JOHN LEWIS

JOHN LEWIS SVUDL INVITATIONAL

PARENTS, AT THIS TOURNAMENT PLEASE ALWAYS CONTACT GSA FIRST BEFORE CONTACTING TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR, THEY DO NOT LIKE IT

21-23 November 2025 for debate
22-23 November 2025 for speech

DEADLINE

16 Nov 2025
NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE

ELIGIBILITY

open to middle and high school students

LOCATION

DEBATE will be online through NSDA Campus
&
SPEECH will be in-person at Notre Dame San Jose

Information

The Silicon Valley Urban Debate League (SVUDL) presents The John Lewis SVUDL Invitational.

The Silicon Valley Urban Debate League will be running a hybrid Speech and Debate invitational to be held the weekend before Thanksgiving, from Nov 21-23.

All proceeds from this tournament will go to the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League, a local nonprofit organization that helps students uncover and hone the power of their voices, so they can confidently step into their full potential as professional and community leaders.

SVUDL is pleased to continue to honor the legacy of the late Congressman John Lewis by naming this Speech and Debate tournament after him. Born near Troy, Alabama in 1940, Congressman Lewis devoted his life to securing civil rights, fair and equal access to voting rights, and was a tireless soldier who literally and repeatedly risked his life in the movement against racial segregation and injustice.

We are also pleased to announce that we are again a NIETOC designated bid tournament for those interested in the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions. We are also designated as a bid tournament for Speech and Public Forum for the Tournament of Champions, held by the University of Kentucky. We are happy to announce that for this year, the TOC has designated us as a quarterfinals gold and octo finals silver bid for Public Forum.

This will be a hybrid tournament, with all Speech events held in person at Notre Dame San Jose.
All other Debate events (LD, PF) will be held using the NSDA Campus platform.
All Debate formats will start Friday, November 21 this year. Speech events start Saturday, November 22.

Double Entry Policy
Due to the hybrid nature of the tournament, students will not be allowed to double enter across Speech and Debate events.
However, students are welcome to double enter in Speech. However, the tournament cannot give students extra time to get to rounds if they double enter.

Please note, we may make adjustments to our tournament procedures to bring us more in line with other national tournaments. Coaches will be notified of any changes made as soon as they have been finalized.

Judges

Debate Judges are committed through the elim rounds 1 and 2, and one round past where their school drops from competition.
Speech Judges are obligated for all rounds on Saturday and Sunday, regardless if your students advance or not.
Judges are assumed to be experienced and prepared to judge their assigned events or debate formats.
Judges must have properly linked Tabroom accounts for online ballot entry.
School judges who fail to check in to their rounds when assigned may be fined penalties per round.

Waitlists
All space in debate and speech will be allocated on a first come, first served basis; register early!

Topics
Lincoln Douglas: NSDA Nov/Dec topic (wealth tax)
Public Forum: NSDA Nov/Dec Topic (Taiwan)

Divisions
All Speech and Debate events will offer a novice and open division. We reserve the right to collapse divisions if entry size is too small for two separate divisions.
Novice is defined as a student’s first year of competition, or student in their second year if they have competed in fewer than 5 tournaments, and did not advance to elims in any division, regardless of format.

Patterns
Debate Pattern: Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas Debate - held online
All Speech events will be in one pattern, in person at Notre Dame San Jose

Speech Elims
In the TOC Speech events we will break the top 6 to finals in events that have up to 30 entries. Divisions with more than 30 entries will have the top 12 advance to Semi-Finals, divisions with more than 51 entries will have three sections of Semi-finals with 6 competitors advancing to finals, and divisions with more than 85 entries will break to a quarterfinal. We will award trophies up to the top 6 in all speech events, and medals to Semifinalists and Quarterfinals. Placement will be determined by cumulative ranking. Events with 30+ will have a semis and a finals. Non-TOC NIETOC events above 51 contestants will have a Semifinal with 6 entries per section.

