
    • 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 judges who do not appear for the rounds to which they have been assigned.
     
    Elimination Round Participation 
    We expect participants in the various tournaments to compete in the elimination rounds.  Debaters who choose not to debate rounds for any reason (other than that they are scheduled against another competitor from the same school) will be treated as having forfeited the round.  The tournaments will no longer certify “co-champions” in final rounds.
     
    Conduct Policy 
    The tournament strives to foster an environment promoting inclusivity and respect. The tournament will abide by Harvard College’s policies and procedures for sexual, gender-based, and racial harassment and discrimination. The Interim Policy on Sexual Harassment and the Interim Policy on Other Sexual Misconduct are available here: https://titleix.harvard.edu/policies-procedures. Per its regulations, Harvard College has a designated representative of its Title IX office to receive any complaints directly or indirectly by means of the tournament director. The tournament will also abide by policies governing codes of conduct within the Harvard community, including those prohibiting racial discrimination and harassment. They are available here: https://handbook.fas.harvard.edu/book/conduct-within-community.
     
    Tournament Ombuds Committee 
    The tournament will designate an ombuds committee of three individuals to receive complaints and concerns regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. Please note that this is not the appropriate place to report sexual or racial discrimination and harassment as detailed in the prior section; those reports should be made to the Tournament Director directly who will report to the appropriate Harvard offices. Additionally, concerns about tournament procedure and tabulation should be reported to your event’s tab room.
     
    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: Observers are permitted but must remain on mute, with videos off at all times, and rename themselves as “Observer -- Name.” All observers must be affiliated with an institution with active entries at the tournament and must be registered as an observer to the roster of that institution. Any individuals who wish to observe will need: (A) to have a tabroom.com account, (B) be added as competitors or judges to the team roster, (C) have their account linked, and (D) entered into the “Observer Division” as a competitor or as a judge. Unregistered observers will not be able to access the classrooms.cloud zoom rooms. The tournament reserves the right to remove any observers from any room at any time. 
    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 $105
    PF debate and parent is OPTING OUT OF judging $250

    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.
    All students who drop after Wednesday will not receive refunds and drop fees are $10 each.

    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 - PF and LD

    Tentative Schedules are available by clicking here
    ​

    Please make sure that you are looking at the correct event and online division.
    Also note that all times are in EASTERN STANDARD TIME (EST)


    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:  vrivasumana@tgsastaff.com

    Nadia Budiman 
    Contact email: nbudiman@tgsastaff.com

    Or info@tgsastaff.com

    Registration Form


    STUDENT INFORMATION
    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.

    EVENT SELECTION
    BOTH partners must fill out form and pay in order to be registered!

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

    ​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? Click here to learn how to do it! Or watch our Youtube playlist here.
    ​There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.​

    ​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
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: info@tgsastaff.com

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 
  • Home
  • About
    • Meet Our Coaches
    • Why Speech and Debate
    • What is Speech and Debate? >
      • Speech Events
      • Debate Events
    • Why Golden State Academy
    • Tournament Photos
    • Tournament results
    • FAQ
  • Forms
  • Registration
    • Ohlone Spring 2023
    • MS/HS Spring 2023
    • Late MS/HS Spring 2023
    • Elementary Spring 2023
    • Private Coaching >
      • Speech Private Coaching
      • Debate Private Coaching
    • MS/HS Summer 2023
    • GSA Tournaments
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  • Newsletter