General Tournament Procedures
The tournament will consist of six preliminary debate rounds for varsity, five prelims debate rounds for novice, and four preliminary rounds of varsity and novice speech events. We reserve the right to combine divisions if the entry warrants.
Semifinals will be held in individual events with 50 or more entries or the discretion of the tournament director. Undersubscribed events may waive finals.

Tournament Caps and Waitlist
Due to the size of the tournament, we will be placing caps on the debate events. Each school will be allotted 4 entries per division per debate event. All entries over the caps will be waitlisted.
Entries may also be waitlisted if the tournament reaches capacity. Schools will be moved off the waitlist as space opens up. Schools that have not already taken up their allotted slots in each event will be moved first, and schools with completed judge entries will also be given preference. Remaining waitlisted entries will be moved on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Event Rules
PF and LD will be using the following NSDA procedures for round format, but CHSSA procedures regarding evidence.
Generally we use NSDA rules for all speech events but there are exceptions: Extemp is combined national and international. CHSSA rules will be used for Impromptu, OI, and OPP.

Entry Price

One PF event and parent is judging $95
One PF event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $235

One LD event and parent is judging $110
One LD event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $250

One speech event and parent is judging $90
One speech event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $190

Two speech events and parent is judging $135
Two speech events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $235

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.

Schedule

Debate Schedule

All debate events will be online (LD, PF)

FRIDAY - Nov 21
4:30pm - Varsity and Novice Debate Rd 1
7:00pm - Varsity and Novice Debate Rd 2

SATURDAY - Nov 22
8:00am - Varsity and Novice Debate Rd 3
10:30am - Varsity and Novice Debate Rd 4
1:30pm - Varsity and Novice Debate Rd 5
4:00pm - Varsity Rd 6 and Novice Elim 1
6:30pm - Varsity Elim 1 and Novice Elim 2

SUNDAY - Nov 23
8:30am - Varsity Elim 2 and Novice Elim 3
11:00am - Varsity Elim 3 and Novice Elim 4
1:30pm - Varsity Elim 4 and Novice Elim 5
3:30pm - Varsity Elim 5
5:30pm Varsity Elim 6
*Elim schedule may be adjusted to start earlier if possible

Speech Schedule

All Speech Events will be held at Notre Dame San Jose
Please note - Speech events will be broken into 2 Patterns - Pattern A and Pattern B

Saturday, Nov 22
8:00am-9:30am - Speech Round 1A
9:45am-11:15am - Speech Round 1B
11:30am-1:15pm - Speech Round 2A
1:30pm-3:00pm - Speech Round 2B
3:15pm-4:45pm - Speech Round 3A
5:15pm-6:45pm - Speech Round 3B

Sunday, Nov 23
8:00am-9:30am - Speech Round 4A
9:45am-11:15pm - Speech Round 4B
11:30am-12:30pm - Lunch
12:30pm-2:00pm - Speech Elim 1
2:45pm-4:15pm - Speech Elim 2
5:00pm-6:30pm - Speech Elim 3
7:00pm - 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 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
No cross entry as speech is in-person and debate is online. However, you may sign up for up to two speech events.

PF Partner Name (write N/A if none) *

First

Last

Choose your division *

Open Novice

Choose your second event's division if any *

Open Novice

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".

A guide to PF for judges can be found here.
PF JUDGING AND ONLINE BALLOT TUTORIAL

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

JOHN LEWIS SVUDL INVITATIONALPARENTS, AT THIS TOURNAMENT PLEASE ALWAYS CONTACT GSA FIRST BEFORE CONTACTING TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR, THEY DO NOT LIKE IT

21-23 November 2025 for debate22-23 November 2025 for speech

Information

​Entry Price

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

JOHN LEWIS SVUDL INVITATIONAL

PARENTS, AT THIS TOURNAMENT PLEASE ALWAYS CONTACT GSA FIRST BEFORE CONTACTING TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR, THEY DO NOT LIKE IT

21-23 November 2025 for debate
22-23 November 2025 for speech

Entry Price

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.
Check our home page for the schedule!